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Auckland, NZ While we didn’t make it to the podium, we’re coming away from this event very encouraged about our prospects for Qingdao next August. We sailed very well and the biggest positive was that we were quick in a breeze and quick in light air and able to score well in all conditions. Our big disappointment was breaking down on Day Two when we were second overall. Looking back at the scores it’s easy to see just how much that day hurt us. We came here with a clear goal. We wanted to see how the advances we made and the things we tested at the American selection trials stacked up against the rest of the world. We confirmed that the equipment we are using is competitive. When we suffered losses it was through gear failure or poor tactical decisions. We’ll be addressing those issues. We’re as fast as anybody in any given condition. We can see some little steps in sails and equipment refinement between now and the Olympics but we’ll be focussing on our performance mentally and physically in getting the boat around the race course. We want our supporters to remember that for three years out of every quadrennium, we are part time professional sailors. Full-time careers make it difficult to stay at the top of your game. However, from now until the Olympics we’re back to full-time professional status. We’ll be putting jobs on hold and seeing very little of our families as we ramp up our training and preparation; looking to peak in top form and condition for the Olympics. It’s good to know we could do well here. The Hauraki Gulf, off the Takapuna Boating Club is very challenging. It is one of the trickiest we’ve ever sailed in. It has current, it is surrounded by land masses, there is breeze from a lot of different directions and thermals from various land influences. All those things factor in to keep sailors on their toes. With their second overall, Canada’s Johansson and Stittlle qualified comfortably. They have been improving steadily and have sailed more than any other team over the last six months. Austria’s Roman Hagara & Hans Peter Steinacher, who won Gold in Sydney and Athens were the second team to qualify with their 11th overall. They are light air specialists and arguably the favourites for Qingdao. This was more of a heavy air event and they were only just able to qualify. Aaron McIntosh & Mark Kennedy from New Zealand finished 12th and qualified their country. They are relative newcomers to the Tornado but Aaron represented New Zealand in the Mistral sailboard and is an Olympic veteran. Pavlo Kalynchev and Andrey Shaufranyuk from the Ukraine are another team that has been improving, and their 16th overall was enough to qualify them. They dealt a crushing blow as they locked out the Russians Andrey Kirilyuk and Valery Ushkov who represented their country in the last Olympics but finished here in 17th As we leave New Zealand, we’d especially like to thank Mark Kenna, our Australian physiotherapist. Before racing started Charlie strained his back moving boats and without Mark’s help it would have been a much tougher regatta for us. Andy Hagara came from Austria to coach us. He’s agreed to coach us through the Olympics and we couldn’t be more pleased. He’s a Tornado World Champion, two-time Olympian and European champion. He brings a lot to our program. Finally, we want to thank John Bertrand in Annapolis, Md., and Keith Taylor here in Auckland, for their marketing and communications efforts on our behalf. It was great to have Keith onsite to assist with our reports. Our host club for this event was the Takapuna Boating Club. You can download full results at Takapuna Tornado Worlds. We want to acknowledge all the support from our sponsor, Advanced Equities.
Sail fast,
Johnny Lovell & Charlie Ogletree - Team Advanced Equities I |
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