UPDATE 8-7-2002



Since our last update on 7/1/2002 much has happened. Not only have we had

the pleasure of boat testing in the same waters with Dennis Connors two 7

million dollar 75 foot AC boats but the last 5 weekends we have raced six

ocean races with our -93 PHRF handicap including the 240 mile round trip

Marina Del Rey to San Diego Race and the 200 mile round trip Santa Barbara

King Harbor race.



FIRST WEEKEND



Our first weekend of racing was the Marina Del Ray race to San Diego?one

hundred forty miles of going to weather hard on the nose day and night in

only 5 to 12 knots of wind. It is usually a 117 mile downwind race but not

this year!



We didn?t have much competition in this race but we did learn how the R33

would sail in 12-16 knots going to weather in a black night. The boat

performed nicely and comfortably. Sail handling was easy and we even put a

first timer at the helm to test how the boat performed with a

non-multihuller helmsman. Even in hull flying conditions Russ did a

beautiful job sailing fast and safe in near black conditions, even when we

got gusts of 15-16 knots. This was an important test of the boats safety as

when you have no horizon to judge your angle of heal you want a boat that

the helmsman can feel. The R33 has enough weather helm to make it easy to

head up in case of an unanticipated hull fly. Hull flying only occurs when

you have to much sail up. For the racers we will use hull flying to make the

boat faster. For the cruiser who never wants to hull fly our reefable sails

allow him a stable platform.



So , with only a 3 person crew which included myself, Simon and Russ, we

finished the slow race in 21 hours 40 minutes. We were the first boat over

the line in the fleet. We beat our closest rival by one and a half hours

which happened to be a monohull.



After finishing just before 10 am in the morning we went to the San Diego

yacht club and had breakfast. We dropped Simon off, as he lived in the San

Diego area, and Russ and I headed back to the boat. But now the hard

part?sailing back home with only 2 onboard with only 30 minutes of sleep the

night before.



The wind was still holding an off pattern south direction that we hoped

would allow a fast trip home. It was only 8 to 10 knots but with the wind

behind us we were hitting speeds of 18 knots in the 12 knot puffs with the

Code 1 asymmetrical kite up. We had a great time sailing back with warm

sunny conditions and very smooth seas. These conditions allowed us to let

one person sail and the other to catch up on there sleep time as they laid

out on the dry tramp doing 12 to 15 knots?.it was great! We saw schools of

dolphin, flying fish, shark and large sunfish. The best thing was our finish

time back to the dock in Long Beach?only ten hours with only a crew of two

and light wind all the way.



SECOND WEEKEND



Our second weekend of racing was the Catalina Island race series. Sail over

one day then party that night. The next day, if you survive the night

before, you race back home. We won both races on elapsed time even though we

made substantial navigational errors that in race number one we had to turn

around and sail back one mile downwind in light airs to round a mark! In

race two we sailed a much longer course than the fleet due to a faulty

waypoint. Although I was not happy with our performance on a navigational

side I was very happy with the R33?s speed? even with mistakes made we were

still fast enough to beat our multihull rivals which included some very fast

F31?s. The navigational errors made will not happen again as we now have a

new chart with all the local markers and their correct waypoints!



THIRD WEEKEND



Our third weekend of racing we had our guest skipper, Gino Morrelli of

Playstation fame, take the helm. Here is Gino?s accounting of the race from

an email I received Gino regarding the race.



Hi Randy:



Just a short note to thank you for letting Tim Kernan and I jump on board

your R33 Flyer for the Seal Beach/Dana Point Race. John and Ted had the boat

all prepared when we showed up at the dock. We looked forward to a fast

reach/run to DP but the race turned into a 30 mile light air beat instead.

But, the thing flies (pardon the pun) upwind! With the mid-pole blast up we

could tack between 75-80 degrees comfortably.



We had a couple of Corsair F31 tris and Jerry Wetzlers 44ft Crowther

"Freestyle" in our class. We beat them all off the line and slowly sailed

slightly higher and faster in about 6-7 kts true wind speed. Once we got to

the clearing mark and tacked over we continued to pull away as we sailed

through the 80 + monohulls in the fleet. Was fun.. Bit of a change in size

from sailing PlayStation, this boats a cool little version.



Towards Dana Point we ground down the last couple of mono's but ran out of

race course before we could catch the new TransPac 52 monohull "Yassou".

They got us by a couple of minutes elapsed. We just needed a couple more

puffs or a little longer race to reel them in. We ended up first to finish

elapsed time in class and second elapsed time overall.



Thanks again and let me know when I can steal it next!



Sincerely,



Gino



FOURTH WEEKEND



Our fourth weekend of racing included the grueling Crew of 2 race starting

in Newport beach and rounding Catalina to port and back to Newport?about a

90 mile race with only a crew of two.



