George Harding Cuthbertson (1929-2017) was a founding partner of Cuthbertson & Cassian yacht designers, one of four companies that in 1969 formed C&C Yachts, a Canadian yacht builder that dominated North American sailing in the 1970s and early ‘80s.
His was the first “C” in C&C, with his design associate George Cassian, being the second. Cuthbertson would go on to be president of that company for many years, establishing plants in Rhode Island and Kiel, Germany, boat production in England and Italy, in addition to their existing Production Plant in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, and Custom Shop in Oakville, ON.
In an article in Maclean's magazine in August 1970 George Cuthbertson was described as six-foot-four, weighing 220 pounds. He has a crewcut, his voice is deep, and he looks like a linebacker on his day off. He also had a couple of nicknames: When it comes to nicknames, sailing and the yacht business may be even cuter and more prolific than, say, golf and the golf business. Cuthbertson is not only Big George, he's also Cumbersome. Cassian is not only Little George, he's also Casual. Get it? C & C Yachts.
Early life
Cuthbertson was born on June 3, 1929, in Brantford, Ontario. He was the second son of Elma Charlotte (née Ferguson), and Allan Edward Cuthbertson, who was general manager and later president of Harding Carpets, which operated a factory in Brantford. George's middle name came from carpet company founder Victor Harding.
The elder Mr. Cuthbertson died suddenly of a heart attack in 1943. His widow and sons moved to her hometown of Toronto. There was no yachting background in his family. There had been exposure to boating at summer camps, but it was his enrolment in the Royal Canadian Yacht Club's junior program at 14 and his introduction to the instruction boats, known with dubious affection as "Brutal Beasts", that provided a formal introduction to the sport.
George had an innate feeling for sailing, one that encompassed not only athletics but form and structure. As a boy, he was always drawing airplanes and ships—or rather, translating them, to scale, from imagined solid form to two-dimensional schemes. He was beginning to see beauty, grace and speed as qualities that could be governed by mathematics, albeit a mathematics tempered by artistic instinct. In time, this vision would lead to a career in an occupation with a very narrow membership—that of a Canadian yacht designer with an international reputation.
He had few role models. The level of sailing activity in the Toronto area was a far cry from today's crowded standards. It was very much a male pastime, with the concept of the sport as a truly family recreation still many years away. In the shadow of post-war economic gloom, outings seemed to be restricted to Saturdays on the part of the men of the household, with a few women joining in. There was little regular work to support a full-time resident designer. Apart from a number of enthusiasts like Charlie Burke, who excelled in racing dinghy designs, and a few local builders who, on occasion, penned their own creations, the ranks of full-fledged local designers were practically empty.
The circle of potential clients and associates was relatively small, and Cuthbertson made many key connections as the Royal Canadian Yacht Club's official measurer, a post he assumed at 17. The job put him in touch with many individuals important to his future, and lent him first-hand experience with the shapes and dimensions of the Great Lakes' faster yachts.
Education
George completed high school in Toronto before earning a degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Toronto, graduating in 1950.
Career
After graduating Cuthbertson worked for a time for the Canadian operation of SKF, the Swedish ball-bearing manufacturer. In 1951, he formed a registered partnership with Peter Davidson, a young man also active in sailing at the RCYC, for the purpose of producing products in an experimental new material called fibreglass. This work led to Cuthbertson's first production design, the Water Rat, a small dinghy conceived in 1953. About 80 in all were built, mostly with the bare hands of the two partners. There wasn't a lot of work for yacht design in Canada at that time, so they operated a yacht brokerage, which imported yachts from Europe, under the name of Canadian Northern Co.