Trevor Kirby, designer of the Wineglass dinghy, passes away
by Brian Conroy 7 Sep 2010 10:33 BST
29 August 2010
Trevor Kirby, designer and builder of the Wineglass dinghy, passes away © Edna Conroy
Passed away peacefully on Sunday 29th August 2010 aged 90 years RIP. Trevor Kirby was one of the first boat builders to work with glass reinforced plastic (GRP).
This year, 2010 is the 52nd anniversary of Trevor Kirby’s design of the Wineglass Dinghy. His first dinghy to be designed and built was the 14ft GlassClass, moulded in the then new glass reinforced plastic material, it was never built in wood.
This 1957 prototype was 14 feet in length. This was subsequently increased to 15 feet and the name changed to “Wineglass”. We do not know the origin of the name Wineglass, obviously the ‘glass’ part refers to the material with which it was built but the ‘wine’ prefix is less obvious. Could it be that the rear stern of the hull suggests the shape of a wineglass bowl? During its 50 years, the boat has been moulded, fitted out and supplied by several builders including the original Kirby Marine at Burnham.
However there was much more to Trevor as a designer, he did design other boats, a single hander called a Dart, a cruising boat and a Stackaboat, made in two halves for car topping, they clipped together. He also designed a conning tower for submarines, inflatable tubes for rescue helicopters and a ferry that carried lorries over rivers in Zambia.
In 1970 Trevor left England for Canada and qualified and worked as a boat surveyor. He later bought a cruiser hull and built the inside and the decking from scratch.
Trevor returned from Canada in December last year after suffering stroke, he had lived on Vancouver Island and had latterly felt quite isolated. It is thought that it was that that made up his mind to return to England.
He was therefore back in England in time to celebrate his 90th birthday with his family on 28th August, having revisited Fishers Sailing Club in July for the Wineglass National Championship and to see again, what was perhaps his best known dinghy.
Trevor was a gifted designer, an adventurer, a fine sailor and father, he will be sorely missed. His funeral will take place at the Tunbridge Wells crematorium. Friday 10th September 2010 10.30 a.m.