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Du er her: hjem |Nyhetsarkiv | September 2005
September 23rd 2005
Below is an article by reporter Bill Wagner of Maryland’s The Capital, recounting R33 owner, Tim Lane’s distinctive run in the recent Governor’s Cup race. 
John White and his crew captured the prestigious Waldschmitt Trophy. Multihull completes wild Governor’s Cup run By Bill Wagner, The Capital Staff Writer Somewhat overlooked in all the news reports about the St. Mary’s College of Maryland/West Marine Governor’s Cup was an historic moment. For the first time in the 32-year history of the overnight race, a multihull captured line honors. Glen Burnie resident Tim Layne earned that distinction when he steered Wild Card across the finish line just prior to 10 a.m. on Saturday. The Reynolds 33 catamaran completed the 70-mile trek from Annapolis to St. Mary’s City in an elapsed time of 15 hours, 50 minutes, 30 seconds. Fierce thunderstorms interspersed by dead calms made it one of the slowest yet scariest Governor’s Cups in recent memory. Only 70 of the 161 boats that started the race wound up finishing while two were struck by lightning. None of that mattered to Layne, a 48-year-old California native who works as a naval architect at CDI Marine Company in Severna Park. Layne is a lifelong catamaran sailor who grew up racing Hobies on San Francisco Bay. He moved to Maryland five years ago and has been crewing aboard such Annapolis raceboats as Chain Shot (Lee Jerry) and Four Little Ducks (Tom Walsh). This is Layne’s first season of racing Wild Card on the Chesapeake Bay. The Reynolds 33, a high-performance, ultralight catamaran, beat the Transpac 52 Sjambok boat-for-boat in the Race to St. Michael’s earlier this summer. “This boat can fly a hull in just six knots of wind. That’s why I was able to walk away from the rest of the fleet in this race,” Layne said. Layne’s crew of four included 15-year-old son Alexander. Ali Soylu and Timothy Lyons, an Army colonel stationed at Fort Meade, were also aboard. Donnybrook, a custom-built 72-footer owned by Jim Muldoon, has finished first in numerous Governor’s Cups and was favored to do so again. Layne said Wild Card was behind Donnybrook and alongside the Farr 36 Stray Dog just north of Solomon’s Island before making a strategical move that changed the standings. “We stayed on starboard tack in shallow water just off the southern shore of the Patuxent River and picked up steady wind,” he said. “Shortly afterward, the whole fleet got hit by a right shift. We were in perfect position to begin reaching, and that’s where we really made our money.” Stray Dog, sailed out of West River by Dr. Charles Engh, was second across the line _ 29 minutes behind Wild Card.Donnybrook arrived around 11 a.m. _ an hour behind Wild Card and half hour astern of Stray Dog. “I jokingly told Mr. Muldoon that if he ever wanted to win this race again, he would have to buy a multihull,” Layne said. Wild Card, which won the multihull division by 1 1/2 hours on corrected time, survived two potential problems. She picked up a crab pot, but Layne was able to raise the dagger board and shake it off. Later, a microburst threatened to capsize the catamaran. “We were in full broach, but fortunately I was able to backwind the genoa in time to keep us from flipping over,” he said. Buzzin’ on the Blogs This is an excerpt from a sailing blog called the “Wetass Chronicles” where the R33’s name came up. “These boats haul ass. Having sailed one through the Molokai Channel a couple times, I can say the Reynolds 33 goes fast in the breeze as well as the light stuff. Close reaching in 15 kts. The thing cruises at 13-15. Off the wind Screacher up same wind cruising at 19kts, bouncing off 24 in the puffs!” Race Tracks Wet Wednesdays 
Randy and his posse have made the most out of their Wednesday night races by continually tweeking and experimenting with the R33’s high performance capabilities. In a recent race, they discovered that dropping the traveler down a full two feet, going up wind in 14 knots of wind, dramatically increased the boat speed, yet they were still able to point high.
