T2 Racing report-Pre-Olympic Trials, Tornado Class

by Drew Wierda on 15 Oct 2006 Dear supporters:

Our two-boat T-Squared Racing training partnership did well here today in San Diego on the opening day of the three-day US Sailing Pre-Olympic Trials for the Tornado Class catamarans. Our team mates Johnny Lovell and Charlie Ogletree sailed their Team Advanced Equities I into first overall place with a 2-1-1 record. Don Thinschmidt and I logged 8-5-4 finishes to end the day fourth-equal. If you only count the US boats in the fleet, we’re in second place. And we feel pretty good about that.

Hosted by the San Diego Yacht Club, we sailed three races today, racing three times around a 1.8-mile windward-leeward course on the open ocean three miles south of the city. There are nine US boats in this 12-boat fleet.

After light early morning rain cleared, conditions were very light for the first race with the breeze never getting over six knots. These were the conditions that Team Puerto Rico (Enrique Figeroa and Jorge Hernandez) excelled in earlier in the week when they won the US Tornado Class National Regatta and they won again today. Johnny and Charlie in Team Advanced Equities I were second. Robbie Daniel and Hunter Stunzi were third. Don and I would prefer not to talk about our eighth place. We started poorly and then made some bad decisions trying to retrieve our game.

As the wind built to 11-13 knots, Johnny and Charlie came into their own, double trapezing and powering away from their competition. They won the next two races. Daniel and Stunzi kept the pressure on, finishing second in the second race with Team Puerto Rico in third.

Daniel and Stunzi were also well positioned in the third race when their jib halyard snapped forcing them out of the competition. On Team Advanced Equities II, Don and I had our own problems when our leeward rudder fitting broke after hitting kelp. The rudder kept popping up and we had to tape it, reducing us to about 80 percent efficiency. Still, we finished fourth and we feel good about tomorrow.

When it comes to war stories, none of us can match Mark Herendreen and Pat Giles, another US entry. Their boat was holed when it was rammed by a seal and later in the day a dolphin jumped out of the water and broke their spinnaker pole.

That's my report for both teams here in San Diego. One of us will report each night during the Pre-Trials. For more about this event, go to http://www.sdyc.org/raceinfo/index.htm. You can get full results at: www.sdyc.org/raceinfo/results06/tornadoPreTrialsD1_res.htm. Our title sponsor, Advanced Equities, is at www.advancedequities.com.

Thanks, as always, for your support.


Drew Wierda
Team Advanced Equities II