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In Scotland, ministers of the Government intend to return the troubled shipyard of Ferguson Marine to the private sector, a senior Scottish National Party minister has confirmed.

The SNP minister Neil Gray and Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy, said it was hoped the shipyard (located downriver of Glasgow at Port Glasgow) could become commercially successful again.

Ferguson Marine as Afloat has reported over the years, has been at the centre of controversy over the construction of two newbuild ferries for CalMac, a subsidiary of David MacBrayne Ltd, which is wholly owned by Scottish Ministers.

The first of the two newbuilds of around 5,000 gross tonnage, the Glen Sannox and an unnamed twin are substantially delayed and overbudget.

Each of the 102m ferries have a capacity for 1,000 passengers, 127 cars and 16 lorries that are to serve island communities and tourism.

In March a report by Audit Scotland had raised doubts over the long-term viability of the shipyard, which was to have completed building the first of the ferries in 2018 at the yard that in the following year was nationalised.

For more, The Scotsman reports.

Published in Shipyards

The GP14 is a popular sailing dinghy, with well over 14,000 boats built.

The class is active in the UK, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and parts of north-eastern USA, and the GP14 can be used for both racing and cruising. 

Designed by Jack Holt in 1949, with the assistance of the Dovey Yacht Club in Aberdyfi. The idea behind the design was to build a General Purpose (GP) 14-foot dinghy which could be sailed or rowed, capable of also being powered effectively by a small outboard motor, able to be towed behind a small family car and able to be launched and recovered reasonably easily, and stable enough to be able to lie to moorings or anchor when required. Racing soon followed, initially with some degree of opposition from Yachting World, who had commissioned the design, and the boat soon turned out to be an outstanding racing design also.

The boat was initially designed with a main and small jib as a comfortable family dinghy. In a design philosophy that is both practical and highly redolent of social attitudes of the day the intention was that she should accommodate a family comprising parents plus two children, and specifically that the jib should be modest enough for "Mum" or older children to handle, while she should perform well enough to give "Dad" some excitement when not taking the family out. While this rig is still available, and can be useful when using the boat to teach sailing, or for family sailing, and has some popularity for cruising, the boat is more commonly seen with the full modern rig of a mainsail, genoa and spinnaker. Australian boats also routinely use trapezes.

GP14 Ireland Event Dates 2023

  • O'Tiarnaigh (Apr 22-23) Blessington Sailing Club
  • Ulsters (May 20-21) East Antrim Boat Club
  • Munsters (Jun 17-18) Tralee Bay Sailing Club
  • Leinsters (Jul 7-9) Dun Laoghaire Regatta
  • SOYC (Aug 19-20) Rush Sailing Club
  • Nationals (Sep 1-3) Sutton Dinghy Club
  • Hot Toddy (Sep 30-Oct 1) Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club

 

At A Glance – GP14 Dinghy Specifications

Crew 2
Draft 1,200 mm (47 in)
Hull weight 132.9 kg
LOA 4.27 m (14 ft)
Beam 1.54 m
Spinnaker area 8.4 m2
Upwind sail area 12.85 m2

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