"We wanted a good-looking, smart-sailing boat with berths for four," said George Cuthbertson, the leader of the C&C team that designed the Viking 28. "But, we made a conscious decision not to distort the lines of this racer/cruiser in order to create headroom." Considering the fact that Cuthbertson is 6 ft 4in., a 28-footer with headroom enough for his frame would have been very top-heavy. The Viking was the first of the C&C-designed Viking series built by Ontario Yachts in Oakville, Ontario. Later, this shop added the Viking 22, 33 and a modified 33 renamed as the Viking 34. Interestingly, in the early '70s the Viking 28 made its way overseas when it was built by Anesty Yachts in England and renamed the Trapper 28...

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People keep coming up to Stranger II to ask about the boat," said Nick de Munnik. "She's the most beautiful boat in any anchorage,' a real classic." There are many elements that make a classic, including: designer, builder, owner and maintenance. Designer George Cuthbertson, one half of the founding pair of the design house Cuthbertson & Cassian Ltd. (later C&C Yachts), began his sailing career at Toronto's Royal Canadian Yacht Club as a junior member ($50 for a summer of sailing). During his late teens and university years (Cuthbertson holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Toronto), he was an official RORC race rule measurer for the RCYC, earning $25 per boat as a summer job...

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A few years ago, Paul Countouris solved the age-old problem of space. Specifically, space at the marina. His Dragonfly 25, with its folding amas or outriggers (see CY, Killing On Design, Jan/Feb 1991), resolved one of the major problems of multihull owners at overcrowded marinas. Following the Dragonfly's success (60 are now sailing North American waters), the designer, mould maker and yacht builder recently unveiled his newest speedster, the Contour 30. Countouris is manufacturing under the P.C. Mould Ltd. logo in an impressive 10,000-sq-ft facility in Erin, Ont. Now trading on his success with the Dragonfly 25, Countouris is building the Cole Beadon-designed Contour 30 for sailing enthusiasts who demand the same thrill of speed, coupled with a greater array of creature comforts below deck.

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The Contessa 26 entered production in England in 1966 by Jeremy Rogers in Lymington, with several hundred built. Moulds for the Contessa were shipped to Canada in 1969, with the first of the boats completed later that same year. J.J. Taylor and Sons Ltd. had been building boats on their site overlooking Toronto Harbour's Western Gap since 1904. The Contessa would become the design to help this company change over from wood to fibreglass production. Taylor's yard was later taken over by the National and Alexandra Yacht Clubs when the manufacturer moved to Rexdale, in Toronto's dry-docked northwest quadrant. Other locally built boats from the 1960s, made of fibreglass but based on the lines of the Folkboat, are the Whitby 26 Folkboat and the Alberg 30. The family resemblance of moderate beam without pinched ends, pronounced sheer, long overhangs ñ especially at the bow - a long keel cut away at the forward end and a steeply raked rudder shaft attached to the keel, is obvious in all of these designs.

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An Australian America’s Cup designer, Alan Payne, designed the Columbia 8.7. It was one of a series of yachts in the new cruiser line of boats, deemed the "wide body super cruisers", built by Columbia. The Columbia 8.7 has a turbulent production history. The first 8.7s rolled off the line in 1976, but in 1978 Columbia closed down because of labor problems. In 1979 Howard Hughes, from Hughes Boat Works, picked up all the molds and brought them to Centralia near London, ON. Hughes went into receivership in 1982. Aura Yachts then took over until 1986, at which point Hughes took the line back again. After this, Hughes built a few more 8.7s, until a fire destroyed his factory in Orangeville.

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For most sailors, the blustery onset of fall weather signals post-season sailing withdrawal, haul-out, and a generally gloomy winter outlook. For a growing group of hardy souls, however, this time of year brings new excitement. At six feet overall length and 36 pounds minimum weight, the Cape Cod Frosty is the world's smallest IYRU sanctioned one design class.Sailed in late fall, winter and early spring, this class is gaining popularity among sailors of all ages and abilities, who are ultimately united by one common desire - to extend the sailing season.

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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?"

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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.

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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.

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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.

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