Update: The Scout Group I’m involved with, 403rd Toronto Sea Scouts wants to keep Warington available for their use and will pay the storage and trailer costs, so it looks like we’ll be keeping her for a while yet.
We’re going to miss this boat we call Warington. Our Kirby 23 has been a great first boat: easy to sail, fast, fun and straightforward.
We saved her from dereliction in a yard 10 years ago. We’ve loved her and made her a joy to sail again: replacing her tiller, sails, adding drains and a bilge pump, painting, patching, and adding niceties for day sailing and an occasional cruise. Built in 1985, she’s a rare boat–only a few were made–a lot like a Sonar (former Olympic class boat), but with more cabin and less cockpit.
She has a sleepable cabin and decent storage. You’re not going to want to cruise this boat (or only overnight), but you can definitely crash on her after a late night partying at the club or at a regatta.
She’s a keelboat and so is heavy and stable, but her small size and low profile means she sails with the simplicity of a dinghy. Being close to the water makes her feel even faster than she is. Some of us learned to sail on her and we won a lot of flags and a couple trophies racing her from 2015-2019. We don’t want to let her go, but can only afford to have one boat and our family demands mean we need something a little bigger.
We’d be happy to take you for a test sail if you don’t sail yet yourself. You’ll be able to see how fun and friendly she is. There are many good sailing courses around the lake including some at Queen City Yacht Club where she lives.
The basic data:
- Length: 23 ft / 7 m
- Beam: 7.75 ft / 2.36 m
- Draft: 3.9 ft / 1.2 m
- Displacement: 2,400 lb / 1,090 kg
- 6HP, 4 stroke outboard (long shaft), Berkeley 2016
- updated electrical panel 2019
- replaced wooden bulkheads, painted interior 2019
- main sail 2019 (also have old sail from 2017 season), jib unknown age, but functional
- includes a wooden cradle (at QCYC, Toronto Island – a good club choice)
- there is a folding metal cradle somewhere (we’re seeing if we can find it, no promises)
- a portable VHF radio
$1750 or best offer. kapn@kapn.net
Will post some more current photos this weekend including the interior.
See us sailing her in the 2016 QCYC Open Regatta (high winds that day, not for beginners, but fun to watch):
