PRESS RELEASE. September 9, 2023

For those of you familiar with Red Gear Racing, we have been coaching multihulls and producing some of the brightest Multihull racers in the world since 1995.

With Robbie Daniel, head coach, at the helm, Red Gear Racing has developed programs for F16’s, F18’s, N15’s, N17 Olympic, A cats classics and foilers and Hobies as well as for larger boats and cruisers.

Looking towards to the future and passing on the coaching baton, we are excited to welcome back 2 of Red Gear Racing Alums who will start coaching in the Red Gear Racing program. Matthew Whitehead and Matthew Monts, both who have worked with Robbie from the age of about 14 years old. Team Matthew's will rejoin the Red Gear Racing team at the F18 North Americans in Burlington Canada. We look forward to having those who have not met Matthew Whitehead and Matthew Monts be able to meet them at the 2023 F18 Nationals in Canada where they will sailing together on an F18 for the Red Gear Racing Team.

Matthew Whitehead who is a Florida native with a life-long passion for sailing. At a young age, he excelled as a catamaran sailor with the Red Gear Racing program and has had experience ranging from Hobie Cats to America's Cup wing-sailed hydrofoilers. Matthew is a 4-time F18 Youth World Champion as well as the 2015 F18 National Champion. In addition to campaigning for the 2016 Olympics in the Nacra 17 Class, Matthew has competed in the World Match Race Tour, the Extreme Sailing Series, M32 World Tour and the Red Bull Youth America's Cup. Matthew is also a charter yacht captain and has sailed in various destinations around the world such as Greece, Tahiti, and the British Virgin Islands.

Matthew Monts who grew up sailing in South Carolina and now attends Eckerd College. He has had extensive racing experience in dinghies, cats, and keelboats. He was named an alternate athlete for the 2018 Youth Worlds and the Youth Olympics in the Nacra 15. While sailing with the Red Gear Racing program, he participated in the US Sailing Olympic Development Program and Nacra 15 class, raced in the 2018 F18 World Championship, and won the 2019 F16 National Championship. At Eckerd College, he was a member of the Eckerd College Varsity Sailing Team and qualified for the 2023 College Sailing National Championship.

We are so proud to have had the opportunity to see both of our Matthews grow up in front of our eyes and now return to their roots of multihull sailing to help bring multihull sailors to the next level.

Please join me in welcoming our two newest coaches to the Red Gear Racing Team. We are so proud of both of these guys and so excited to have them join us.

OCT 22, 2018

RED GEAR RACING HULLABALOOZA REGATTA to be held NOVEMBER 1-4th at the Clearwater Community Sailing Center in Clearwater Beach Florida

  https://www.regattanetwork.com/clubmgmt/applet_registration_form.php?regatta_id=17395

SEPT 7, 2016

Red Gear Racing, The Clearwater Sailing Center and Forward-WIP Sailing gear will host the Youth and Open Multihull National Challenges in October. The Youth event will be one of the qualifying factors for choosing the Youth representative to the Multihull Class for the ISAF World Championships in New Zealand.

MAY 17,2015

FREE boat delivery along the I 95 Corridor between Florida and Rhode Island. Boats for sale section for details.

APRIL 24, 2015

Red Gear Racing is offering FREE Yard Sale listings for boats and saiing related items from all classes of boats. This is another effort to bring together the sailing community and encourage cross over sailing.

PRESS RELEASE
February 10, 2013

AHPC, Red Gear Racing and Fun in the Sun Servives, Inc. announce a $5000.00 Sponsorship Grant and Scholarship program for the both the C2/F18 and VIPER/F16 Multihull Classes.

Fun in the Sun, with AHPC Catamarans and Red Gear Racing Coaching programs announce a $5000.00 combination Sponsorship/Scholarship for both the C2/F18 and VIPER/F16 classes.

The Sponsorship/Scholarship will be awarded based on a brief one page sailing resume and 1000 word or less essay on why this award is deserved. All resumes must be submitted to funinthesunweb@gmail.com and received by February 28, 2013. Recipients will be notified prior to March 15, 2013.

The Sponsorship portion of this program will award a $2500 .00 grant towards the purchase of any new or used AHPC Catamaran in stock from Fun in the Sun. Recipients will have 30 days to use the Sponsorship portion and 1 year to use the Scholarship portion of this award. If the award is not used in this timeframe, the award may be forfeited and presented to another deserving candidate.

The Scholarship portion of the program will be entry into any two, 2-3 day training camp of Red Gear Racing. Camp sizes are limited, reservations required and do not include housing.