In addition, the crew tested a new flatter mainsail that also helped move the boat faster. “The other sails that are on existing R33s can be modified to create the same sail shape for a nominal amount of money,” said Reynolds. With the new finding they were able to beat their Wednesday night nemesis, “Peligroso”. The reward for the win was the crew receiving a big bottle of Mt. Gay rum and a shot glass. Mt. Gay was the sponsor of the event. Ship Rock Race In under the amount of time it usually takes the average sailor to sail one way from the Long Beach area to Catalina Island, Reynolds and crew made the entire round trip. For most boats, it’s a five to six hour voyage to the island - but they made it there and back in less than four and half. The closest monohull in the race was an hour and a half behind them. Under main and blast alone they frequently hit 21 knots and maintained a phenomenally fast pace achieving an all time course record. It also broke an R33 record for the fastest trip to the island. Towards the end of the race, it was John Papa in his R33 still close to Reynolds. “Around [the area of] Point Fermin, it was a horse race,” said Reynolds. “But through these little techniques that we’ve been learning about the boat, we were able to go faster. I think it was mainly due to how we had the crew positioned.” [For more about these techniques check Reynolds’ racing and performance tips farther down in the newsletter]. Damn Those Cookies! 
On pace to shatter existing records in the 140 nautical mile Trans-Erie race from the Detroit lighthouse to Erie Pennsylvania. Dave Walzer and crew got slightly too comfortable with the R33’s Ferrari-like ability to cruise at 18-knots and accidentally flipped her over.
They were sailing in 15-20 knots of wind downhill hitting speeds up to 20 , jibing their way through the course. Blazing along and having a late lunch, the crew was discussing how manageable the boat was at such a velocity. “Everybody was commenting about how comfortable it was to have the back rests - while sitting there on a cushion and doing those kinds of speeds.” After they finished eating, one of the crewmembers went digging in the leeward hull for the cookies that his wife had packed for him. As the news traveled of the cookies, another crewmen went to the leeward hull to get in on the snack action. Sadly, at this point, three of the four men on board, were all on the low side with cookies in their hands instead of sheets. “When it happened, everybody was kind of out of position,” said Walzer. “Two guys were down to leeward, my son was sitting way up forward and I was at the helm. We got hit hard with a gust and [the boat]went down with it. We started to come back up, then got hit with an even bigger gust. As the boat went up. I missed getting my foot on the hiking tube (that runs through the trampoline), so I was falling down the trampoline. It’s pretty hard to steer in that opposite direction.” 
At that point the knockdown occurred and the boat stayed on its side for a good amount of time before the spinnaker eventually filled with water causing a turtle situation. “I really think if we had tipped over, going to weather with a normal headsail out, we probably could have righted it,” said Walzer.
Once the spinnaker filled and the boat turtled, all the crew could do was call the authorities and wait for assistance. Hours later, the Coast Guard came and tried to right the ship, but were unsuccessful so Walzer threw a beacon on the boat and came out the next day, righted her and brought her home. [ed. note - Reynolds Sailing is in the process of educating the towing companies on the proper means by which to right the R33] Besides the inevitable injured “pride-bone”, there were no injuries and the boat took it all in stride. In fact, the capsizing caused no damage at all to the boat. When asked what kind of cookies they were, Walzer laughed and said, “I don’t know - I never got one.” The Future of Capsizing - Anti Flipping Behavior For the sake of clarity, it’s important to point out that the R33 is an incredibly safe and forgiving boat to sail. It is a unique boat in that it can be sailed as a fast and fun cruising boat or as a racing rocket ship. Its simple design is as comfortable to a teenager sailing on a lake as it is to a champion sailor who wants a boat he can push to the extreme. And it’s when the boat gets pushed like this, that a capsizing is possible. It always comes down to the skipper. In the recent Chicago Mackinaw Race where sailors saw 50 knot winds, an F-31 capsized and the R33 didn’t. Why? Sound decisions called by the skipper. Never the less, Walzar’s recent incident has accelerated the Reynolds plan to make a righting system for the R33 that will make capsizing a non-event. Tips for Not Tipping - Randy Reynolds Mini Interview Q: How can we insure that a capsizing won’t occur? Reynolds: Once you’re in hull-flying conditions the number one rule that we never break is: The skipper has to have his hand on the main sheet. The only person who really knows when there’s trouble is the skipper. There should be another guy on the traveler, he can dump the traveler when he hears the skipper scream like a man-child. A third person should be manning the headsail. It should have two or three wraps around the winch, but not going through a cleat or anything, so it can be released at any time. 
