Mike,

Now we're twisting this thread topic but it's a good one. The Reynolds 33. I got to ride one on a 10 mile delivery to the pull out point last week. We were out in a 12 to 15 blow and a squall came through where we saw in excess of 20k. What a friggin' machine. Personally, I like the high center beam because it gives you something to brace against while trying to do something like....say...put in a reef when it's getting nuclear! :-) You do have to be mildly athletic to get over it to the bow but it's no big deal for anyone that can handle sailing a beach cat.

With regards to the lip - I agree with you in that it's first appearance is "old school". Though, I'll admit that I never noticed it until we were breaking the Reynolds down for trailering. The way they use the lip to mount hardware for the beams and the shrouds is ingenious and quick. I'm not exaggerating here - four of us (two of which had ever done this before) had the boat rolling down the road in 1.5 hours from sailing on the water. Four headsails and all.