This award is non transferable and can not be redeemed for cash. Applicants must disclose any currently owned boats. Recipients must agree to not sell any boat acquired as a result of this program for a period of one year. Recipients do not have to be a current catamaran class member. Minors applying must also have the approval of parent or guardian.

Please contact Fun in the Sun if you have any questions at 727-734-0799. Please pass this on to any sailor from any class you may know.

funintheSunweb@gmai.com
Www.RedGearRacing.com
Facebook: Red Gear Racin
Twitter: @RedGearRacing
1/19/2013

We have been overwelmed with the response of youth sailors coming thru our program so in an effort to meet the demand we offer regular all inclusive entries into our camps in Clearwater that include housing, food, a boat and supervision. It is like summer camp all year round for the parents and the kids. Take a look at our schedule.

We still work with all boats and adults as well as youth sailors. If you want to learn how to sail better, don't miss it!

Don't forget to LIKE us on face book AND follow us on Twitter @RedGearRacing

Life changes a bit....after doing the usual coaching camps we will be looking forward to gearing up for another Olympic program offering high tech coaching to new Olympic hopefuls! Stay Tuned....make sure to LIKE our Red Gear Racing facebook page to stay in contact regarding all the upcoming training camps in all the regular discipines as well as the new Olympic Class of Multihulls.

8/26/2012 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS IN LONG BEACH, CA

11/16/09

Robbie Daniel and 14 year old crew Taylor Reiss from Panama City, FL win the 2009 F16 Global Challenge in Gulfport, FL

4/10/09

Robbie and Hunter have both been hard at work and will be getting together again in July to do the F18 Worlds in Belgium. They are the current F18 US National Champions after sailing together in Pensicola, FL and taking first at the Championships.

Robbie has been busy doing allot of coaching on the Caprocorns, Vipers and A-Cats and is looking forward to the up coming Alter Cup to be held in his home town on the Viper. Although he will not be sailing due to a conflict, he will be managing the boats.

4/1/08

With the Olympic future of the Tornado Catamaran in quiestion, Robbie Daniel is continuing to focus on sailing by racing in a variet of races including beach cats as well as large yacht racing.

To help in perpetuatiing the sport, Robbie uses his proven skills to coach others to a higher level of performance while continuing to enhance his sailing experiences.

Robbie will be in China for most of July to prepare one of the teams he works with for the Olympics.

Robbies beach cat attention will be focused on the F18 Capricorn and the A-Cat until the future of the Tornado is determined.

10/14/07 SUNDAY

After a very discouraging day for integrety of the sport, the guys came out swining today and after a so so start in the first race had taken the lead. At the last gate rounding something happened with thier spinnaker and they were unable to snuff it for quite a while, allowing Lovell/Ogletree to take the win.

The second start they had a horrible start as they were forced into the committee boat, then were unable to make up the difference after having another problem with the spinnaker.

In the end Hunter/Stunzi finished second with training partners Norman and Gary Chu in 3rd.

On a personal note, I have been somewhat styfled to put down all my thoughts but I can not stay silent with what I have witnessed. I, Jill Nickerson, am totally discussed with what I have seen happen at this event. No one should be allow to charge a team with cheating for the sake of messing with thier phycy and get away with it. Once it is done, the damage is done and I can say that this happed to 2 honest teams here. To add insult , it is even worse when coaches get involved with this kind of behavior. A coach was told to stop clapping for a team at the awards cerimony because they were cheaters, when in fact they were totlally innocent. The same coach was told that his behavior was inappropriate when coming out of a protest room . This sends a terrible message to our youth sailors to condone behavior like this. In my oppinion ,it is not ok to win at any cost and this type of behavior not only should not be part of the acceptable game, but it should be delt with consequence. Sailing should be about sailing and winning races should be about the fastest boat. Accusing a team of cheating when there was none, should be a violation of its own. I am saddened to see this and can only hope that somehow rules are put into place to correct deplorable behavior like this.

The good guys are usually on the recieving end of bad behavior and as a result, not much is done about it. I think that the leaders and rule makers of our sport should pick up the ball and address this problem in our sport and take the steps neccisary to correct it..

10/13/07 SATURDAY

ALL I CAN SAY IS THAT THIS WAS THE SADDEST DAY OF RACING I HAVE SEEN SINCE I BEGAIN SAILING IN 1981

I have been styfled from telling everyone the truth of what was happening here. I will say that today is an example of the kind of things that make good people want to quit the sport.

