Bigplumbs
Well-Known Member
The racing comments are interesting but I have no intention of doing any racing
GP14 Dingy
- Thread starter Bigplumbs
- Start date
Chiara’s slave
Well-Known Member
It’s a disease some people catch when they have a sailing boat. There is a saying that the definition of a race is when 2 sailing boats are heading in the same direction at the same time…
john_morris_uk
Well-Known Member
Perfectly true.
Chiara’s slave
Well-Known Member
I should know, being in the final stages of the illness.
john_morris_uk
Well-Known Member
Final stages?
I thought I was cured but then this boat appeared ahead of us and we seemed to be catching them up…
SaltIre
Well-Known Member
We had four relatively new Bossoms centre mainsheet GP14s at Glasgow University in the late 1970s, similar to the OP's one, and two older boats with transom mainsheets. The older boats were slower, perhaps heavier, but we always went 2+1 vs 2+1 for team racing so they were equal in terms of boatspeed.
Bigplumbs
Well-Known Member
I just ordered one of these to make life easier and not tip her indoors (who of course would be outdoors at the time) in the drink
Pardon our interruption...
Pardon our interruption...
Puffin10032
Well-Known Member
I was referring to them not being competitive against any well-maintained wooden GP14.
It's not unique to GP14s; in those days boat builders found it hard to produce a GRP boat which was as stiff as a wooden one and down to weight.
ylop
Well-Known Member
Have you had it on the water yet?
Bigplumbs
Well-Known Member
Oh heck I have started something here even though I dont care about specs and I wont be racing
SaltIre
Well-Known Member
You'll surely want the love of your life to sail as fast as she can - not wallow about with bits flapping.
Chiara’s slave
Well-Known Member
Even if you did try racing, you won’t at first notice if your boat isn’t quite competitive, so you certainly don’t need to worry. And if you were to be struck by lightning and catch the disease, you can always sell her and buy a faster one. Boat, not wife.
ylop
Well-Known Member
Plumbs has never sold a boat - he just adds them to his flotilla
wombat88
Well-Known Member
GP 14s can be quite gentle with a set of sails off something 12ft long.
If cruising remember your anchor...
If cruising remember your anchor...
Bigplumbs
Well-Known Member
My plan is to plonk the little 2 hp 2 stroke on the back potter up the Deben and then pull out the genoa with the furler I have just ordered and is I dont like it pull that in again and put the motor back on lol
Chiara’s slave
Well-Known Member
Good plan, that way the wife won’t sell you.
Egret
Well-Known Member
We'll get you sailing when you are ready.
With just the jib, you will sail with the wind and motor against it - afternoon wind usually comes from seaward, as today, so may need to motor back to the ferry.
You'll soon be confident in using the main sail as well though
With just the jib, you will sail with the wind and motor against it - afternoon wind usually comes from seaward, as today, so may need to motor back to the ferry.
You'll soon be confident in using the main sail as well though
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Lightwave395
Well-Known Member
I bought one and refurbished it 3 years ago to tempt a couple of grandchildren into sailing, IIRC the refurb included a couple of class allowed mods for old boats allowing higher rig tension to try to jazz up the performance. When they'd got to grips with the basics we dumped it and I bought a Lark which is much lighter, livelier and exciting to them, if a little wetter, sometimes a lot wetter - if you're not capsizing occasionally you're not trying hard enough...
Egret
Well-Known Member
Don't think a Lark would work so well for what BigPlumbs wants to do with the GP14 at the moment but maybe a foiling wingsailer next.
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ylop
Well-Known Member
If it goes well you will avoid using the deafening engine as much as possible. Make sure you test the furling/unfurling before you need it - if not set up right furlers can jam, and you won’t yet have the experience to set halyard tension by touch.
Your approach of Genoa only and motoring is the sort of thing yachts do when being leisurely - but it’s not classic learning to dinghy sail technique. Whilst I can see it’s counterintuitive that having another sail and extra string to handle makes things easier - for many points of sail two sails are more balanced so easier to control and go where you want.
