Update: August 2nd, 2003      [View More Photos]   [View Videos]

Since our last update in May we have finished testing the R33 Turbo. We have raced her in the Volvo Leukemia Cup, the Seal Beach to Dana Point Race, the Catalina Island Series #5 and 6 and the Crew of Two around Catalina Island Race.

Regarding R33 production we are currently in our first stage of production and are currently building three boats in three months. After these boats are completed we will step up production to 1.5 to 2 boats per month.

We have also been very busy with demos, such as Paul and Dianne from Boston, who came out to test sail the R33 Cat on a beautiful Southern California day. As you can see we put Dianne hard to work perfecting her foredeck skills as she gracefully controls the A-Spin. Paul was also perfecting his skills doing some "airtime" on the windward hull....not bad for a mono-hull sailor :)

Lastly, the new R48 catamaran has been priced out and we are in the last stages of finalizing the design. But first, the testing, sailing and racing of the R33 Turbo Unlimited.…

The Volvo Leukemia Cup Race

With over 50 boats in this 3 day regatta this race was a fun series. The first day of racing was a race from Newport beach to Dana point in light airs. We finished the 16 mile race in one hour 10 minutes with the second place boat finishing 30 minutes later.

The second day of racing we had a guest skipper…none other than Gino Morrelli. We got a great start and sailed the small triangle course winning on elapsed and corrected.

The third day of racing I was back on the helm and we sailed a short race in very light wind winning on corrected and elapsed again. It was a good test to see if we could sail against some of the better sailed and better rated boats to see if the new Turbo could sail to her super fast rating of -123. We did. We won the overall series on elapsed and corrected time.

The Seal Beach to Dana Point Race

With almost 80 boats in a 30 mile light air race we sailed the course in just over 3 hours beating the second place boat by almost a full hour! The boat was Shocka Zulu, a very fast Shock 40 canting keel sport boat. We again corrected out on a good rated boat in the small ORCA multihull class showing that the R33 Turbo’s rating will probably go up to the -130’s.

What was very interesting about this race was how we won the race with only myself and one other crew onboard. I had onboard first time R33 sailor, John Papa, who currently owns my old Newick 36 trimaran. With no experience onboard the R33 cat John quickly acquainted himself with the lines, sheets and halyards. I have set the boat up for two handed sailing and it really showed as we blasted through the large 80 boat fleet with very little crew effort. In our inclined cockpit seats and with John doing crew work with a beer in his hands we looked as if we were out for a leisurely day-sail instead of our counterpart mono-hull racers with crews numbering 6 to 8 all out on the weather rail. And while they were struggling with huge spinnakers we simply pulled one string and out came our super screecher shifting us into another gear. It seemed effortless as we blasted down the coast doing peeking to 16 knots in only 8 to 10 knots of wind…all this without having to disturb John putting down his beer. When will the mono-hullers discover “there is a better way”!

The Catalina Race #5 and #6

The first race proved to be very frustrating. Very light winds, a good chop and going to weather the whole 25 miles, I felt we could not get the boat in the right groove. We were still fast enough to beat the second place multi-hull, a well sailed F28, by almost 30 minutes in a 4 hour race. But we felt the boats new Blast headsail was not tuned properly. We made some notes on the sail and played around with the fairleads and halyard tension for the next race.

The second day of racing started with Spins flying soon after the start. Even with un-tuned sails on this point of sail the boat is very fast. We finished the 26 mile race in 2 hours 14 minutes with the second place boat finishing almost 45 minutes behind us. Unfortunately, After the race it was brought to our attention by the race committee that we passed the wrong mark. We could have gone faster if we sailed the correct course, as we were forced to sail low and slow for about 30 minutes for the wrong mark. The race instructions were worded properly but the charts and images of the course were not correct. This caused confusion amongst the fleet as many of the Orca and PHRF fleet went the wrong way. So instead of correcting first we gave ourselves a DNF. On the good side of the race we learned again that, if sailing a proper course, we could sail to our -123 rating and win!

