Qingdao, China
August 16, 2007

Here we are in the industrial port city of Qingdao, representing our country at the Pre-Olympic regatta, officially known as the 2007 Good Luck Beijing International Regatta. We’re off to a slowish start after the race committee abandoned attempts to race on Wednesday and then we racked up a couple of 13th places in the two races sailed today. We’re looking ahead to better times for the rest of the week.

We got here a week ahead of the beginning of competition to adjust to the muggy heat, light winds and confusing currents. To throw a wrench into the area’s reputation as a light air venue, we were treated to one day of hull-flying 20 knot breeze.

The high-tech transformation of the waterfront, the incredibly detailed preparations for regatta management and the unfailing enthusiasm and eagerness of our Chinese hosts is all just amazing. We’re all being treated like royalty. Last Sunday night, the fireworks that wrapped up the glittering opening ceremony were stunning.

Today the forecast was for some wind and rain. We had six to ten knot puffy breeze, a big swell and a ton of chop on the waters of Fushan Bay. There was also a lot of current. The shifts were not too big but the velocity changes were.

There was big current for the first race and the breeze was heavily favored to go right. The Aussies Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby got off the line first and led the entire race. Along with half the fleet, we started on port tack and sailed a good first leg to round the top mark in fourth place. We were still in good shape at the end of the run but things went to pieces on the next beat as we missed some velocity, sailed into a hole and dropped back to finish 13th.

There was a similar pattern to the second race. We made another good start and rounded the top mark in sixth but picking our way through the current and breeze minefield put us back in 13th at the finish gun. It seems we’ve dug ourselves a pretty deep hole to start this event off but the conditions here are crazy and we will be back tomorrow to battle back and log some better results.

The fleet leader for now is Austria’s double-Olympic Gold Medalist team of Roman Hagara and Hans Peter Steinacher with a 2-3 record. Johannes Polgar and Florian Spalteholz from Germany are second after finishing 2-4. The Aussies were ninth in the second race to score third overall with 1-9.

The latest results from Qingdao will be at Tornado Pre-Olympic Results as soon as they become available. 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