All I can say is that win or loose, this team will be doing it with Honor!

We have one more day of racing with 2 races scheudled. We are currently 1 point in the lead.

10/12/07 Friday

Another day at the office. Our days start at about 7:30 in the morning when we all get up and start our morning routine. After breakfast, Robbie and the Chu's go down to the carpeted garage in the house we are renting and do some stretches. The rest of us try to catch up on work on the computers. One by one we all make our way to the boat park which is about a 10 minute walk down the hill. Some times they walk and some times they ride their bikes.

Once at the park, they start preparing th eboat for the day and doing the check over. I (Jill) am usually last to arrive after doing any needed morning errends. I make luch and prepare the food for the coach boat and usually make sure that the boat has gas, Gatorade and water as well as prepare the smaller boat I am using for a spectator boat.

By 10:30, the guys are pushing off the boat ramp and hooking up to a tow from the Kostas and Dennis in the coach boat (graciously provided by Boat Depot of San Diego). The tow lasts for almost an hour as they go out past the military installations, dolphin and seal training ground and the submarine repair base.

Once on the course the guys do their morning warm ups on the water as the coaches check them out and check out what we have for wind for the day.

I am usually the last to arrive on the course after cleaining up loose ends and locking up the trailer.

The race committee starts the sequence at 12:00 and we are off to the races.

Today the first race was started in about 6 knots. After some mild match racing, Lovell/Ogletree reached the first mark first and managed to hold on to the lead for the finish with Daniel/Stunzi and the Chu's hot on their trail. This brought the race lead margin to a 2 points advantage by Daniel/Stunzi.

The second race was started in slightly more wind of 9.5 knots which built slightly during the race to about 12 knots. This time Daniel/Stunzi was back in the saddle and finished 1st with Chu's loosing 2nd place to Lovell/Ogletree by only about 1 1/2 feet! With the win, the 3 point lead was re-established by Daniel/Stunz.

Aftert the race, we make the LONG trip back by either tow, sail or a combination of both. By the time we pack the boats up and get changed, it is approaching 5PM or 6PM and it is time for dinner. By the time we get dinner over with and discuss the day a bit, we usually watch a movie and crash, although some of us don't make it thru the movie with out snoring!. WHAT AN EXCITING BUNCH WE ARE!

In our photo gallery we have tried to put some of the shots of the event for you. Thank you so much for all your messages of encouragement, I read them to the guys every morning and evening.

10/11/07 Thursday

After having a rest day on Wednesday, we all hit the ground running, especially Robbie and Hunter.

The first race started a bit late after waiting for wind. Once the wind arrived, the first start was started in 6-7 knotts. At the first mark it was training partners Norman and Gary Chu in front. Unfortunately they were not able to hold the lead thru the race. Second around the first mark was Lovell/Ogletree followed by Daniel/Stunzi. At the 1st gate it was Daniel/Stunzie comimg into the gate on port at the same time Lovell/Ogletree came in from port. In an effort to try and make Daniel/Stunzi make a foul, Lovell/Ogleetree got caught altering course and was forced to do a turn. bringing them from a possible tie at the gate to last.

Daniel/Stunzi were on fire and continued to extend their lead thru out the race gaining a 5 minute lead over Lovell/Ogletree at the last windward mark. At the finish line it was Daniel/Stunzi, Jason/Gillies and Merrick, Sampson with Lovell/Ogletree fighting their way back to 4th .

The second race was started in about the same 6 knotts conditions. Lovell/Ogletree continued to try and turn the start into a match race and managed to reach the top mark in first, followed by the Chu's and Daniel/Stunzi. But it was all down hill from there.

Daniel/Stunzi quickly took the lead and continued to build the lead. At the finish, it was Daniel/Stunzi, Chu's followed by Lovell/Ogletree in third.

So at the end of today Daniel/Stunzi are inthe lead by 3 points, followed by Lovell/Ogletrree and Merrick/Sampson.

With 3 mor days left of racing, we are expecting to see 6 more races.

10/9/07 Tuesday

Another exciting day but with the same ending. We are still in a tie and Daniel/Stunzi wins the tie breaker.

While our guys are trying to just race clean, they have been forced into a match racing starting sequence that is not in the traditional spirit of Tornado racing. We have been a bit surprised that this sort of thing has been allowed but we are dealing with it.

After the start dance, the first race was started in light winds again 6-8 knots which built up to about 11 by the end of the race.

Lovell/Ogletree was able to nose out in front and wind the first race, followed by Daniel/Stunzi. Bun in the second race, it was Daniel//Stunzi who took the lead from the start and continued to exend it during the race.