The Crew of Two race around Catalina Race

This was a great race! With my trusty crew Russ Turk we took the challenge of this grueling 90 mile race around Catalina Island. Although it is a 90 mile race for handicap purposes it is actually much longer. For us coming from Huntington Harbor it is a 16 mile sail down the coast to the starting line in Newport Beach. Then, after the start it is a 55 mile beat to the west end of Catalina, then jibing downwind 30 miles around the east end of Catalina, then sail on a beam reach another 25 miles to the finish. After the finish we then have to sail upwind 20 miles back to Huntington Harbor…a total mileage of approximately 146 miles. All these miles with no sleep to boot!

The day of the race Russ and I left Huntington Harbor at 9:45 in the morning with already an 8 knot wind behind us. We sailed the 16 miles to the start line in Newport in one hour 15 minutes doing 10 to 14 knots of speed. We were sailing past other boats while they were motoring down to the starting line. It seemed pretty funny to us as we were sailing and they were motoring at half our speed!

We got to Newport one and a half hours early to the start of the race. So we hammed it up for the 50 boat fleet and sailed back and forth flying a hull doing 16 knots in the now 10 knot breeze. Bob Long, my partner, was on the Balboa Pier getting some great shots of the Turbo doing what the Turbo likes best…going fast and getting some “airtime”.

Just before the start we decided to put a reef in the sail as the wind had picked up to a steady 12 to 14 knots. As soon as we sheeted in the newly reefed sail the roller furling boom handle broke. The handle was a temporary aluminum boom handle as we were waiting for the new stainless handle to be finished. With the handle breaking this caused the main on the boom to spin and come off the boom. So we hoisted the full sail up and prepared ourselves mentally for sailing the course with no way to reef the huge 54 foot rigged mainsail. I had a back-up plan made up in my mind if the wind got to much for our 2 man crew…we would take the main down, call the race committee boat, abandon the race, then sail in on jib or engine to Huntington Harbor. With the wind now at a steady 15 knots at the start this “back-up plan” was looking like it could become a reality.

The race started at 12:45. There was some confusion at the start however we got off to a good start and was leading the small multi-hull fleet and chasing the larger mono-hull fleet to the west end of Catalina. The fastest boats in the Mono-hull fleet were an Open 50 Class ocean racer, a custom AA race boat and a Schock 40. The ORCA fleet had only 3 boats but a good 3 boats……ourselves, my old Newick 36 tri sailed by John Papa and a great older boat called Mistral, a Conel 40 built in the early 80‘s. The Conel 40, designed by John Conser, is a boat ahead of its time. She is 40 feet long, has a large modern full batten main and rotating mast, is a tube boat with trampoline weighing around 7500 lbs…a very fast boat especially going to weather. Just after the start the wind increased, now to a steady 18 knots of wind, gusting to 25 with a very nasty 3-5 foot chop. This race was going to be a good test for the new Turbo and her crew.

It became apparent we were going to have a horse race the first half of the race. The strategy is usually to sail upwind to Cabrillo Beach then sail across the 25 mile channel and hope to be lifted around the west end of Catalina. The Conel 40 had pulled slightly ahead of us as the nasty chop was effecting our shorter 33 foot waterline length. We were doing great against the mono-hulls pointing higher and sailing faster at between 8 and 10 knots depending on the chop. We were tacking with less than 80 degrees…much to the surprise of the monohull fleet.

Halfway up to Cabrillo Beach the Conel 40 crossed just ahead of us but kept on going. They decided to cross the channel early then tack up Catalina Island and around the west end. I was sad to see them cross early as we had some good racing to weather and it was great “R and D” for the Turbo.

