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GP 14 No 19, Mizpah, History Pictures
Mizpah was bought in kit form by its original owner, Phil Ward, in 1951, and the build completed in July 1952. It was first formally measured in June 1956 and registered with the G.P.Fourteen Class Association in June 1958 when it was allocated the number 19.

The original plans drawn up by Jack Holt describe the boat as a "Yachting World Family Fourteen" and the pre-fabricated sections were supplied by Bell Woodworking Co Ltd. of Leicester, who later completed the build due to Phil breaking his leg in a skiing accident. The catalogue price for the kit at that time was fifty five pounds ten shiillings, carriage included!

The Ward family owned and enjoyed the boat until I bought it in 1997, although it had remained unused for about fifteen years prior to that date.

The Ward family had been manufacturing jewellers in Birmingham since before the first world war and had manufactured "Mizpah" brooches and similar items, which had been extremely popular during the times of conflict. The brooch took the form of two interlocking hearts pierced by an arrow. It was a registerd trademark of the Company and appeared prominently on its letterhead.

Phil had access to all of the jewellery related trades, and, as a consequence, had effectively all of the boat's brass fittings chrome plated for additional protection. With his guidance, I was fortunate enough to be able to follow that path when restoring the various fittings.

The main diffence between the original boats and later models was that the earlier boats had only four ribs compered with six in later models. To compensate for this the skins on the hull were slightly thicker at a quarter of an inch. The overall weight of the boat, however, remained the same.

This boat had a hole in the foredeck for a spinnaker to be fitted, although Phil could not recall having one on board.

It was fitted with a single large self bailer, but had no transom draining facilities other than two small half inch drains which were plugged with corks.

The fairleads were of turned hardwood and it was fitted with a round boom. The original rudder was not designed to drop vertically, and sat at an angle of about 30 degrees from the transom, which created a degree of weather helm!

When the restoration was complete in 1998, the boat was re-measured and it conformed in all aspects. In particular, it was down to minimum weight with maximum correctors fitted, which gave us particular pleasure.

Mizpah was re-launched on 17 May 1998 and I was most pleased to be able to take Phil Ward out for his first sail in 15 Years at the age of 75.

Since the restoration, Mizpah has been dry stored and only lightly sailed. She did turn out for the 50th aniversary event held by the G.P. Association at Aberdovey, but sadly broke her mast when the bronze collar on the mast which the shrouds were atached to, failed.

Fortunately, I had a couple of spare wooden masts at home, so was able to restore a second one and to make a new (stronger) mast collar. She gets an annual makeover to keep her in the order you see her in in the restored photographs.

Terry Gumbley
http://gp14restoration.spaces.live.com/