Jeff,
I thought I remembered that the Kirby was not easy to sail to its rating.
I sailed with Pete Geis on the Yellow Kirby 25 during the 95 or 96 wend series and the frost bite series. Pete was a great skipper, he always seemed to know where to be on the course and how to keep the boat moving. I have not kept in touch, do you know if he is still racing?
One of the Annapolis Kirby''s (I think it use to belong to a guy name John dark blue hull docked next to Pete at AYC) showed up down here two years ago. It went on the auction block and sold for $3K, I was really bummed I missed that boat.
I really enjoyed the Kirby and still would consider one. I guess if I could learn to sail one, without getting to frustrated, I would really gain a good feel for boat and sail trim, and it may help prevent me from picking up some bad habits.
I was thinking seriously about a Capri (it is alway more fun to race boat for boat rather than rating for rating), I had not heard anything about the structural problems, something to look at.
Bill