Wednesday is a rest day and we plan to try and have some fun and sleep late! The boat is running great, the guys are strong, we have great support here and we are looking forward to the second half.

10/8/07 Monday

I will start todays notes by saying THANK YOU to everyone who has been emailing their good wishes. We read each one of them and really appreciate it.

Today was another exciting day of racing. Most of te racing has been a match race between Robbie and Hunter and Lovell/Ogletree including the Americas Cup style starts.

Again today, after 2 more races it's a tie between the two teams. Daniel/Stunzi had a great first race winning in the end by about 2 mniutes. The race was in about 4-6 knots. The Chu's had a great race as well with thier first 3rd place finish.

AFter searching for sind and moving the course, the second race was started in about 5 knots but proceeded to drop throughout the race. This time it was Lovell/Ogletree tha managed the win, concluding the day in a tie.

The back ground drama has been interesting as Daniel/Stunzi, did so much damage to their spinnaker yesterday that the local sail loft as well as the measurer determined that the sail was not fixable. We are unsure at this time what the committee is going to do regarding a 3rd sail should they blow up their second one. We are keeping our fingers crossed.

Tuesday is looking like another light day and after not getting in until 6 PM tonight, we are all looking forward to a good night sleep.

10/7/07 Update

Today we saw one of the most exciting days of racing I have seen in quite a while. Althought it is great to see Daniel/Stunzi in the lead on the score board, after two days of racing it is still a tie between them and Lovell/Ogletree.

The first day of the race was started in 13 knots of breeze. The weather was beautiful and the clearest day we have seen yet. The course was back lit by the mountain range the surrounds San Diego on one side and Mexico on the other.

The stars have been resembling Americas cup type starts with Daniel/Stunzi and Lovell Ogletree chasing each other thru the fleet. The first start today was a pretty even start between the two lead teams. At the top mark it was Lovell Ogletrree (L/O)e lead and they managed to hang on to it the rest of the race and even pulling ahead on the last leg with the shifty winds on the course.

The second race we had slightly less wind at about 11 knots. This time it was Daniel/Stunzi(D/S) in the lead. It was truely a drag race until Daniel/Stunzi started having trouble with thier spinnaker. When D/S came around the gate for the first time, they had difficulty snuffing the spinnaker. By the time they came to the second gate rounding, although they were in the lead, it was impossible to contine up wind with the spinnaker not in the tube. Whle D/S was going full on up wind with the spinnaker flapping in the wind, Hunter was able to go out on the front of the boat and crawl out and hand snuff the spinnaker. (NOT RECOMMENDED FOR DOUBLE TRAPEZE CONDITIONS!). By the time they got to the top mark, L/O had pulled into the lead. Once the boats were on the final down wind leg, D/S pulled a rabbit out of the snuffer and not only pulled ahead by was able to finishe with a significant lead leaving L/O in a position where they had to drop the spinnaker in order to finish.

SO....when all was said and done, the day ended in a tie with Daniel/Stunzi in the tie breaking lead.

PRELUDE TO the day 10/7/07

It was another tough day at the office for the team on the first day of racing yesterday. Upon arriving on the course they had to make a correction with the tack line of the spinnaker and in the process of snuffing the spinnaker back into the snuffer tube, one of the spinnaker patches were torn resulting and tear that was almost 2 feet long!

Robbie and Hunter reacted calmly and called the coach boat over to change out to their second spinnaker and by the time the first race was started their minds were back on track.

The first race started in 8-12 knotts building continually thru the race. At the first mark it was Lovell/Ogletree followed by Daniel/Stunzi and Merrick/Sampson. Daniel/Stunzi turned the top mark and was able to really get the boat going and move into first place with about a 20 second lead by the time they reached the bottom mark for the first time.

Extending thier more each leg, Daniel/Stunzi finished the race about 1 minute in the lead, alowed by Lovell/Ogletree and Jason/Gilles.

In the second race, the wind continued to build and was raced in 12-16 knotts. This time it was Lovell/Ogletree who pushed out in front leaving Daniel/Stunzi to have to dig out from behind a couple of boats at the top mark.. Slowly but surely Daniel/Stunzi dug their way out and finsihed second with Merrick/Sampson in third.

Today is another beautiful day in San Diego and we are looking forward to geting in another 2 races. The wind is expected to be slighly lighter today with about 8-10 expected by te time the first race rolls around.

.