We kept sailing up the coast as it is usually faster to sail up to Cabrillo beach then cross the channel due to currents and wind shifts. As we were going to Cabrillo most the fleet ducked into L.A Harbors huge protected waters to sail the rest of the way to Cabrillo. It was great. We were now sailing 10 to 11 knots to weather and sailing very high in the flat water. Even in the strong winds gusting to 25 knots the boat was very controllable with just Russ and I on the boat. The jib was sheeted tight and the main was traveled down about a foot and sheeted tight. We were flying a hull but never to high as it would slow the boat down. We had already caught up to all the mono-hulls, who started 20 to 30 minutes ahead of us, except for the Open 50 and the AA race boat. However, before we left the harbor we zoomed by the Open 50 and were now chasing the AA race boat. The Conel 40 was no where in sight as they had crossed early. Where could they be???

We left the harbor and started to sail across the 25 mile channel to the west end of Catalina. During this time we proved our pointing superiority over the very fast and weatherly mono-hull by sailing up and over the last remaining mono-hull halfway across the channel. Just after passing the last mono-hull lady luck was upon us as we had a school of 20 dolphin chasing us just 6 to 8 feet behind our tiny little wake. They stayed there for about 5 minutes before disappearing into the ocean waves.

As we approached the west end our luck was about to change as we got a rude awakening….the Conel 40 was already tacking up the island and looked to have a good lead on us. We do not know if the lead was due to there longer waterline and faster speed upwind or their tactic to cross early. Whatever it was we were not happy to see them round the west end a good 20 minutes ahead of us. We knew we had our work cut out for us if we were to catch them on the backside of the island…which was going to be a beam reach and then a broad reach to the east end.

We rounded the west end of the island at about 6:00 pm ahead of all the mono-hulls and had one boat to catch…the Conel 40. We unfurled the small reacher and then proceeded to hoist the larger Super Screecher. The wind had backed down to about 8 to 10 as it usually does later in the day and on the backside of Catalina. After hoisting the sail we unfurled the sail and aimed ourselves right at the Conel 40...just a medium size dot on the horizon. This was going to be a good test…can we catch them???

Well, much to our surprise we were catching them very fast. It was becoming very apparent that the slight advantage they had with there longer waterline to weather was not going to be good enough to hold off our lighter weight boat off the wind. The wind started to clock behind us so we put up our A-spin and we really picked up speed doing 14 knots downwind in about 8 knots. We caught them very quickly and sailed by them to leeward. As we passed both crews of the two boats were waving, smiling and giving the thumbs up to each other as we were all having a great time. The weather was warm, the wind was good and the seas were pushing us down to the east end…doesn‘t get much better than that. However, with the sun setting and night time racing coming upon us, anyone could come out ahead…even the mono-hulls could catch us if we fell into the lee of the Island.

Now, with a very comfortable lead we started to round the east end of Catalina. To pass the lee is tricky. Sometimes you can sail right along the shore and have wind the whole way. Other times you have to sail 7 miles past the island to have clear air. We sailed as close to the island as possible but when the wind started to get light we jibed the kite and headed out away from the lee. This worked pretty well as we only encountered light winds for about an hour. Then the best part of the voyage was about to happen!

Once we cleared the lee side of the island a nice 10 to 12 knot steady breeze from the west filled in giving us a beam reach to the finish line 25 miles away. We sailed just under 2 hours flying a hull with speeds peaking at 17.5 knots with a clear sky full of shooting stars and flying fish all about us. We only needed the full Main and working jib to hit these speeds. This last trek across to the finish line made the whole race worthwhile. It was beautiful sailing at night, going very fast and knowing that nobody was going to catch us. Even the Open 50, which are known for their off the wind speed, did not have a chance.

As we approached the finish line in the dark, we spotted the race committee boat just off the Balboa Pier where we had started 12 hours before. We finished between the committee boat and the mark at 12:38 in the morning. After finishing, we started the engine and motor-sailed back to Huntington Harbor and got back to the dock at 4:00 am the same morning. A long day of sailing but worth it. We got some great photos of the boat, proved the boats strength in choppy seas and 25 knots of wind and proved her all around performance with only a crew of two onboard. It was a good day.