Q:When you capsized, what went wrong?
Reynolds: We got too comfortable and nobody was on the main or the jib. I was on the traveler and it jammed. After that we came up with the rule that keeping a hand on the main sheet is the most important element of safety when flying a hull or just pushing the boat hard. [ed. note - check the archives section for full details of Randy’s capsizing] Q: What about communication? Reynolds: Constant communication. The skipper has to let the crew know, once the hull comes out of the water, that he’s aware of what’s going on and that he’ll dictate the sail trim. This is obviously performance/race related. Q: Which is riskier upwind or downwind? Reynolds: There’s only been risk off the wind. Going to weather, the boat is easy to manage, because people simply head up into the wind and the boat comes down. On a multihull, sailing downwind, flying a hull is much trickier. The reason for that is that when you’re beam reaching or running you have to make a conscious decision as to whether you’re going to head up or head down. If you decide that you’ll head up, then you have to sail on the luff of the sail. So it has to be on a half luff. Most people would choose to head downwind. It takes more practice and experience flying a hull downwind then going to weather. As general rule, sail away from the wind, when you’re off the wind and head up when your going into the wind. 
Q: What about wind shifts?
Reynolds: Another reason a boat might capsize is due to shifts in the wind. When you’re on a beam reach and it shifts 20 degrees, now you’re powered up and have to go an extra 20 degrees to avoid a possible capsize. You have to be very aware of shifts. If it’s really shifty, throttle back because it’s more important to finish the race then not - or just really step up the communication with the crew. Q: What are your plans for the future regarding capsizing? Reynolds: It is our goal as a company to make capsizing a non-event. Just as if you had a Hobie 18 and you tipped it over; you’d right the boat and you’d keep sailing. We’re working on a system that will soon be going into test phases. On the immediate front is an inflatable vertical mast float. It won’t look like a training wheel or anything like that. With this float, if you were to capsize, you wouldn’t turtle - making the boat much easier to right. It will be adaptable to all R33 cats. Papa Entertains Kids! When John Papa (Sailfast.us) isn’t racing his R33 all over the Southern California coast he’s making other use of the boat. This month he was found over on Catalina Island with the Queen of Angels church group, shuttling them all over the island. “I basically did these little, under two hour adventures around the island,” said Papa. “Generally, I had about six to eight people on board.” 
Papa continues to singlehand the boat often and is accruing a good amount of knowledge in that department. “When I’m alone, there has to be a double reef. Whatever headsail that would be used when there is four people on board should be one size down when you’re alone.” Papa continued, “even with just the jib and the main alone with a single person, the reaction time is well under five seconds.”
Living in the Fast Lane Who would have thunk it? The R33 as a live-a-board. Sure it’s comfy down there with a double berth, galley and head - but living on it? Well, Skipper Craig, has taken the plunge testing the R33’s cruising prowess. He has been living on his boat for four weeks now and plans on remaining on the boat for a long while. “ It’s been a fun experience for sure,” said Craig. “I’ll be living on it all winter. The only thing I need to do is install some ventilation to make it an all-weather live-aboard boat. So when it rains, I can close the windows and the hatch and still have ventilation, but that’s not a complicated thing to do.” Sailing All the Way to the Bank - The R33 Cash Cow Miles Moore and Craig have also been using the R33 as a six-pack charter boat on Lake Cour d’ Alene, a resort area in Northern Idaho, in concert with the local hotels. They have have been at capacity since they started the project a month ago with groups of six going out for one hour sails at $35 a head. The goal is to take four trips a day with six passengers for a maximum take of $840 per day. They’re also doing private charters - fly fishing trips and camping adventures. “We started in the latter half of the season and we were immediately chartering upon its arrival,” said Craig. “There wasn’t much lead time to get the business started, but we hit the key spots, especially the hotel concierges at the major resort hotels because they’re the ones that will fill the boat.” The sleek attractive appearance and cruising comfort of the boat have made it a popular choice for tourists in search of a unique afternoon activity. Its light wind capability allows the customers to get a thrilling ride in most any wind conditions and not feel crammed into some over stuffed tour boat or cattle-maran as they’re sometimes called. The six-packing success is a positive indicator that beyond the long list of recreational attributes that the boat possesses, it also withholds the components of a viable business model. Contact Randy or Bob Long for more details on how to make the R33 work for you. 
