Meet Dave Reynolds

by Christina Pandapas

How long have you been sailing and how did you start?

I started sailing competitively in high school. I was fortunate to go to a school with a very competitive program (Hotchkiss School in CT) and crewed in dinghies on a team that won the high school national championship. After that, I was hooked. Lisa started sailing sunfish as a kid and taught sailing at her yacht club in New Jersey.

What kind of boat(s) did you sail before the Rhodes?

All the college dinghies and then I owned a Vanguard 15 for about 8 years after college. Great boat, too much travel.

What attracted you to the Rhodes fleet?

Jeff (Shoreman) and I had been frostbiting at Courageous for a few years and liked sailing the boat. I loved that the fleet has competitive one design racing every week close to home. Jeff was sold on the fleet when he found out the Fleet’s largest (& perhaps only) physical asset was a large inventory of booze.

From whom did you buy your boat and how did that come about?

Jeff and I bought the boat together from Shan McAdoo and Paul Adam. I’d met Shan a few times and he is the one that sold me on the Rhodes.

You’ve been in the Fleet for 3 years, or is it longer?

Just finished our 3rd season. Hard to believe it took that long to win a race. How has it compared to previous fleet racing you’ve done?

You can’t beat the competitiveness week after week and the great attitude of the fleet members to get newcomers up to speed.

How did you and Jeff hook up as boat partners?

Jeff, Lisa & I all sailed together at Dartmouth College. In fact, my senior year, Lisa & I sailed together almost every weekend. It was an easy choice to buy the boat with Jeff. He is a awesome partner. At our first nationals in Padanaram, he buffed the boat on the tune up day (with Ian Peebles), and I showed up a day later to drive it.

How do you decide how to split the driving/crewing?

Jeff and I agreed right off that we would split the driving with the expectation of each becoming better at all aspects of sailing. We didn’t anticipate that Lisa would be so fast so there’s now a healthy competition to drive McLovin.

What’s Lisa’s sailing background?

I (Lisa) started sailing on cruising boats with my family when I was young, and then got into dinghies in my early teens – which was probably a little late, so I missed out on the Optis. I taught sailing for 2 summers at a club in NJ and joined the sailing team my freshman year in college. I crewed for David my freshman spring, and developed a pretty serious crush on him. By my sophomore year he came to his senses and got rid of the old girlfriend. The rest is history.

What is the story behind the boat name?

We both have a relatively adolescent sense of humor, so it goes without saying that we loved the movie ‘Superbad.’ And our wives vetoed a series of lame names like that before we settled on McLovin.

What other activities do you do for fun?

Not much. Lisa wants to learn to surf so if there are any surfers in the fleet, send her a note (lisa_core@comcast.net).

What do you do for work?

I’m a strategy manager for Cabot Corporation (a chemicals company) and Lisa is an Assistant District Attorney in Essex County.