Later on Sunday we discovered we corrected first in the small ORCA fleet even against the better rated boats. On elapsed time against the fleet, we beat the second place boat, the Open 50, by one and a half hours. A great way to finish off July’s racing schedule!!!

I’m going to hate to give up the keys to this fun boat to her new owner Pau Gol of Spain. Pau will be here August 8th 2003 to take delivery and sea trial his new R33 Turbo Unlimited. The Turbo will then be shipped at the beginning of September to her new home in Barcelona Spain. Nicknamed by the local mono-hull racers as the “Big Yellow Cat” she will be missed by the local sailing scene.

Reynolds 33 Production Update

Reynolds Sailing is now completely focused on building boats and delivering them to their owners. The molds and tooling are complete, the production facilities have been secured and building of boats is underway.

We are currently in our first phase of production. Boats #1 and boat #2 are built and owned by Kent Maas of Arizona and Pau Gol of Barcelona Spain. We are now building 3 boats at once at a rate of one boat per month. The proud owners of boats #3, #4 and #5 our John Kidder of Florida, Tom Mack of Michigan and Ted Miller of Hawaii. If all goes well Boat # 3 will be delivered at the end of August with boat #4 delivered in Sept and Boat #5 in October.

After the success of this 3 boat production run we plan to step up our production to 1.5 to 2 boats a month allowing many of our current depositors to get their boats early for the 2004 season.

If you are considering an R33 cat now for the 2004 season now is the time reserve your production slot and set up a demo ride today.

Reynolds 48 update

The R48 catamaran design is fast becoming a reality. We have firm pricing from Morrelli and Melvin Products Development Company to build the first 3 boats. The new boat will be 48 feet yet the base boat will be less than the F36 Trimaran…about $185,000 and fully equipped at about $225,000. The new boat will sleep 8, have two heads w/shower and a galley and nav station…yet it will weigh less than 6500 lbs! Keep watching for a complete update on the new R48 Cat. Here is a glimpse of the preliminary drawings…

Special Announcement!!!

We are pleased to announce that Pacific Seacraft of Fullerton Ca. has come onboard as our official fiberglass contractor to build the R33 catamaran fiberglass components.

Pacific Seacraft, based in Fullerton, CA, was founded in 1976 for the purpose of building some of the world's best passage making sailboats. Many of the company's original boat builders are still building the boats today. The collaboration with the Crealock design office began in 1980, making it one of the longest running designer/builder relationships in the sailboat industry. The handcrafted construction, built to ABS plan certified standards, and the voyaging reputation perpetuated by the millions of miles logged by Pacific Seacraft owners twice led to Pacific Seacraft being chosen to the Fortune Magazine List of "100 Products That American Makes Best" and well as inclusion in Ferenc Mate's books describing "The World's Best Sailboats." This past January, the Pacific Seacraft 37 was inducted into the US Sailboat Hall of Fame at a ceremony that took place during Atlantic City "Sail Expo. For info on this high quality company see them at http://www.pacificseacraft.com

Boat Order Update:

The introductory offer is coming to an end as orders for 2003 delivery are almost at capacity. If you haven’t sailed the R33 Cat yet but think this looks like the boat for you then schedule a test sail today!!! But bring your checkbook because when you sail this boat you will experience sailing like you never have before. This boat is comfortable, dry, stable, smooth while being very, very fast. It is a fun and unique experience…almost hard to put into words.

For the cost of many nice SUVs on the road today you can own one of these fast and fun machines. Check out the pricing schedule to see how much you do NOT have to spend to go really fast this summer!

If you have not yet scheduled a test sail on the Reynolds 33 now is the time to drop us a note and let us know when you want to find out just how incredible this boat really is…

To schedule a DEMO RIDE click here

Till next time…Fast Sailing!

Randy Reynolds