It has a single sail catboat rig, a spooned plumb stem, a vertical transom, a transom-hung rudder controlled by a tiller and a retractable centerboard.

[1][2] The boat has a draft of 3.00 ft (0.91 m) with the centerboard extended and 4.56 in (11.6 cm) with it retracted, allowing operation in shallow water, beaching or ground transportation on a trailer or car roof.

The rig was modified, with a taller mast and a shorter boom and a new sail design, which was it thought would be better in the higher winds expected at the Olympic venue, Cabrillo Beach, in the Los Angeles Harbor.

In later testing the Olympic rigs were found to be slower than the original design and no more were modified to that configuration after the games.

[5] Reid's 1921 design was intended to be an inexpensive wooden boat, constructed by amateur builders.

[5] Both of the 1930s rental fleets had been superseded by newer boats by about 1953, due to the age and condition of the old wooden hulls.

[5] Edson B. Schock modified the design in the 1940s and also published the plans in The Rudder magazine, which rekindled interest in the boat and it became popular as a youth sailing class in California with more than 500 wooden boats built in total.