We came through the heavy going in fine style today at the Tornado World Championship in Cascais, only to fall victim to some patchy weather at day’s end that pulled our overall placing down to 12th overall.

Front of fleet action

The Tornados raced today on Course Five at the ISAF Combined World Championships, This is the offshore course that has a reputation for big waves and wind and it didn’t disappoint. A 25-knot puff at the weather mark of the first race saw the top Argentinian boat do a radical cartwheel, while another boat dismasted and others capsized.

There were two to three meter swells for the first race and the 15-25 knot breeze added a lively wind chop on top. We started near the weather end but, after a group to windward of us showed signs of being early, we held back and had a pretty mediocre start. However we were in a decent position at the top mark and sailed through the carnage to maintain our position and finish 16th. It wasn’t perfect but our record was still looking strong.

The wheels kinda fell of on the second race as the breeze played tricks. There was 20 knots on the far right of the course and 20 knots on the extreme left but there were holes in the middle where the breeze went as light as 6 knots. We had a good start and were in the top ten at the first mark before we got stuck in one of the light-wind holes. Try as we might, we couldn’t dig out and finished 25th, which became our discard race.

We have a lay day tomorrow and plan to do some maintenance work on the boat. The fresh breezes here have been tough on boats and bodies. We’ve been keeping fit with nightly visits to the physiotherapist to work the kinks out and tomorrow the boat will get some much-needed attention.

Full results from the worlds are available at Tornado World Championship Results. Also, be sure to visit our website at www.t-squaredracing.com. Our sponsor, Advanced Equities, is at www.advancedequities.com.

Sail fast,

Johnny Lovell and Charlie Ogletree - Team Advanced Equities I