Houston, TX
November 27, 2007

Since winning the USA Tornado berth for the Qingdao Olympics, Johnny and I have been spending a very busy autumn preparing for an intensive training and competition campaign in New Zealand, Europe and China.

L to R: Charlie, Mitch, Pim and host, Marc Waters, at the computer

I was in sixth place going into the last day of racing and Mitch Booth, our Aussie training partner who lives and sails in the Netherlands, was in fifth. We were both looking for a chance to move up in the standings but a cold front brought heavy wind and an early end to a great series.

With Mitch already in the States, we pulled together a training, tuning and sail development session based at my home on Galveston Bay. Johnny came over from New Orleans, Mitch’s crew Pim Nieuwenhuis flew in from Holland. And Dave Ullman from Ullman Sails travelled from Newport Beach, Calif.

The goal was to do sail testing specifically targeted on the light air conditions we expect to encounter on Fusan Bay off Qingdao. While we hoped to enjoy some light air sessions during the day, we also controlled our destiny by going sailing at 0700 to catch the early morning light breeze.

The first three days were perfect with daytime temperatures around 75 to 80-degrees and no more than eight knots of wind. With Dave present, we got a lot accomplished in those first three days of light air. During that time we analysed and recut some sails, went out again and did some more testing, and did photo comparisons of the results. It was all pretty successful.

On Thanksgiving Day a massive cold front hit and the temperature dropped 30 degrees leaving us with rain, 15-30 knot winds and 50 degree temperatures for the remaining four days. So much for light air training! Of the last four days we were only able to sail two. There was nothing else to do but carry out some heavy air training in the rain and the cold when we could. It was actually good for us to get out there and train and tough it out.

With a couple of foreign visitors, it was entertaining to provide some insights and tastes of Thanksgiving. We did a little work on the boats in the morning and came back to the house and went off out strict China training diet. We sat down to a 12-kilo turkey and all the trimmings, had a few cocktails and then got in front of the TV and introduced those guys to the finer points of American football, a solid six hours of it.

After everyone left it was time for debriefing, for ongoing international discussions on Skype Internet telephone, for working some more on sails and talking about all that we had learned.

Johnny and I will be hooking up again with Mitch and Pim in Auckland New Zealand in late January when we head down there for the 2008 International Tornado Catamaran World Championship at Takapuna Beach and after they race at Sail Melbourne in Australia. We’ll be racing in three regattas there, with two local events leading up to the Worlds. We’ll have some regular reports from Down Under.

Be sure to visit our website at http://www.t-squaredracing.com. You can also visit our sponsor, Advanced Equities.

Sail fast,
Charlie Ogletree - Team Advanced Equities I