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Press Release 11/11/2003

Reynolds Design LLC, a company dedicated to the design and distribution of fast and affordable catamarans, announces the R33 catamaran is now in full production. The Reynolds Design design team is headed by sailmaker and boat designer Randy Reynolds and contract the services of Morrelli and Melvin Design and Engineering, designers of Steve Fosset’s mega cat “PlayStation”.

Since the launching of there first proto-type “Flyer” in May 2001 the company has fully tested the proto-type and has set up production facilities in Huntington Beach Ca. capable of producing two boats a month.

The R33 catamaran comes in four models. The Sport is equipped with an easy to sail 38 foot mast and easy to slip 14 foot beam. The Race model is 16 feet wide and comes with two rig options. The standard Race comes with a 43 foot mast and the Race Tall Rig comes with a 48 foot mast and rates a fast -107 PHRF. For the ultimate in speed the Turbo Elite comes 18 feet wide with a 54 foot carbon mast and rates a blistering -130 PHRF. For more information on these fast cats go to www.RScats.com



Racing and cruising Articles

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.