The Kirby 25 is a Canadian trailerable

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminology ...

, that was designed by Bruce Kirby as a racer and first built in 1978. The design is out of production.Henkel, Steve: ''The Sailor's Book of Small Cruising Sailboats'', page 352.

International Marine S&P Global Inc. (prior to April 2016 McGraw Hill Financial, Inc., and prior to 2013 The McGraw–Hill Companies, Inc.) is an American publicly traded corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City. Its primary areas of business are financ ...

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, 2010.

Production

The boat was built by

Mirage Yachts Mirage Yachts Limited was a Canadian boat builder initially based in Pointe Claire, Quebec, a suburb of Montreal and founded by Dick and Irene Steffen. The company specialized in the manufacture of sailboats. The company was founded in Februa ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

between 1978 and 1983, with 223 examples completed.

Design

In the 1970s the most competitive racing sailboat in

PHRF Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF) is a handicapping system used for yacht racing in North America. It allows dissimilar classes of sailboats to be raced against each other. The aim is to cancel out the inherent advantages and disadvantages ...

and

Midget Ocean Racing Club The Midget Ocean Racing Club (MORC) is an American association based in Severna Park, Maryland, that promotes and organizes ocean racing for small sailboats under a handicapping rule. History Founded in 1954, the club was formally organized a ...

(MORC) competition was the J/24. Mirage Yachts owner Dick Steffen originally wanted to build the J/24 in Canada, but a deal with Johnstone could not be reached. Steffen instead commissioned Kirby to design a new boat to beat the J/24 and the resulting design was the Kirby 25. The Kirby 25 is a racing

keelboat A keelboat is a riverine cargo-capable working boat, or a small- to mid-sized recreational sailing yacht. The boats in the first category have shallow structural keels, and are nearly flat-bottomed and often used leeboards if forced in open wat ...

, built predominantly of

fibreglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...

. It has a fractional

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

rig, an internally-mounted spade-type

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...

and a fixed fin

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

. It displaces and carries of ballast. The boat has a draft of with the standard keel and is normally fitted with a small

outboard motor An outboard motor is a propulsion system for boats, consisting of a self-contained unit that includes engine, gearbox and propeller or jet drive, designed to be affixed to the outside of the transom. They are the most common motorised method ...

for docking and maneuvering. The design has sleeping accommodation for four people, with a double

"V"-berth A berth is a bed or sleeping accommodation on vehicles. Space accommodations have contributed to certain common design elements of berths. Beds in boats or ships While beds on large ships are little different from those on shore, the lack ...

in the bow cabin and two straight settee berths in the main cabin. The interior is minimalist for racing and there are no provisions for a

galley A galley is a type of ship that is propelled mainly by oars. The galley is characterized by its long, slender hull, shallow draft, and low freeboard (clearance between sea and gunwale). Virtually all types of galleys had sails that could be used ...

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...

. Cabin headroom is . The boat has a PHRF racing average handicap of 174 with a high of 187 and low of 159. It has a

hull speed Hull speed or displacement speed is the speed at which the wavelength of a vessel's bow wave is equal to the waterline length of the vessel. As boat speed increases from rest, the wavelength of the bow wave increases, and usually its crest-to-tro ...

of .

Operational history

In a 2010 review Steve Henkel wrote, "More than 200 of these popular PHRF and 'half-ton rule' racers were built by Mirage Yachts in Montreal between 1978 and 1983, after Mirage owner Dick Steflin asked Bruce Kirby to 'draw me a boat to beat the J/24s.' This 'hot' boat is generally seen as competitive and relatively inexpensive compared to the J/24 ... and is suited to racers more than cruisers. Best features: Kirby 25s are spirited, fast, and agile, with a fractional rig and bendy mast, which permits precise control of sail shape. The boats are well-made, with neat and tidy liners that double as structural elements. Worst features: The number of controls—particularly the running backstays, which need to be readjusted after every tack going upwind—may put off some inexperienced sailors and relaxed cruising types. Also, accommodations below are stripped out, as becomes a highly competitive racer. The ends of the boat, both bow and stern, are off limits to heavy cruising supplies; fast boats always keep the ends light. In fact, a portable ice chest, Coleman stove, and portable plastic wash tub may be all that some hard-nosed racers will permit on board."

References

External links

* {{Trailer sailers and Trailer yachts worldwide Keelboats 1970s sailboat type designs Sailing yachts Trailer sailers Sailboat type designs by Bruce Kirby Sailboat types built by Mirage Yachts

Production

Design

Operational history

See also

References

External links