RANGELEY 1977
The C&C 34 followed the successful C&C 33 in response to demand for similar performance and handling – but a little more room. The design was studied in Russ Bratkiw's fast 3/4 ton Cricket and C&C 34 #1 was Expediter which Dr. John Morch and his family sailed to many victories including, in 1977, the Boswell Trophy, the Cosgrave Cup (RCYC Division Championship) and class in LYRA regatta.
By 1980 numbers were sufficient that the C&C 34 Class was established and given their own start. Designation under the RCYC fleet policy soon followed. By 1985, starts frequently counted 30 or more boats, numbers which were matched in other North American yachting centres, notably Seattle. In all, 475 had been built when production was discontinued in 1983.
Our model is of Rangeley, owned and sailed in the RCYC fleet by Robin Korthals.
L.O.A. 33 ft. 6 in.
L.W.L. 25 ft. 6 in.
Beam 11 ft.
Draught 5 ft. 10 in.
DYNAMO 1975
Gerhard Moog bought Mirage after the 1972 Canada's Cup series and proved her offshore capabilities as he raced her and took prizes in the SORC, Miami to Montego Bay Race, Bermuda Race, a major series in South America, and finally the Admiral's Cup in England.
His appetite whetted, he ordered a new 35-foot waterline IOR racer from C&C Yachts Ltd. Dynamo was fairly heavy, which permitted a large sail plan and she showed good speed in the light to moderate conditions which prevail in the early spring on Lake Ontario. Off she went to England, a member of Canada's first-ever Admiral's Cup team, but she and the team did not prosper in the heavier conditions of the English Channel.
Subsequently she sailed two SORC's and did well in her home waters, winning the Freeman Cup in 1977 and 1979, the Boswell trophy and the Rochester Bowl in 1978, and the Prince of Wales Cup twice, in 1978 and 1979. Under new ownership, Dynamo now bears the name Adanac II.
L.O.A. 45 ft. 6 in.
L.W.L. 35 ft.
Beam 13 ft. 2 in.
Draught 8 ft. 2 in.
RED HEAD 1970
The third design by Cuthbertson and Cassian Ltd. for Hinterhoeller Ltd. was to have been known as Redwing 35. While the project was in development the two companies combined with others to form C&C Yachts Ltd. in the fall of 1969 and their new product was announced as C&C 35. Red Head was #1, the first of a series that totalled over 500 boats built in Canada, England and Austria.
Red Head made her debut in the SORC in 1970. With each start, her performance improved until she made off with the Class B win in the final race. Bought soon after by an RCYC syndicate composed of Jim Crang, Laurie Metcalf, and Fed MacKenzie, she had several active racing years on Lake Ontario, notably winning the Cyprus Cup in 1970 and the Boswell trophy in 1971. Meanwhile her many sisters were making their marks. Chuck Bently's Magistri won the Cyprus Cup for the Division I championship in 1974, and won the Trans-Superior Race. Outside of RCYC, Aesop from Maine slugged her way to a heavy-weather Class E Bermuda Race win and a one-design class was established in Detroit which prospered and drew 16 entries in the Port Huron/Mackinac Race as late as 1985.
Red Head had initiated the series which Yacht Racing magazine named the "definitive medium-sized cruiser/racer of the 1970's".
L.O.A. 34 ft. 7 in.
L.W.L. 27 ft. 6 in.
Beam 10 ft. 7 in.
Draught 5 ft. 3 in.
Sail area 575 sq. ft.
TIP 1955
In 1928 the Royal Swedish Yacht Club (KSSS) of Gothenburg sponsored a design competition which was won by the great Norwegian designer, Johan Anker. His design, known as Dragon, was immediately popular in Norway and the class grew internationally through the 1930's and the post-war years, eventually gaining Olympic status. The Dragon Gold Cup ranks to this day as one of the premier international yachting trophies.
Tip was built by Borressen in Denmark and won the silver medal for Denmark in the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. Purchased by the O'Keefe Co. to ensure a top-flight Canadian entrant, she was sailed to victory for Canada in the 1959 Dragon Gold Cup by Walter Windeyer Jr. and his crew of Ken Bradfield and Sicotte Hamilton. Over 60 crack Dragons sailed the series in Copenhagen.
Returning home, they won the Canadian Olympic trials in the fall of 1959, but were unable to participate in the 1960 Olympics in Naples as skipper Windeyer suffered a heart attack while striving to defend the Gold Cup.
