The New C&C 29, White Hawk, is George Doing's first sailboat. Following 16 years of boating in small powerboats, a Northern 29, and most recently in the competitive Toronto Etchells 22 fleet, he decided it was time to launch his own campaign in the Lake Ontario MORC fleet. George wanted a club racer he could sail with his two boys, aged 9 and 11, and still cruise with the family. Both he and his wife, Katheryne, wanted more luxury than they had experienced during early years camping together. Having rejected several used boats (on the basis that if you're going to buy a used boat, it should be a bargain and there are no bargains around), they settled on the successor to the C&C 27: the new 29, which went into production last November.

With over 800 built, the C&C 30 Mk1 is, arguably, one of Canada's most successful racer/cruisers. Production began in 1973 and ceased in 1985 -- a 12-year period that represents the longest production run of any single design version in the history of C&C Yachts. Although more 27s were built, in excess of 1,000, over a similar 12-year production period, with four distinct design phases, the 27 underwent comparatively continual change in relation to the 30, having only the one design version.

When I first met Bruce Massey, the owner of the C&C 33 I was to test sail, he had just won PHRF Division I at the C&C Owners Regatta in Oakville, Ontario, in mid-July, finishing ahead of C&C 34s and 35s on elapsed time. He was one happy guy! I imagine most of us would have second thoughts about buying a design before it was fully established in our area, even from a proven design team such as C&C. This early performance convinced him that he had made an excellent choice and that the design was destined to be an outstanding one. The first boat was launched in August 1984 and by July this year hull 97 was being built.

It was a blustery October afternoon when I went for a sail with Peter and Caroline Ross and their daughter Tracy, from the Oakville Yacht Squadron. We were sailing on Fritha, hull no. 245, built in 1974. I took over the helm as we motored out of the channel, while Peter and Tracy hoisted the full mainsail. Ross explained how it had been shortened by 10 inches so the boom could be raised to accommodate their large dodger. They rolled out the genoa, telling me how it was cut higher than the usual #2 to allow for better visibility.

Seldom do boat reviewers have that good fortune—or the time—to experience a prolonged offshore test-sail over the course stretching from New York to the Virgin Islands. Indeed, sometimes the lack of such an opportunity may be a blessing. But in this case, my charge, a new C&C 44 named Some Nice (a Maritime expression), owned by Greogory Bohaker of Toronto, performed well, giving us a fast, carefree passage.In an area of the North Atlantic that offers diverse conditions at the best of times, particularly during the spring season, our route (turn right off Gibb’s Hill Light, Bermuda) was a challenging test of our yacht’s potential. Some Nice withstood the test. Except for the intervals of rail-side gyrations, my intrepid crew including the owner, also survived.I have sailed on most of C&C’s recent production yachts on the Great Lakes and offshore.

C&C International's entry into the sport boat sweepstakes is the SR 25 - a slick, sleek 25-footer that expands this builders growing stable of single-purpose, strictly-racing fillies. Following a successful regatta debut at last years Key West Race Week, the SR 25 officially became the fastest monohull for its size built on Canadian shores. And so when C&C's sales manager, Rob Maclachlan, offered CY his demo-boat to race in a local weekend regatta, our staff began to drool over their keyboards in anticipation. The event was Cornucopia, an annual 75-boat PHRF and one design regatta, hosted over the Labour Day weekend by the friendly folks at the Dalhousie Yacht Club in St. Catherines, Ontario. This would be the ideal venue to put our magazine staff and this tricked-out rocket to the test. Real life. Real sailing. Real review, so to speak. Now the only matter left to resolve was, "Who would steer?"