JK is up to speed again, and he’s SoM. “JK” is John Kenny (37) of Ringsend in Dublin, and he’s the Irish Independent /Afloat.ie “Sailor of the Month” for January after pushing the bounds of waterborne wind-powered speed in Ireland in winter’s big breezes.

Previously our Sailor of the Month in October 2008 when he set a new Irish record in Dungarvan, Kenny was disappointed with his showing in the final series of the Worlds at the same West Waterford venue last Autumn. He was in the frame, but not on top. But then as the rest of the country subsided into Yuletide torpor, he was back on form, this time in the almost suburban setting of the Burrow Beach at Sutton, where ideal conditions can develop in the inshore stretch of water between Portmarnock Golf Links and Howth Harbour.

Though it’s ultimately a case of working with elemental forces of nature, speed sailors on their boards rely on the best technology that can be provided by satellite navigation on GPS. For most folk, GPS is useful for telling you where you are. But for the speed freaks, it can be tweaked to tell you how quickly you went getting there.

Kenny achieved a personal best of a burst of 45.3 knots (it’s 84 kph) and averaged 42.52 for the 500 metres. For those of technical bent, he was on a Starboard Isonic Speed Special W49 board, with a Severne Code Red 5.9 sail. Having shone on the east coast, the New Year has found him on the west coast, in the first event of the 2010 at the popular setting of Elly Bay at Belmullet. In such pre-set events, you have to make the best of conditions as found, but Kenny was tops with an average of 34.74, three knots clear of the next contender. But though 45.3-plus is now the target, for now the fact that John Kenny has hit that speed under sail power gets the New Year off to a fine start.

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