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Monday, June 27th 2005

What's Happening!
Tracking the Progress of the R33
BY Pat Reynolds of "The Mariner"

The Reynolds’ camp has been an active place in these past few months. We have some new dealers, new concepts and a great feeling about the direction and movement of the company. The owners are out winning races, handling heavy weather, and pushing the design to its limits. As the boat sees more and more action, we are continually surprised and proud of how well the design responds. But the proof is in the pudding so let’s take a look at what has been happening lately.

The 2005 DJ Johnson Around Oahu Regatta

On the heels of the R33 fleet dominating the ORCA class in the Lexus Newport to Ensenada Race with Randy’s Cat Attack taking home three trophies and Dave Calvert winning the Miami to Key Largo Race in hull number 10, retired airline pilot, Ted Miller took care of business in the recently held 2005 DJ Johnson Around Oahu Regatta. Miller took first place overall with his 4 person crew sailing Manju (hull # 5). The three-day race around the island of Oahu is the most popular race on the island and this contest was blessed with some of the best weather the regatta had seen in many years. But more importantly, it was packing great conditions for the R33 to excel. Miller’s boat is set up with a 16-foot beam and a 43-foot mast and loves a 15-knot breeze with flat seas, which is exactly what it was handed.

The first leg of the contest began in Waihiki and ended up in Kaneohe Bay, some 27 miles away. The second day the fleet raced to the Northwest end of the island to Kaena Point. From there the pack motored through a segment of the track that is notorious for light and variable winds and landed at Kahe point. For the third and final leg, the racers went around Barbers Point back to the Waihiki area for a total of about 80 miles. In Hawaii’s tradewinds, Manju outran a 31R trimaran, a modified Formula 28 catamaran (extended to 32’) and a group of monohull racers in the 60 foot range to win the race. “It was a really pleasurable weekend,” said Miller. “I’m just disappointed that there aren’t other people out here who have R33s so I could have someone to race with.”

Although Miller’s boat is undeniably fast, the boat alone might not have been the reason Manju did so well. It turns out there was quite a brain trust aboard this vessel. One of the guys is a professor and chair of his department, another is a neurologist and the third is a graduate student studying fuel cell technology. But, we all know that those big brains were just along for the ride. In 15 knots and flat seas, those guys just needed to hang on and steer in the right direction.

Miller is a former beach cat sailor who grew tired of having to turn back when things got thick. “This all started when I had a Nacra 6.0. I did the Round the Island on that boat a couple of times and I watched these fellows with the 30 foot boats go cruising by when it would get a little rough. I could do well in the lighter winds, but… I started asking about another boat, something like the Nacra, only bigger and I was referred to Randy.”

The next race for Manju is an 80-mile downhill jaunt from Maui to Waihiki on Labor Day weekend. For this contest, Miller will be battling a 45-foot cat and some other fast multi-hulls from the other islands as well. He has his work cut out for him, but aboard the “giant killer” -that is the R33- anything is possible!

More WINS - Miami to Key Largo!

Skipper Dave Calvert and his crew of three took first place (elapsed in their class) in the Miami to Key Largo race which had over 200 boats participating overall with 50 in their particular class. “The boat is magic in light air,” said crewman and new dealer, Mark Lipkus. “It’s just fast.” Boat # 10 was dominant in this popular 50-mile race that was mostly an uphill affair. “The boat did great, it’s a great boat,” said Lipkus. “I think, certainly in South Florida, there’s a real niche’ for a light air boat because we spend an inordinate amount of time in the summer months with very little wind, and people like to sail. I think the boat is just coming into its own right now. There are some fast boats that are squirrelly but this boat is not at all that way, it is very well behaved.”

Wet Wednesdays - Monos and Cats Together at Last!

The prestigious Long Beach Yacht Club set a new precedent recently when they allowed catamarans and multis to race in the monohull A class in their Wet Wednesday Series. The R33 now has the opportunity to go head to head with multi-million dollar maxis sailed by top-notch talent.

