The Kinetic Team
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Kinetic competed at Cork Week 2008 (12th-18th July) in a class of 28 boats, six others of whom were also Corby 25's, including another Howth boat Impetuous. The local Corby was Obsession VI, owned by Barry Rose and helmed by his son David, who had much to prove, having been comprehensively defeated at the national championships, and so losing the title they had held for the previous year.
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Day 1 - saw class 5 on the windward leeward course. Held close to the shore SSW of the harbour entrance, the course was tougher than it should have been due to the relatively light winds and shifts experienced near the shore.
Race 1 saw a half toner Chia Chia, previously owned by Don Breen of Howth, take line honours; the very low handicap of the boat meant they surprised a few in the fleet, but this first win showed they were a threat. Kinetic took third behind local boat Obsession.
Obsession then won the second race, which saw winds shifting by 180 degrees and had boats trying to sail at each other on the same tack!
The wind meant many boats across the fleets put in low scores, and Kinetic was among these with a 10th place, while Chia Chia took 18th.
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Day 2 - Stronger winds at about 20kts for the Olympic course saw Chia Chia take line honours twice by keeping in touch with the leaders, while Kinetic and Obsession fought each other at the front of the fleet to gain a second and fourth place each across the two races.
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Day 3 - After the somewhat disappointing first two days for Kinetic, the lads took an early night on Tuesday and came back to take line honours twice on the slalom course. One of which many of the crew described as the race of their life.
Starting a minute after every one else, having been judged over the line at the start, Kinetic had it all to do.
They took half the fleet on the beat up to the windward mark, having seen wind coming in from the left. Then proceeded to pick off the rest of the fleet downwind through the two slalom legs and the second beat, with great crew work. Obsession took second and third, while Chia Chia
took second and also an eighth they would have to end up carrying.
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Day 4 - the harbour race is often questioned in the format for Cork Week, and once again on Thursday it became a reaching procession in and out of the harbour for Class 5. Local boat Obsession took the advantage by getting to the windward mark ahead of visiting boats using local knowledge of wind shifts close to the coast. They then held on until the end of the race when a couple of windward leeward legs allowed many boats to catch up, including Chia Chia which with its low handicap over such a long race meant they leapfrogged Obsession into 1st. Obsession took second and Kinetic 3rd.
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Day 5 - The results so far left it all to play for among the top three boats in the class, but with Obsession in the driving seat with two points less than both Kinetic and Chia Chia.
Kinetic knew that they had to win the race and at the same time hope and plan that Obsession get a third place at best.
A wind shift at the start meant that a number of boats were ahead of the three fighting for first place at the windward mark, and traffic on the trapezoid course also came into play.
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Kinetic took the lead after the first downwind leg but with Obsession not far behind and Chia Chia also close. Another Corby 25, Zoom Baby from Dun Laoghaire held close to Kinetic and the two boats pulled away from the battle between Obsession and Chia Chia. The cheers aboard Kinetic could be heard from the bar as they crossed the line to take line honours and won the week on the final race.
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The win for Kinetic representing HYC is the second major achievement of the year for owners John Murphy and Richard Colwell, and crew Craig Jefferes, Gary Cullen and Daire O'Reilly; and means helm Neil Spain is on a great run, having won the National Championships on Kinetic, the Round Ireland on IrelandWest.ie and Cork Week, on Kinetic all in the same year. While Rosie have also brought honours home from Scotland and the UK.
The double success of both Rosie and Kinetic at such a high profile event, is a fantastic result for HYC, at a time when the South Coast has dominated both in terms of Hardware and Crews, at National and International level. Our crews are probably capable of even greater success should the opportunities arise!
Another notable Howth connection, was onboard Marinerscove.ie, where Tom Murphy guided her to a win in Class 1 IRC.
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