Bruce Robert William Kirby, (2 February 1929 – 19 July 2021) was a Canadian-born sailboat designer, dinghy and offshore racer and journalist. His designs spanned in size from the single-handed Laser dinghy to the

12-meter class The 12 Metre class is a rating class for racing sailboats that are designed to the International rule. It enables fair competition between boats that rate in the class whilst retaining the freedom to experiment with the details of their designs. ...

Louis Vuitton Cup yacht, '' Canada One''. He continued his design work in his American company, Bruce Kirby Marine.

Career

Kirby was born in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

. A Canadian newspaperman and former editor of ''Yacht Racing'' (predecessor to '' Sailing World''), he designed the Laser in 1969. Kirby started as a reporter in Montreal before editing ''Yacht Racing'' and, in his spare time, taking up yacht design and drawing the Laser. In 1970 Kirby became editor of ''Yacht Racing'', where he stayed until 1975. Kirby's career began with the International 14 class, a developmental skiff with relatively few rules. Kirby designed several International 14s, winning the world championships in 1958 and 1961. Kirby also represented Canada at the Olympic regattas in 1956 and 1964, sailing Finns, and in a

Star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

in 1968. Kirby's most widely recognized contribution to the sport of sailing was his design of the Laser dinghy. Starting in the 1970s, Kirby designed two

America's Cup The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one f ...

12-Meters, '' Canada One'' and ''

Canada II ''Canada II'' is a 12-metre class yacht that competed in the 1987 Louis Vuitton Cup. The boat's designer was Bruce Kirby and the boat was built by Fred McConnell Marine, Ltd, of Parry Sound, Ontario. The boat's original home was in Halfmoon Ba ...

'', the Apollo, Sonar, Blazer 23, Kirby 25, and Kirby 30, Ideal 18, and the Pixel, a double-handed trainer that replaced the Blue Jay on Long Island Sound. The San Juan 24 was extremely successful, with over a thousand built since its debut. Designed to the IOR rating, it was the basis for many of Kirby's later offshore designs. Kirby also served as both designer and skipper on ''Runaway'', one of three yachts in Canada's 1981 Admiral's Cup campaign. Kirby designed Norwalk Islands Sharpies, a line of high powered, shallow-draft sailboats from 18 ft. to 41 ft. The designs use modern plywood, fiberglass and epoxy construction. The Sonar is the largest of three classes used in Paralympic sailing. Kirby was also part of the international committee elected to create the IACC boats (International America's Cup Class) used in the America's Cup between 1992 in San Diego and 2007 in

Valencia, Spain Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area also ...

Recognition

Kirby was inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame in 2012. In 2017, he was named as a Member of the Order of Canada and later was invested into the Order of Canada for his contributions to the sport of sailing. The award was presented personally to Kirby by Julie Payette, Governor General of Canada, in September 2018 at a ceremony at Rideau Hall. He was in the first induction of the Lisgar Collegiate Institute Athletic Wall of Fame, as part of the 160th Anniversary celebrations. He was a member of the Noroton Yacht Club.

Boats

Boats designed by Kirby include:

References

External links

Official biography
on archive.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirby, Bruce 1929 births 2021 deaths Sportspeople from Ottawa Canadian yacht designers Canadian male sailors (sport) Members of the Order of Canada Olympic sailors of Canada Sailors at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Finn Sailors at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Finn Sailors at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Star Lisgar Collegiate Institute