10/6/07

It is hard to believe that the first day of the Trials are already here. I will start by saying THANK YOU to all involved in makeing the campaight a go. We had a terrible computer crash while we were here and I have lost everthing including the names of the people who bidded on Robbie's coaching. So please email me again.

We have worked hard and prepared well for the race. When we arrived in San Diego in the beginning of September we had the Alfred Pelinka, former Austrian Gold Medalist coach for the Tornado working with our group. Torwards the tail end of Alfreds time with us we had the Greek team come in to sail against us and work as coach for the Trials so they will be with us til the end.

The only real problem we have seen so far is battling a sickness that has gone thru the house but we are all pretty good right now and are working hard to stay that way.

Naturally everyone here has been dieting to loose weight in preparations for the light conditions of San Diego and China....and naturally on the first day of racing they are predicting 10-15 knotts.

It is quite a long sail out to the course and we will be sailing just off of a place called Imperial beach on the South side of San Diego.

We have just finished 3 days of measurment check in for the event and everything went pretty smoothly for us.....so as they say, HI HO, HI HO...it's off to work we go!

I will try to update this each night but information may also be found on www.sdyc.org and

www.ussailing.org

9/26/2007
The following is an on going article that is done day by day

2007 Tornado Nationals
By Jill Nickerson

The 2007 Tornado Nationals, to be held just off shore of San Diego California out of the San Diego Yacht Club, September 24-27th, is proving to be quite the international event.

What normally attracts North American sailors only has been a draw for tops sailors from all over the world. Greece, Germany, Puerto Rico, Brazil and of course Canada and the USA will be represented.

The USA boats are using the Nationals to warm up for the Olympic trials that begin on October 3rd in the same location. As a result of the up coming trials, they have enlisted their international friends to come in and help them tune and train. As a result the bar has been raised and the competition is expected to be tough, with some of the best boats in the world here to compete.

The USA fleet who will compete in the Nationals and go onto compete at the US Olympic Trials will consist of past Olympic medallists Johnny Lovel/Charlie Ogletree, 3 time past Olympic Trials participant Robbie Daniel with is new partner Hunter Stunzi, twin brothers Norman/Gary Chu, Drew Weirda and Sara, Collin Merick/John Sampson who will sail with Lars Guck for the Nationals and Olli Jason/Patrick Gillies.

Racing begins on the 25th with an expected 2-3 races each day and will last thru the 27th.

DAY 1

After a very long and slow sail for some and a tow for others, the 12 international competitors found their way out to the race course only to find a postponement flag and a race committee praying for wind.

After struggling to find enough wind to start a race, the committee was disappointed when they had to abandon the race because the boats were not going to reach the first mark with in the prescribed time limit of 20 minutes.

With out missing a breath of air, the race committee picked up anchor and moved the course to where they had enough wind to start a race. Although, they did not have much wind, the 1st race of the day was started slightly less than 5 knots and built to an average of about 5 knots.

Although the light winds are not desired for normal racing, the San Diego area was chosen because of its light conditions to emulate the light conditions of Quindo China, where the 2008 games will be sailed.

The Greek team where off like a shot and had established a big lead by the time they got to the first mark. Unfortunately, the gaskets that had been replaced the previous day began to come off and they lost their lead and eventually finished 5th in the race, then retired for the rest of the day to be able to replace the gaskets.

When all was said and done and multiple positions changed with the varying winds, it was Lovell/Ogletree, Polgar/Spalteholz, Mittlemeier/Mittlemeier and Daniel/Stunzi.

The second race found much of the same wind speed and the race committee was quick to get another race off. This time it was Polgar/Spalteholz that shot out in front with an incredible lead finishing approximately a minute ahead of the second place team of Lovell/Ogletree.

At the end of the first day and after 2 races, it was Polgar/Spalteholz, Lovell/Ogletree, Mittlemeir/Mittlemeir and Daniel/Stunzi. Full results can be found at: www.sdyc.org/raceinfo/results07/tornadoNats1_res.htm

DAY 2

The sailors awoke to another beautiful day in San Diego. By the time the Tornados were out to the course, the wind had already started to diminish, but the first race was started in approximately 5-9 knots, but the word for the day was SHIFTY to say the lest.

Thru out the day several of the top teams took turns at producing tremendous leads. In the first race it was the team of Polgar/Spalteholz who shot out in front. Eventually followed by Lovell/Olgetree and Daniel/Stunzi.

