John Power from Darien Ct., who sails out of Saratoga N.Y., sends along photos of a Classic 14 pickup. Looks like a primo restoration of a glass PSI Kirby III.
John Power fills in the details:
"I found The KIII in Old Lyme. Connecticut. A fellow by the name of Charlie Ritrovato had her listed on Craigslist. He told me it was in the garage when he bought the house, and he had no idea what kind of boat is was. His neighbor helped him rig it and he had it painted and updated some of the rigging. She still needs some rigging work and spin gear. He may have some pics of her sailing as he had posted them in his CL ad. The boat has a centerboard and rudder that seem small, but I could be wrong - I bought her last November, and never got to sail her yet due to COVID."
Well it turn out I did have a email back-and-forth with Charlie in 2014. He sent me a photo of the sail number. So... originally a Canadian KIII.
" A Kirby III designed by Bruce Kirby and built in fiberglass by Ian Bruce (who started his company, Performance Sailcraft to build the Kirby Mk III International 14). Ian Bruce would build about 100 of these Mark III's before collaborating with Bruce Kirby and producing the Laser dinghy, the world's most popular dinghy (and also an Olympic class). KC378 would make this boat one of the last Mark III's produced because Ian would start making the Int. 14 Mk V's starting somewhere after number KC389 (the KV would have a distinctive notch in the transom which your 14 does not have)."
Looks like Charlie did an admirable job at restoring this Kirby III given where he started from.
In somewhat of a coincidence, the original Canadian owner of KC378 was another Charlie; Charlie Eckenfelder, who occasionally flashed a good result in regattas in the early 1970's. According to Sinjin Martin, the Performance Sailcraft Kirby III's didn't come out until the fall of 1968. With the switch-over to the K V in 1971, the Performance Sailcraft Kirby III was produced only over a span slightly greater than 2 years.
In the previous post about the 1969 Team Races held at Kingston Ontario, most of the Canadian Team in the photos were sailing Kirby III's.
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