One More Word on Capsizing - Randy Reynolds Editorial
by Randy Reynolds Recently, due to the capsizing of Boat #15, there has been some discussion on the Internet of the R33’s safety and stability. Looking at some of the comments, I feel like I am back in high school again in the 1970’s instead of attempting to push the envelope of multihull performance in the 21st century. First of all, the R33 is strong and safe. It can’t sink, all sails are reefable, it can be reefed to bare poles in under 60 seconds, her deck layout and sheeting systems avoid sheet wraps, her main tube design and seatbacks make her incredibly dry and comfortable and our Morrelli/Melvin engineering make her exceptionally strong. In addition to many other safety oriented features that the boat possesses, she can handle a capsize and righting without damage (unlike some other designs). We have never said the R33 is an offshore cruising boat. It is a weekender, overnighter, daysailor capable of fast-extended voyages with a capable crew. Yet, with that said, I am sure someone will sail an R33 across the Pacific or the Atlantic one day...just as they are sailing Inter 18’s across the Atlantic today. Yes, this boat can fly a hull in 7 knots of wind with full sail up with all hands to leeward...it was designed that way. That is why the R33 has a PHRF rating of -78 to -124 as compared to the F31R or OD at –11 to - 54. Most sailors sail in 0 to 25 knots of wind…not 60. Our light air speedster has a 48-foot mast, not due to inefficient hulls, but because we like to beat our competition in light to moderate breezes. For heavy wind, we put in practice a little known concept called “reefing”. I would rather have a boat with a large rig because you can reduce sail area when the wind comes up. You can’t add sail area with a stumpy rig. This makes for a much better all around performing boat. In recent races we have proven that our tall rig can handle heavy airs. The 48-foot masted, 14-foot wide R33 has survived races where winds hit 50 knots and half the fleet was turned around or dismasted. A recent example is the recent Governors Cup, described as one of the scariest races in its 35-year history. More than half of the 160 boat fleet withdrew with an R33 catamaran capturing first line honors making her the first ever multihull in its history to win this prestigious race (see Governors Cup article). Based on this result I would love to claim that the R33 is the one of the safest boats in the world...but no matter what a designer does to a boat to make it safe, it is only as safe as her crew...period! The crew in this case did the appropriate actions to finish the race and win. Another example is the outstanding performance of 66-year old Ted Miller in Hawaii. He just won the 62nd annual Lahaina Return Race. He beat all competitors including a custom 30-carbon cat and an F31. It was one of the roughest races in the 62 year history posting 15-foot waves and recorded gusts of 42 knots. Ted and his crew sailed the course in less than 5-hours with no damage to boat or crew. The Carbon Cat broke her mast and a large monohull lost her rudder. Ted has a 16-foot wide boat, but this race was a downwind race. He was not as worried about capsizing on the beam as possibly pitch poling downwind due to the extreme seas. But the R33 showed no signs of stuffing the bow and Ted pushed the boat to the limit to capture line honors. For the same amount of sail area, if he had the 14-foot wide boat, he would have won with a larger margin, as the narrower boat is faster and safer downwind than the wider boat. For the same amount of hull flying, the narrower boat tends to sail 15 degrees lower and one knot faster with much less chance of bow burying than the wider boat. Of course, both boats are safer when cruising with less sail area, less speed and no hull flying. I personally have sailed the R33 for the last 4 years in a wide range of conditions...the worst was in 45 knots of wind and 15 foot seas only 3-5 seconds apart in an offshore race that we won on elapsed. We were one of only two multihulls that finished the race. The other multi was an F24. The wide F-31’s quit, yet our 14-foot wide R33 with a 48 foot mast, triple reefed main and double reefed jib not only finished the race, but beat the second place boat (a Farr 40) handily. Now, bare in mind, the F31’s are excellent boats with very good records. But the crews on those boats quit, not because the boats could not handle the conditions, they quit for there own personal reasons. So it again comes down to the crew of the vessel making conscious decisions regarding seamanship. 