Again, a race that is know for some wind and early finish times turned out

to be a long light air race. My crew, Simon Garland, and I started at 12:30

Sat afternoon in about 8 knots of wind. The ORCA class started last so we

proceeded to blast through the 80 some boat fleet. We finished at 7 am

Sunday morning 1st multihull across the line and second boat elapsed time in

the 80 boat fleet. Only Yassou, a transpac 52, finished in front of us,

mainly due to her 30 minute early start which allowed her to sail in a

different wind than the rest of the fleet. Next year, we are trying to have

the Orca fleet start with the A class boats.



Although we had light winds the whole race we were not completely bored?we

did have a very exciting match race on the backside of Catalina after

midnight with Pendragon V, a very fast monohull that?s comparable to the new

Transpac 52?s in speed. We were very pleased as we matched her upwind speed

and pointing ability in the 3 to 6 knots of wind going to weather. We

eventually pulled away from her substantially once the wind got to 8 to 10

knots.



All in all, the Crew of 2 race taught us how to race the boat with only a

crew of two with no mishaps. We demonstrated to the 80 boat fleet how easy

the boat is to sail fast and safe with only two onboard.



FIFTH WEEKEND



Our 5th race last weekend was the challenging Santa Barbara to King Harbor

Race. Over 130 boats entered this very popular race including some of the

fastest 70 + foot sleds on the west coast. Also, the very fast Afterburner

Cat that is 52 feet long and sports an 83 foot mast with cubin fiber

sails?she rates a blazing -144 phrf. We were also sailing against 3 of the

fastest F31?s on the west coast.



We started in 5 knots of wind. We got a great start and proceeded to lead

the fleet?even Afterburner, the large 54 foot Cat. After an hour of beating

in light air the wind shifted West as expected and now it was an 80 mile

drag race to the finish! The first part of the drag race is a long reach to

Anacapa Island. We put up the screacher and felt we were pulling the

fleet?except Afterburner, who put on their afterburners and were sailing off

into the horizon.



Getting close to Anacapa we were anticipating the wind going aft so we set

the Code 0 and was ready to run away from the fleet. However, soon after we

set the sail Mike Lenimen in his F31 and Jeff Cohen in his F31, as well as

the large ULDB sleds pulled on us at an alarming rate. By the time we

figured out that the Code 0 was dragging us down Mike slipped by us to

leeward?very frustrating! So we changed back to the screacher and had a

great downwind tacking duel with Mike?cutting each others transoms by feet

as we passed each other whooping and hollering at each other as we both

tried to clip each others rudder.



Eventually we got a comfortable lead again but then noticed Jeff on his F31

with a huge Code One spin gaining on us with our smaller screacher. So up

went our Code One spin and it was a four boat drag race to see who would be

finishing second behind Afterburner. Would it be the R33, one of two F31?s

or Magnitude, a very fast 65 foot ULDB that rates a -102 ?



We were tacking downwind in about 12-15 knots of wind with a good following

sea with the two F31?s hot on our heals and the giant Magnitude ULDB just

ahead of us. At the finish we pulled just ahead of Magnitude, beating her by

a mere 2 minutes. We beat our two multihull rivals Jeff and Mike in their

F31?s by 20 and 40 minutes respectively.



We were very pleased with the results?we were 2nd overall in a very

competitive fleet of 130 boats beating three very fast F31?s downwind with a

small chute (Tri?s do very well against cats downwind). It was a fast and

fun race and we learned much about the R33 in our first downwind race. We

have made a list of rig and sail changes and plan to have then installed for

the next race in 3 weeks. Our top speed was 19.5 knots but believe it will

greatly improve with the rig improvements and a larger Code one spin.



In summary for the last five weeks we have sailed in light and heavy winds

and have sailed short handed in hull flying conditions at night. Happy to

say the R33 performed beautifully without mishap or damage and we collected

another 5 elapsed time wins over our other multihull rivals. We learned much

about the boat and have compiled a list of improvements to make the boat

even faster and easier to sail for a crew of one or two.



Also, during these last 5 weeks when we were not racing we were working on

the sailing systems. We added a new mainsheet system, added a new sail

called the super screecher and also started developing the molded seat for

the ****. We hope to be sailing with our first set of seats in 1 week.



WHAT?S NEXT???



In the next three weeks we will take a breather from racing to finalize what

we feel will be the final R33 rig and sailing platform for the one design

class. We will also complete mold number two that will allow us to finally

start production.



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

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

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

check back for updates on the Price page.



BOAT ORDER UPDATE



Currently we have 23 production slots held with boats #24 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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