Review of Kirby 30

Basic specs.

The Kirby 30 is a sailboat designed by the Canadian maritime architect Bruce Kirby in the late seventies. A few hundred boats have been produced.

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Hull

The hull is made of fibreglass. Generally, a hull made of fibreglass requires only a minimum of maintenance during the sailing season. And outside the sailing season, just bottom cleaning and perhaps anti-fouling painting once a year - a few hours of work, that's all.

Keel

Fin keel

The Kirby 30 is equipped with a fin keel. The fin keel is the most common keel and provides splendid manoeuvrability. The downside is that it has less directional stability than a long keel.

The boat can enter most marinas as the draft is just about 1.62 - 1.72 meter (5.31 - 5.61 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

Engine

The boat may be equipped with an inboard Yanmar diesel engine

Sailing characteristics

This section covers widely used rules of thumb to describe the sailing characteristics. Please note that even though the calculations are correct, the interpretation of the results might not be valid for extreme boats.

Stability and Safety

What is Capsize Screening Formula (CSF)?

The capsize screening value for Kirby 30 is 2.36, indicating that this boat would not be accepted to participate in ocean races.

Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed

What is Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed?

The theoretical maximal speed of a displacement boat of this length is 6.5 knots. The term "Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed" is widely used even though a boat can sail faster. The term shall be interpreted as above the theoretical speed a great additional power is necessary for a small gain in speed.

Immersion rate

The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level. The immersion rate for Kirby 30 is about 152 kg/cm, alternatively 854 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 152 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 854 lbs cargo on the boat it will sink 1 inch.

Sailing statistics

This section is statistical comparison with similar boats of the same category. The basis of the following statistical computations is our unique database with more than 26,000 different boat types and 350,000 data points.

Motion Comfort Ratio

What is Motion Comfort Ratio (MCR)?

The Motion Comfort Ratio for Kirby 30 is 14.3.

Comparing this ratio with similar sailboats show that it is more comfortable than 8% of all similar sailboat designs. This is a comfort value significantly below average.

L/B (Length Beam Ratio)

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Kirby 30 is 2.91.

Compared with other similar sailboats it is more spacy than 69% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a slightly more spacy hull design.

D/L (Displacement Length Ratio)

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Kirby 30 is 177 which categorizes this boat among 'light racers'.

85% of all similar sailboat designs are categorized as heavier. A light displacement requires less sailarea and has higher accellerations.

SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)

What is SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)?

The SA/D for Kirby 30 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 21.9, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 25.3.

The SA/D ratio indicates that it is faster than 97% of all similar sailboat designs in light wind.

Over- / underrigged

The Kirby 30 has more rig than 99% of all similar sailboats, which indicates that the boat is significantly overrigged.

Maintenance

Bottom Paint

When buying anti-fouling bottom paint, it's nice to know how much to buy. The surface of the wet bottom is about 26m² (279 ft²).
Based on this, your favourite maritime shop can tell you the quantity you need.

Note: If you use a paint roller you will need more paint than if you use a paintbrush.

Rig

Dimensions of sail.

Are your sails worn out? You might find your next sail here: Sails for Sale

If you need to renew parts of your running rig and is not quite sure of the dimensions, you may find the estimates computed below useful.

**Guiding dimensions of running rig**
Usage	Length		Diameter
Mainsail halyard	29.7 m	(97.5 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard	29.7 m	(97.5 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Spinnaker halyard	29.7 m	(97.5 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Jib sheet	9.1 m	(30.0 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Genoa sheet	9.1 m	(30.0 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Mainsheet	22.9 m	(75.0 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Spinnaker sheet	20.1 m	(66.0 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Cunningham	3.8 m	(12.5 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Kickingstrap	7.6 m	(25.0 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Clew-outhaul	7.6 m	(25.0 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)

Boat owner's ideas

This section is reserved boat owner's modifications, improvements, etc. Here you might find (or contribute with) inspiration for your boat.

Do you have changes/improvements you would like to share? Upload a photo and describe what you have done.

Finally

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for Kirby 30 it would be a great help.

If you have any comments to the review, improvement suggestions, or the like, feel free to contact us. Criticism helps us to improve.

References

[Ref 1]: ISO 8666 Small craft — Principal data.
[Ref 3]: ISO 12215-5 Small craft — Hull construction and scantlings.