We held onto ninth place and qualified for the Medal Race at the 2007 Good Luck Beijing International Regatta today after completing two races in more light weather Qingdao conditions – four to six knots of southeasterly breeze and one and a half knots of ebb current.

Heading to the start line

The first race was very tight at the first weather mark with all the fleet bunched up. We rounded fourth with the series leaders, the Austrians Roman Hagara and Hans Peter Steinacher, only to join them in sailing the wrong way downwind and into a hole. The fleet inverted in positions on the first downwind and we finished eighth, while Roman and Hans finished sixth, their worst score of the series. Our speed was good in this race but the damage was done all at once.

We started on port tack in the second race because that side was heavily favored and won the start, rounding in fourth place again at the top mark. After that we sailed a conservative race to finish seventh. We lost three places because we were a little off the pace downwind in the big chop that was present. We’ll be working more on that technique

The Medal Race is tomorrow and we are all fired up to get a good result and pull up a few places. We have a chance to finish sixth, with a good performance.

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