Later owned by Gordon Norton, Tip remained in the top ranks of the class for over 15 years and her Gold Cup victory is remembered as one of the great RCYC international successes.
L.O.A. 29 ft. 2 in.
L.W.L. 18 ft. 7 in.
Beam 6 ft. 3 in.
Draught 3 ft. 9.5 in.
Sail area 215 sq. ft.
SILVER SHADOW 1982
In 1981, James R. Plaxton headed a consortium which acquired C&C Yachts Ltd. An enthusiastic racer, he immediately instructed the C&C Design Group, headed by Rob Ball, to undertake design and construction of a 32-foot rating, flat-out offshore racer according to the IOR rule.
Silver Shadow was designed expressly to compete in the windy conditions which are often experienced in the Admiral's Cup series in England. She was built in the winter of 1981/82 at the C&C Custom Shop in Oakville of Kevlar and carbon fibre over a foam core. With a carbon-fibre rudder post and full hydraulics, she was state of the art for the time in construction techniques.
In 1982, she impressed in the Mackinac races and in the New York spring and fall series. Participating in the 1983 SORC, she headed the six aspirants to the Canadian Admiral's Cup team but her owner decided not to participate and her position on the team was taken by Magistri. Silver Shadow was sold to a New York owner who renamed her Christopher Dragon and she has continued her racing successes on Long Island Sound.
From this design, the C&C 41 evolved and a total of 127 were built, some with sumptuous accommodations while others continued the flat-out theme, notably Clockwork, a contender for the defence of Canada's Cup in 1984.
L.O.A. 40 ft. 11 in.
L.W.L. 32 ft.
Beam 12 ft. 11 in.
Draught 7 ft. 10 in.
MAGISTRI 1982
This Magistri followed several others which included the renamed 1969 Canada's Cup winner Manitou and the 1975 challenger Marauder. Like her predecessors, she was C&C-designed and built and her owner, Peter Farlinger, was a racing yachtsman of considerable experience. Smaller than Silver Shadow, she too was targeted to the heavy air conditions expected in a typical Admiral's Cup series and was built to equally high standards of Kevlar, foam, and carbon fibre.
Her debut brought overall victory in the Lake Erie Race followed by good performances in both Mackinacs. She then dominated the New York fall series with three straight firsts and was doing well in SORC when a dismasting in the Miami/Nassau Race ended her bid in this prestigious event.
Selected to the Canadian Admiral's Cup team, she won the Channel Race overall – the first-ever overall win by a Canadian yacht in an Admiral's Cup event. Her final series placing was sixth in fleet, also a best-ever for Canadian sailors.
Magistri was then sold to Jacob Wallenberg of Stockholm who campaigned her successfully and competed as a member of the Swedish Admiral's Cup team two years later.
L.O.A. 39 ft. 3 in.
L.W.L. 30 ft. 6 in.
Beam 12 ft. 7 in.
Draught 7 ft. 8 in.
SHARK 1960
When George Hinterhoeller arrived in Canada from Austria in 1952 he brought his family, his master boat-builder's certificate, a love of sailing and little else. He found work in Niagara-on-the-Lake with Shepherd Boats, and within several years had his own small shop beside his house where he built a Lightning, some Penguins and Y-Flyers, and in 1958 a smart 24-foot multi-chine fin keel sloop for himself which he named Teeter Totter. She was built of plywood, had a small cabin and a self-bailing cockpit, was quick and agile and, given a fresh breeze, could plane like a dinghy.
Good sailors took notice and in 1960 Hinterhoeller delivered to Glen Dickie of Oakville a round-bilge variant of Teeter Totter of moulded ply construction. Named Shark she promptly won her class in the LYRA regatta. Three moulded ply sisters followed and then Shark #5 was first to be built of fiberglass. A class had been launched, a class which would in time number over 2000 boats and which continues to thrive over a quarter of a century later – and not only in North America as hundreds of Sharks have been built overseas under licence – in Sweden, and notably in Austria where George Hinterhoeller first sailed and learned his trade.
In 1985, RCYC hosted the 20th Shark World Championship and welcomed over 60 competitors. But there is another side to the Shark as evidenced by one singlehander who sailed to the Bahamas, Bermuda, England, the Canary Islands and the West Indies. Another, with his wife and two-year-old child aboard, sailed his Shark from Lake Ontario to Australia.
Control of the class rests with an active and enthusiastic association.
L.O.A. 24 ft.
L.W.L. 20 ft.
Beam 6 ft. 10 in.
Draught 3 ft.