San Diego, Calif.
October 12, 2007

It’s crunch time for our Advanced Equities I campaign to represent the USA at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Qingdao, China. After today’s two races in which we swapped first places with Robbie Daniel and Hunter Stunzi, we must now win all four remaining races over the weekend to go to China.

Photo: Stuart Streuli/Sailing World

Our day started well with a convincing win against our chief opponents in the U.S. Sailing Olympic Trials for the Tornado Class. We were feeling pretty optimistic but they came back at us in the second race which proved to be the toughest and closest we’ve sailed here this week. We mounted an unrelenting attack over the last two legs and we finished almost side-by-side but they notched the victory.

Today we started on time in a light sea breeze and a big swell. There was a lot of kelp making conditions tough but it was fun downwind with the swell. We won the first start handily after our now-routine match race and after gaining control we covered them around the race track, doing our best to push them back in the fleet. We won the race with a pretty nice lead.

The breeze was up to around 8-11 knots and we initially had Robbie pinned for the next start but he was going a little better and half way up the beat as we tacked on the starboard layline he was able to tack underneath us and lead us around the mark. We knew if we finished this race third our campaign was over so we couldn’t take any chances. For two laps we were within striking distance as we stayed close and looked for an opportunity to pass.

On the last weather leg our two boats were well ahead of the third placed boat so we started a tacking duel, something that you don’t usually see in these boats. We must have tacked ten times as we sought to grind them down. We got within four boat lengths at the weather mark and then continued with a jibing duel on the run. We managed to sail Robbie into some kelp and were almost even but he did a nice job defending and went on to win.

Our host club is the San Diego Yacht Club. We are racing out on Coronado Roads every day through October 14. We’ll have a daily update for you here, plus full Tornado Trials Results. Today's photo is courtesy of Jared Wohlgemuth. More excellent photos can be viewed on the SDYC Photo Gallery. Be sure to visit our website at www.t-squaredracing.com. Our sponsor, Advanced Equities, is at www.advancedequities.com.

Sail fast,
Charlie Ogletree - Team Advanced Equities I