Dear Supporters,

We've been in here in Auckland just over a week and we've already raced the first event of our full-time, six-month long campaign to win Gold in the Tornado Class at the Qingdao Olympics. It was virtually yesterday that I was racing at Key West Race Week. Since then we've made the 24-hour flight to Auckland, lost our baggage and got it back, and now we've had a taste of Hauraki Gulf conditions over the four-day New Zealand National Tornado Championship.

Unrigging on Takapuna Beach:

This was the first time the two of us have been racing together since the Selection Trials back in October, so we were a bit rusty for the first couple of days. After retrieving and unpacking our container and setting up and rigging the boat, we had just one day of training before the start of the Nationals.

The Nationals attracted a good turnout of boats. There were 10 international entries, including several Olympic medallists, plus seven local boats for a total of 17 starters. The weather was sunny and we had a mix of gradient wind and sea breeze but nothing over about 12 knots. Day one and day two we sailed with old sails and worked on getting back into our routines. We were pretty deep in the fleet both days.

We are racing on the inshore side of what must be one of the most studied bodies of water in the world for its weather patterns, other perhaps than the Mediterranean off Valencia, Spain. However we race closer to the beach than the America's Cup boats, under the shadow of Rangitoto, Auckland's most recently active and biggest volcano, and in the shipping channel leading past the wind-blocking cliffs of North Head. The weather here has its share of local quirks and wešre just beginning to learn them.

Day three we rolled out a new mainsail we developed for the 2008 Tornado World Championship to be sailed here February 25-March 1. By now we were settling into the old rhythm and the new mainsail was noticeably faster. We finished fourth and second in the first two races yesterday and were anticipating a first to finish gun for the last race of the day until the Hauraki Gulf wind gods delivered a shift that left us finishing in 10th place.

Today the breeze was out of the southeast and up in strength a little, around 12-14 knots, with the bulk of Rangitoto making for some big shifts. We were fourth in the first race and in front on the second until a 20 degree shift left us out of the money and in 7th place. For the last race of the series, we jumped the gun along with two other boats to score OCS. We finished the series in 8th place overall and only 13 points out of fifth. We're counting this as a worthy performance as we launch ourselves back into the buildup to Qingdao.

Tomorrow is Waitangi Day, the celebration of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 between representatives of the British Crown and the native Maori tribes. It's a national holiday and we're following the lead of our local hosts by taking the day off and going fishing. After that we have nearly three weeks of training before the Worlds, broken only by one local regatta.

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

Sail fast,
Johnny Lovell and Charlie Ogletree - Team Advanced Equities I