The Corvette 31 is a Canadian

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminolo ...

, which was designed by

C&C Design C&C Yachts was a builder of high-performance fiberglass monohull sailboats with production facilities in Canada, Germany, and the United States. C&C designed and constructed a full range of production line cruiser-racer boats, as well as custom ...

in 1965. The type is named in honour of the Corvette warship class.

Production

The boat was built by

C&C Yachts C&C Yachts was a builder of high-performance fiberglass monohull sailboats with production facilities in Canada, Germany, and the United States. C&C designed and constructed a full range of production line cruiser-racer boats, as well as custom ...

at their

Belleville Marine Yard C&C Yachts was a builder of high-performance fiberglass monohull sailboats with production facilities in Canada, Germany, and the United States. C&C designed and constructed a full range of production line cruiser-racer boats, as well as custom ...

(Morch Marine) in

Belleville, Ontario Belleville is a city in Ontario, Canada situated on the eastern end of Lake Ontario, located at the mouth of the Moira River and on the Bay of Quinte. Belleville is between Ottawa and Toronto, along the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. Its populat ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Between the start of production in 1966 and production end in 1971. Some sources claim a total of 171 examples were completed, while others say 167. In production year 1968/69, 41 examples were completed and in 1969/70 production peaked at 52 completed. Productions plans for another 52 to be built in 1970/71 were cancelled when the Belleville facility was closed and production ended. The design sold well in its home waters of the

Bay of Quinte The Bay of Quinte () is a long, narrow bay shaped like the letter "Z" on the northern shore of Lake Ontario in the province of Ontario, Canada. It is just west of the head of the Saint Lawrence River that drains the Great Lakes into the Gulf of ...

and also in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

and the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...

region of the United States. The initial price in 1966 was $12,500.

Design

C&C Corvette 31 sailboat Free N Easy II 0453

Corvette 31 sailboat Free n Easy II 2796

Corvette 31 sailboat Free n Easy II 2801

The Corvette was designed to a

Cruising Club of America The Cruising Club of America (CCA) is an international organization of cruisers whose objects are to promote cruising and racing by amateurs, to encourage the development of suitable types of cruising craft, to stimulate interest in seamanship, navi ...

Southern Ocean Racing Conference Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, ...

(S.O.R.C.) rule that resulted in boats with a heavy displacement and a shoal draft. The design was named the corvette by Ian Morch, owner of Morch Marine, in honour of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Flower-class corvette The Flower-class corvetteGardiner and Chesneau 1980, p. 62. (also referred to as the ''Gladiolus'' class after the lead ship) was a British class of 294 corvettes used during World War II by the Allied navies particularly as anti-submar ...

s operated by the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack submar ...

on convoy escort duty. The Corvette 31 is a small recreational sailboat, built predominantly of

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...

, with wood trim. It has a

masthead sloop A masthead rig on a sailing vessel consists of a forestay and backstay both attached at the top of the mast. The Bermuda rig can be split into two groups: the masthead rig and the fractional rig. The masthead rig has larger and more headsails, ...

rig, a keel mounted

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adve ...

on a fixed long

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

, with a retractable

centreboard A centreboard or centerboard (US) is a retractable hull appendage which pivots out of a slot in the hull of a sailboat, known as a ''centreboard trunk'' (UK) or ''centerboard case'' (US). The retractability allows the centreboard to be raised t ...

. It displaces and carries of ballast. The boat has a draft of with the centreboard extended and with it retracted. The boat was factory-equipped with a Universal Atomic 4

gasoline engine A petrol engine (gasoline engine in American English) is an internal combustion engine designed to run on petrol (gasoline). Petrol engines can often be adapted to also run on fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas and ethanol blends (such as ''E ...

, although some were subsequently owner-equipped with

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

s. The design has a

hull speed Hull speed or displacement speed is the speed at which the wavelength of a vessel's bow wave is equal to the waterline length of the vessel. As boat speed increases from rest, the wavelength of the bow wave increases, and usually its crest-to-t ...

of . The Corvette Sailboat Association describes the design:

Operational history

C&C Corvette 31 sailboat Veleda III 3671

In the first race it was entered in, the 1968 Lipton Cup Race held in the Atlantic waters off

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, a Corvette 31 named ''Elektra II'', crewed by builder Ian Morch as skipper, designer George Cuthberston, George Hinterhoeller, and

Laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fi ...

designer Bruce Kirby, finished first in the Class D and 24th overall out of a fleet of more than 100 boats. In the 1968 Miami-Nassau race of ''Elektra II'' finished second in Class D and second overall. In the 1968 Governor’s Cup race, off Nassau in of wind, ''Elektra II'' finished first in its class. In a review Michael McGoldrick wrote, "The Corvette 31 was designed in 1965 and most were built in the late 1960s. This is one of the boats that helped establish C&C as a household name in the Canadian boating industry. These boats have a graceful traditional look about them, and they continue to enjoy a loyal following. The Corvette has a retractable keel incorporated into its full keel. With the swing keel all the way up, the Corvette only draws 3'3" (1m), making it an excellent boat for shallow water areas. It has a very livable interior, but it is a little small when compared to later designs... It is interesting to note that this boat was named after the Canadian navy's Corvette which became famous for providing convoy escort in the North Atlantic during World War II."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:CandC Corvette 31 Keelboats 1960s sailboat type designs Sailing yachts Sailboat type designs by C&C Design Sailboat types built by C&C Yachts

Production

Design

Operational history

See also

References

External links