{"id":82675,"date":"2025-10-15T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/?p=82675"},"modified":"2025-10-16T10:57:38","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T14:57:38","slug":"ultimate-boating-giveaway-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/sailboats\/ultimate-boating-giveaway-winner\/","title":{"rendered":"Winner Announced for the Ultimate Boating Giveaway"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Bob <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Bob Kirby of Long Grove, IL, is the winner of the Solace 30HCS, the grand prize in Firecrown\u2019s Ultimate Boating Giveaway.<\/span>\n Michelle Gaylord<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

Bob Kirby knew that his Yachting<\/em> subscription would provide him stories about incredible yachts, charter destinations, navigation and seamanship. He never imagined it would win him a half-million-dollar mini-yacht of his own.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kirby, an avid boater from Long Grove, Illinois, was in \u201cmodest disbelief\u201d when he received the email notifying him he\u2019d won the SOLACE 30HCS<\/a> as part of the Ultimate Boating Giveaway. Magazine subscribers to Yachting, Salt Water Sportsman<\/em>, Boating, Cruising World<\/em> and Sailing World, <\/em>all titles in Firecrown\u2019s marine portfolio, <\/em>were entered to win Solace\u2019s hybrid center console and one of the baddest fishing machines on the water. After a few emails and phone calls to confirm, Kirby learned he had in fact won the 30-foot boat valued at over $500,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On September 26, Team Solace handed over the keys to Kirby at its headquarters in Edgewater, Florida, then splashed the boat at nearby New Smyrna Marina. It was Kirby\u2019s first chance to take the wheel and put his prize through the paces. After a brief tutorial, Kirby opened up the twin Yamaha 350s for a few sprints in the Indian River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked about first impressions, Kirby highlighted \u201cthe quality of the build, thoughtful engineering, on-water performance, all-around handling, plus striking good looks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Solace <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Ultimate Boating Giveaway winner Bob Kirby puts his new Solace 30HCS through the paces.<\/span>\n Michelle Gaylord<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

\u201cThe stepped hull is smart, and the hybrid design makes the boat versatile in all types of water and conditions,\u201d Kirby adds. \u201cFinally getting to see the boat up close, I really appreciate the unique features and attention to detail. It’s darn near perfect.\u201d Day boaters appreciate the 30HCS\u2019s generous 34-square-foot cockpit area, deluxe seating, forward and aft boat shades, and stand-up head. For anglers, there are two 35-gallon in-floor fish boxes, a pair of 30-gallon livewells, and rod holders and rocket launchers galore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it turns out, Kirby\u2019s love of the water goes far beyond staring at megayachts in a magazine. The Yachting <\/em>subscriber grew up on Lake Erie, spending time at the Cleveland Yachting Club in Rocky River, Ohio. He\u2019s also a competitive sailor; among his many events, he\u2019s a seven-time participant in the Helly Hansen Sailing World <\/em>Regatta Series in Chicago, serving as the bow man on a Swan 40. He also owns multiple boats as part of a family partnership, including a Mastercraft X23 and Pardo 38. The Solace 30HCS is his first fishing boat. Kirby plans to keep it in Florida for the winter, then transport it to his family\u2019s getaway spot on Muskegon Lake in Michigan next spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for now, Kirby has a few days set aside in Florida to cruise up and down the Intracoastal Waterway with friends and get familiar with the world\u2019s most amazing magazine subscription freebie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the best boat I\u2019ve ever won,\u201d Kirby says with a smile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bob Kirby of Long Grove, IL, takes home the grand prize: a half-million-dollar center console.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":82677,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Shawn Bean","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"","arc_website_url":"","custom_permalink":"","arc_subtype":"","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":false,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":true,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":"","sponsored_url":"","social_share":true,"ad_targeting":"","ad_settings_ads_on_this_page":true,"ad_settings_automatic_ad_injection_into_the_content":true,"alternate_title_newsletter":"","alternate_content_newsletter":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[3050,164,3049],"class_list":["post-82675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sailboats","tag-center-consoles","tag-sailboats","tag-solace-boats"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}