In a recent edition, Randy’s Cat Attack was up against the newly built 70 foot, Newport to Ensenada winner Peligroso and the highly competitive, Reichel Pugh designed 70 foot Taxi Dancer (with Dave Ullman at the helm). Since it was a windward/leeward race, Reynolds and crew knew that they were at a disadvantage based on inherent hull speeds, so they would have to heat things up. “We sailed from the weather mark to the the leeeward mark on one hull the whole way-jibing down -heated angles. We flew a hull over the transom of Taxi Dancer missing them by two feet doing 18 knots leaving them in the dust.” Peligroso remained in the lead as they reached the mark, but Reynolds and crew were right on their transom. When Peligroso had spinnaker problems it looked like Cat Attack was going to win easily until they experienced spinnaker problems of their own - twice. They lost considerable time, but were able to fight back and come in 45 seconds behind Peligroso on elapsed time. Cat Attack finished second on corrected time behind Taxi Dancer with Peligroso ending up in third on corrected. Reynolds was happy with the results considering that these races do not feature a reaching leg. “If the race had a reaching leg,” said Reynolds. “We would have won on elapsed and corrected.”

Catalina Race - Randy up against his own boat, “Cat Attack”

Randy grabbed the tiller of one of the production boats in the recently held Catalina Race, from Long Beach California to Catalina Island to see if the narrower R33 could beat the turbo rigged Cat Attack. The typical wind patterns usually amount to medium conditions featuring some light and variable breezes with windows of 15-20 knot gusts. “My prediction was that Cat Attack would win going over [a heavier wind course] and the production boat would win coming back. I was under the gun to make it come true,” said Reynolds True to his prognosis, Cat Attack won by a smidgen on the way to the Island and Hull # 15 excelled in the moderate winds of the following day. “On Sunday, in the light winds, the production boat left Cat Attack in the distance,” said Reynolds. Both legs of the race were 26 miles and the return trip took Reynolds 2 hours and 13 minutes aboard the narrower boat, far ahead of the rest of the pack. Cat Attack finished second and the Dencho built 70 foot racing monohull, Peligroso, finished third. Overall, both Reynolds cats finished first and second on elapsed time proving once again that in light air, they’re extremely difficult to beat.

Papa’s got a brand new bag! Single-handing the R33!

One of the R33’s selling points is how accessible and simple everything is and how easy it is to trim and make sail changes. With that in mind, California dealer John Papa has been exploiting those conveniences and doing a lot of solo sailing. “I used to single-hand my old boat a lot and I gave it a try on this one coming home from Ensenada and now I’ve been doing it a bunch.” Since the boat is light and responds so quickly, Papa points out that you need to keep your eye on the elements and make any changes that you might need to make well ahead of time. Papa has also discovered some soloing techniques along the way. “ If I have to go forward and do something - reef or break down the jib -I let go of the helm and see which way it goes, lee helm or weather helm, then I drop the hot stick the way it’s pushing. I can usually buy a minute or two just by leaving the stick pushing up against the backrest.” Papa just recently raced his R33 in the Berger Series in Marina del Rey (from MDR to Catalina Island) and took first on elapsed time hitting speeds up to 18 knots. John is an avid racer, competing twice a week in local races as well as longer off shore races when they arise. Papa is aptly named for he is the father of nine. He is in the process of training them to become future R33 racers. “I told them they can’t race until they can get the motor in the water [unassisted], but they all know how to work the helm and trim sails, especially my oldest, she’s taken to sailing quite well. I’m very proud of her.”

Stormy Weather

Although the ideal of the Hawaiian tradewinds is what we all love, it’s not what we always receive. Maryland’s Tim Lane had a trying tale to tell when he recently delivered his R33 (stock model) from Pasadena to Baltimore by way of Annapolis. While sailing with his 15-year-old son, Tim dropped his headsail and triple reefed his main as he found himself in the middle of a lightening storm with 35-knot winds howling. “We even put an extra roll around the boom and lowered the halyard about another extra foot,” said Lane. “It was a situation where the wind was blowing one way and then it switched 180 degrees and started blowing like hell.” They were pushing through the Chesapeake Bay in four-foot seas traveling at about 15 knots, trying to keep everything as smooth and steady as they could. “We were definitely not trying to push the boat,” said Lane. “In fact I locked the rotator on centerline to try and reduce more sail.” Lane and his son were being drenched by the down pouring rain and terrorized by lightening for two hours until things finally subsided. Although Lane understands that the R33 is not an offshore boat, he was pleased with the way it handled these uncomfortable conditions and more importantly happy that he and his boy were safe in the end.

