GP14 (dinghy) - Design

Design

The GP14 was designed by Jack Holt in 1949. The idea behind the design was to build a General Purpose (GP) 14-foot dinghy which could be cruised, raced 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.

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.

It seems almost by accident, and yet it is a splendid testimony to her designer, that what was originally conceived on such a broad-based brief has also turned out to be an outstanding racing dinghy, offering close and rewarding competition at the very highest level.

In the early 1990s a new internal layout was introduced in the wooden boats (the "Series 2"), with built-in underfloor buoyancy. Also in the late eighties and early nineties underfloor buoyancy was introduced to the foam-reinforced plastic (FRP) boats, and the internal layout of these boats underwent several stages of modernisation.

This was further modified over the following years, led by boat builders Alistair Duffin, who builds in wood, and Holt Allen (later Speed Sails Ltd and now Winder Boats), who manufacture in GRP (glass-reinforced plastic) and FRP. As of the 2011 RYA Dinghy Show a new builder in FRP, Boon Boats, has entered the market with a significantly different interior layout, developed in agreement with the Class Association. The majority of wooden boats in recent years have been built by Alistair Duffin, but a highly respected past wooden boat builder of the class, Tim Harper, who built his last one in 2006, is actively considering returning to building them. A few boats are still amateur built, and one amateur-built boat won the National Championship in both 2002 and 2005 (and is still regularly winning in top flight competition), while another amateur-built boat came second in the 2006 World Championship. Racing honours are evenly divided between the wooden and the plastic boats. New boats are currently available in wood, GRP and FRP.

All the features of the boat which can affect sailing performance are strictly one-design and are tightly controlled as such; underwater hull shape and dimensions, rig, sailplan and maximum sail dimensions (although smaller sails are always permitted), and minimum sailing weight. Thus an older boat should not be outclassed just because of her age, and there have been two examples (in 1959 and 1970) of seriously old boats winning the National Championships. Interior design has evolved over the lifetime of the class, now in excess of 60 years, and there are now a number of options in interior design and fittings.

People often wonder why the class symbol is a bell. One suspects that it relates (strictly unofficially) to the original manufacturer, Bell Woodworking. However this was not politically acceptable, since it was seen as advertising, and in the inaugural meeting of what was to become the Class Association there was much discussion as to whether the new class should be called the Bell Class or the GP14 Class; the vote was close, but in the end the name GP14 was chosen. However what may have been an inspired compromise was found for the insigna; the first boat of the class was launched in Aberdyfi, Wales, and the class was taken up by the local club, then the Dovey Sailing Club (now Dovey Yacht Club), so the official explanation was (and still is) that it is a reference to the legendary bells of Aberdovey, Cantre'r Gwaelod, and it is just coincidence that the early boats happened to be built by Bell Woodworking.

The boat's designer, Jack Holt, had a long association with Bell Woodworking of Leicester, because they built and sold kits for many of his other designs, such as the Cadet Dinghy, Heron Dinghy, Solo Dinghy, Mirror Dinghy, Miracle Dinghy, and Mirador cruising yacht, while they also produced the Pegasus dinghy (designed by Uffa Fox) and the Osprey Dinghy and the Bell Seagull and Seamew cruisers (designed by Ian Proctor) and several other designs.

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