Comments have been made that we are setting multihulls back 30 years...I thought multihulls have come a long way without having to worry about what the yachting establishment thinks. Monohulls that push the leading edge have capsized, dismasted and sunk, yet they keep pushing the envelope. So are we...why should they have all the fun?
So here’s the deal...Monohulls sink and Multihulls capsize...it’s as simple as that. It can be an F31 (which capsized in the same 50-knot storm during the 2005 Chicago Mac Race that a 14 foot wide R33 survived without capsizing), an ORMA 60 trimaran or a large cruising cat. Even our arch rival on the west coast, Afterburner, a beautiful 52-foot long, 35-foot wide catamaran that can fly a hull in 10 knots of wind (with everything up) has capsized twice in New Zealand with her original crew. Stability is not based on how much beam or mast height a boat has, it is based on how much sail area is put up in a given wind condition for a given beam and length. Our 14-foot beam is extremely stable with a triple reef main. She can handle up to 40 knots of wind without flying a hull properly sailed. However, even if you have no sails up and a large beam, a multihull can capsize just like the F31 that flipped over, bow over stern, killing one of the crewmembers in extreme conditions. In this instance, the crew was doing everything correctly and had an excellent boat under them…yet it was not enough. Because of this unfortunate accident should we outlaw boats 31 feet and under from sailing on the ocean? Booms have killed crew in accidental jibes…why isn’t there a rule that all mainsails be boomless? Sailing can be and is a dangerous sport. No boat can save you when the ocean and nature decides it wants to take you out. In the case of Dave Walzer, they made a mistake in racing conditions. They were pushing the boat hard to get the best speed for the given wind condition. That is why they were on record pace way ahead of their competition. If they were cruising they would have had a reefed main and small headsail up not flying a hull…but they were racing! As the recent Sailing World article states (see Sailing World Article), the R33 has two modes…racing and cruising. The boat can be as wild or tame as the skipper wants her to be. This day, Dave Walzer and crew was sailing the boat in racing mode, pushing the boat going for maximum speed at all times…and on a catamaran that means flying a hull. The mistake the crew made was not that they were flying a hull, but they got too comfortable. If there is one fault with the R33 it’s that the boat can be sailed at very high speeds, very dry and comfortably, lulling the crew away from being focused. In any case the crew and boat survived with no damage to either. I am sure that Dave and crew will not make the same mistake again...just as I haven’t since I capsized an R33 Turbo (18 feet wide) 5 miles offshore in 20 knots of wind. I too capsized the boat because I got too comfortable. Since then, I always follow our anti-capsizing rules for certain conditions and have sailed very fast and upright for the last 2 years. For the account of my capsize go to our website under R33 cat safety link. The good news about Dave Walzer’s capsize and the reaction it got from a few people on the internet is that it has prioritized our efforts to developing the righting system. We hope to have the system in place before the end of the year and that this system will make capsizing a non-event on an R33. In case of an accidental capsize, it will allow the crew to right the boat unassisted and allow them to continue sailing…making the R33 one of the safest boats on the water. We even plan to start testing a new high performance, lightweight, self-righting system that won’t allow the boat to capsize at all and will round up and right itself with no assistance! It is so unique we our currently in the patent search and patent process. 
So now the question comes from us...should we only allow multihulls that have a righting system to race offshore??? We will have ours...will you?
Fast Sailing! Randy Reynolds Finale 
The sun is setting on another summer season and our rising star maintains the ascent. The wins for the racers continue to rack up. Records are being broken and the general public is gradually becoming aware of the power and prowess that this boat withholds. Team Reynolds continues to modify, upgrade and tweek this already superior design.
We’ll see you next time! 
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