For Lane, this is not the first time he had encountered these types of conditions in an R33. During a race last year, winds speeds reached over 50 knots combined with steep waves, which almost forced the boat to pitch pole at one point (it was a custom R33 with a 16-foot beam). Sailing downwind, under triple reefed main alone, the boat slid down a steep wave and buried its bow hard into the bottom of a trough. “A guy on a monohull said he saw both rudders completely out of the water,” recalls Lane. “But the boat recovered.”

Just as Tim Lane ran up on some hairy conditions in Maryland, so did Michigan Dealer Marty Foster in his stock R33 Doubletime (hull #13). Foster and crew went out to joust around with some local racers in Lake Sinclair who were running an evening contest and were met with 25-knot winds, gusting to 32. With a double reefed main and working jib the boat was still overpowered, so they triple reefed the main and kept the jib. Foster explains, “we shot by everybody. Once we peeled off the wind we got up to 21 knots.” Foster went on to assess the Reynolds in these types of conditions, “the boat is easy to control in heavy wind. I was pleasantly surprised. When you felt like you were in too much of a puff, you simply eased off or headed down or pinched up and choked off the wind. The crew didn’t cleat in any sails, all the sheets were hand-held and off we went.”

Foster and his crew are sailing Doubletime almost every other day and recently won The Windsor Overnight Club Race, a 44-mile event. “We started last,” said Foster. “The first boat started about an hour before us. We started at 7:50 in the evening and by about 11:30 we had passed the entire fleet.”

New Boats - New Dealers!
We’re happy to report that each month we’re delivering new boats and setting up new R33 dealers. Since the last update we have delivered three new boats to three new dealers. Marty and Dick Foster of Michigan, Mike Krantz of Georgia and Dave Walzer in Ohio are all sailing and spreading the word of the R33. For more info and websites see our R33 owners page. We have now seven dealers in the USA and growing.

Other News

Cruising Add-Ons

The R33 has been winning in almost every race it enters, but this boat is not just for the racing enthusiast. The fact is that when folks go out boating, they spend almost all of their time outside in the sun. The R33 has 14 feet of comfortable trampoline for the family to relax on and we have recently created an option for modifying that space. “The Pod” sits atop the trampoline and provides a center console gathering area for 4 people and a double bunk. It weighs under 100lbs, keeps you dry in the event of rain and can be easily taken on and off the boat. Its concept is derived from the cruising cat layouts. Under sail, the pod will be low profile, but once you reach your destination, it can be popped open and enjoyed. Furthermore, down below there will be cruising options available such as added storage areas and new wireless electronics designed for the trailer sailor.

More Performance?
I know… you like the R33 but you just wish it went a little faster! Well, we can make that happen. We are developing a system to give the production model with the 14-foot beam the same stability as the turbo rigged 17-foot wide boat. It will be a foldable design that won’t hinder the boat’s ability to fit into a 14 foot wide slip, but will enable it to get the same performance as the wider boat. Stay tuned for more details about that.

Safety, Safety, Safety

Here at Reynolds Sailing our goal is to build a boat that is fast, fun and safe. The R33 is all of these things times three. The fast and fun aspects we don’t need to explain, but the safe - deserves a word or two. As in any other sport or recreational activity, the harder you push, the more risk you’ll invite. Since our inception, we have only seen three capsizes and all were due to human error in situations where the skipper and crew were intentionally sailing very hard and on the edge. In these instances, the crew and boat suffered no damage and were righted in under 60 minutes. As admirable as that is, we can do better. Currently, we have a righting system in development designed for the crew to be able to right the boat unassisted. In addition, we are developing a configuration in coordination with Vessel Assist and Tow Boat US that would enable a simple, damage-proof righting with the assistance of their power boats. And lastly, in the event of this unlikely occurrence, the R33’s interiors will, in the future, be completely waterproof. “It’s only the guys who have taken it to the edge that have come close to capsizing,” says Reynolds. “But we want to make it a non-event, if it were to take place”

Until Next Time....

From the 15-knot trade winds with flat seas in the Pacific off of the Island paradise of Oahu, to the terror of a 35-knot blow in a stormy Chesapeake Bay, the R33 is triumphant. We will continue to track, examine and modify this cat in our pursuit of making the fastest, safest and most fun boat in the world! We’ll keep you up to date.

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