UPDATE 7/01/2002



NEW TOP SPEED FOR R33 CAT?.HIT 22.1 IN STEADY 17 WITH GUSTS TO 22 BEAM

REACHING IN HEAVY SEAS. ONLY THREE ONBOARD WITH SINGLE REEFED MAIN AND JIB.



Since our last update on 6/11/2002 we have been sailing the R33 hard in a

variety of conditions. I am happy to say our sailing season is finally

starting to kick in with wind and sea conditions becoming stronger and

rougher?exactly what we want to test the strength of the R33. The last two

days we saw 3-4 foot short steep wind chop with 4 to 5 foot westerly swells

and a steady 20 knots of wind with gusts to 25. We sailed the boat hard?not

a creak or a groan from the rig or platform.



We have also been testing and perfecting our reefing systems for both the

main and jib. We have modified the roller boom system by redesigning the

clew and tack patches on the mainsail. This allows the sailor to easily

lower the main halyard while using the boom handle to roll the sail around

the boom to a variety of reefed positions and then re-tension the main

halyard. With this modified system it is not necessary to attach a downhaul

or outhaul to the sail thus greatly reducing the time and effort of reefing.

By having sails that are easy to reduce this allows us to have a tall rig

allowing exceptional light air performance while at the same time by

reducing sail size easily allows the R33 to handle high winds.



The R33 will be able to be as fast or tame in a variety of conditions

depending on the skippers choice. It is a big part of our commitment in

making the R33 fast for the experienced sailor and safe and easy to sail for

the novice.



News Flash!!!! R33 cat debuts in her first offshore race. Wins both 25 mile

races on elapsed time!



On June 8th 2002 we entered the R33 in her race debut in Long Beach Yacht

Club?s Catalina Island Series number 3 and 4. The race starts in Long Beach

and finishes 25 miles offshore in Emerald Cove on Catalina Island. We sailed

against a 37 boat fleet that included two new very fast mono-hulls?a One-D

48 and a new Alan Andrews Transpac 52. In our class there were 9 multi-hulls

consisting of three F-31?s, one 29 foot Warrior Cat, one F28, a Newick 36

foot trimaran, two large custom cruising catamarans and of course ourselves.

We were given a PHRF rating of minus-77 and had a total of four crew? Ted

Miller - foredeck, John Fitzgerald - after guard, Russ Turk, navigator and

myself as helmsman/skipper.



In the first race on Saturday it was very light and fluky going to weather

all 25 miles to Catalina in only 3 to 8 knots of wind. We finished the race

in 5 hours and 46 minutes with the second place multihull finishing about

one hour behind us. We were very surprised by our performance on this day.

Cats usually do not fare well in light shifting wings going to weather. Cats

like to sail with a little heal to reduce wetted area. We were flat footed

the whole race and still managed to sail fast probably in part due to the

low wetted surface of the R33 hull design.



After winning Saturdays race on elapsed time in the multihull fleet we

motored one mile south at 8 knots to Isthmus Harbor to celebrate our victory

on the Island. We picked up a mooring in the harbor and started to organize

the cabins and deck. It was decided early on to carry two dome tents so all

four crew could have privacy in their own cabins. I got the starboard hull,

Ted the port hull and Russ and John would have their own cabins provided by

the two dome tents. John and Russ quickly assembled their dome tents and

secured them onto the deck. Russ?s tent went forward of the mid tube and

Johns went aft. With four private sleeping areas set up for the crew we

pulled out the nine foot inflatable dinghy and inflated and launched her. We

paddled the inflatable to the dinghy dock and proceeded to the bar. The good

thing about sailing a fast boat is you always get a good seat at the bar!



After a busy night of good music, food, drink and telling tall sea stories

we called it a night at about midnight and paddled back to the boat. We all

retired to our respective quarters and had a good nights sleep awaking to

rain on Sunday morning. The R33 cabins and dome tents proved to be warm and

dry even in the rain.



That morning we paddled back to the Island in a light rain and had a Sunday

buffet breakfast getting nourishment for the upcoming race. After breakfast

we went back to the mooring where the weather was starting to break. We

packed up the tents and stowed the dinghy and cast off the mooring heading

out to the starting line. It looked like it was going to be a good day of

sailing.



We started Sundays race at about 12:30 and sailed a close reach on a

rumbline course to the finish line 25 miles away in about 8 knots of wind.

As we got to the middle of the channel the wind remained steady at 8 knots

but we encountered a very confused sea. We had a large 4 to 6 foot Westerly

swell pushing us to the finish line with a southerly wind chop of 2-3 feet

coming straight at us. We had the main and blast reacher up and were hitting

12 knots blasting through the confused sea. The boat remained dry and

comfortable to sail even as the wind got to 12 knots and our boat speed

peeked at 17.1 knots at the end of the race. We finished the race in 3 hours

7 minutes beating the second place boat by 25 minutes. We even covered our

minus-77 PRHF rating and corrected to a first place finish.



To sum it up we were very happy with the R33?s performance?we knew we had a

fun, fast boat but without other boats to compare we didn?t know how fast.

The R33 proved to be faster than we thought?in fact, it looks like after our

horizon job performance over the weekend we?ve been told our rating will be

pushed up 20 percent to a minus-93.



WHAT?S NEXT???



In the next two weeks we will continue to tune the rig and her sailing

systems. We will also focus on taking new photos and video of the R33

sailing in a variety of conditions and sails up, so keep watching the update

page for new images.



Regarding production we hope to finalize the hull construction to so we can

start building R33 hulls #2 in two weeks. We should also have our final

price list posted on the websight on the Price page very soon. Be sure to

check back for updates on the Price page.



BOAT ORDER UPDATE



Currently we have 22 production slots held with boats #23 in the process of

being reserved. For more information how you can reserve a Reynolds 33

production slot with a refundable deposit please go to our ?Price? page.



Fast Sailing!



Randy Reynolds

http://reynolds33.com



For Videos of the R33 go to:

http://video.reynolds33.com



For photos of the R33 go to:

http://photos.reynolds33.com



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