In the second race it was the Daniel/Stunzi who shot out over a minute in the lead over Polgar/Spalteholz only to get nudged out of 1st by the Germans by the time they got to the finish, missing a couple of good shifts, followed by Lovell/Olgetree.

By the time the third race got started, the race committee was hoping for enough wind to finish the race before the time limit. For the spectators it could be describes similar to watching grass grow compared to the normal high speed antics of the Tornado fleet. This time it was the Puerto Rico team of Figueroa/Hernandez who simply ran away from the fleet finishing in a different time zone than the rest of the fleet.

At the end of the day the top 3 boats were Lovell/Olgetree with 10 points, Polgar/Spalteholz with 11 points and Daniel/Stunzi with 18 points.

With one more day of racing left, the fleet is hoping for 3 races tomorrow with reasonable breeze. In addition to the races, the fleet should be able to get in enough races where they will have a throw out in the scores.

MORE TO COME

9/7/2007 We are in the niddle of the great trip accross country to set up and prepare for the Trials in San Diego California. So far, it has benn A DRAMMA.....for those of you have followed our Campaign, the drama for our travel adventures have not changed much.

We packed up our trailer (made to carry 4 boats comfortably) with 5 boats. Needless to say we are packed to the gills to say the least. Robbie and Jill were suppose to leave Clearwater, Florida on Tuesday morning but after hooking up the trailer found the break unit in the truck was not working properly. After a few hours at the Ford dealership, we were on our way.

We were no sooner out of Florida when a truck went by a bit too close and SUCKED one of the trailer cargo doors right off the trailer. Fortunately, this was not one of the compartments with sails in there or it could have been a real disaster. We were able to retain everything that was in that compartment and put it in the back of the truck and continue on our way.

We got as far as half way thru Texas when our luck turned a bit sour. As we were in the desert, naturally miles from anything, we thew the tread off of one of the trailer tires. Forurtunately were were able to continue on for 60 miles on the cords of the tire. Unfortunatel, the SMALL one horse town we got to only had a limper tire for us...for a mear 260.00! The plan was to use the limper tire to get into civilization where we could find a replacement tire that would handle the load.

As we headed deeper into the desert we watched the tire carefully hoping it would last when suddenly we felt and hear a gun shot. The gun shot was a tire on the other side of the trailer tthat EXPLODED!

THANK HEAVENS we have an air card with us so I was able to get on the computer and find out the nearest town. This time it was a 3 horse town and lo and behold a TINY tire shop happened to have 4 tires for us. This was amaizing because it is the ONLY tire that is rated for this load and it is only made by Goodyear. WHAT ARE THE CHANCES.

Our tires were showing signs of bad things so 1200.00 later, we were once again on the road with 4 new tires.. Although the trip is not over, we are hopeful to make it to thSan Diego by this evening.

Once in San Diego we start building boats and picking up several people who are flying in to help including Norman Chu, Hunter Stunzi and 3 Brazilians who have come up to train with the team.

We will try to keep you posted and also post some pictures of our adv3enture.

8/12/2007 FUND RAISER....check out the link on the menu bar and read about our fund raiser and how you can help and at the same time get FASTER!

8/11/2007 The count down is ticking to the start of the US Olympic Trials October 6th in San Diego. Currently, Robbie and Hunter are in China working hard. Robbie is coaching the Belgium team, the same team that he coached for the worlds and finished 2nd. Hunter is not only experiencing the Olympic scene, but training with the Belgium skipper as Robbie coaches, because their crew was temporarily disabled.

We chose to send the team to China so Robbie could earn some additional funding to support the expenses of his own campaign in San Diego.

When they return from China, they will start sailing the very next day against a Brazilian team who is coming to Clearwater for the week to train with them, then move to San Diego with them to be a training partner there. They will stay with us thru the Tornado Nationals.

The Greek training parters are also coming to California to train and race with Robbie and Hunter thru the end of the Trials.

The team has been fortunted to secure a great surprise Tornado coach that they will unvail when he arrives from Europe on the 13th of September.

The team has rented a house to hold all the partners for the month that they will be in San Diego.

With all the coordination, fund raising and logistical efforts that are being made we are thrilled as to how well the plan is coming together. Although we still have some well needed fund raising to do, our supporters have really pitched in to help get us thru. Please take the time to see our sporsor page that list all who have helped.

7/26/07 Check out our new photo gallery and list of donors and sponsors! Thank you to all those pitching in to help financially. We are currently trying to secure housing in San Diego for the Trials and secure a power boat for training the starting the month of September. We welcome your thoughts and suggestions.

PREPARATION FOR THE US TRIALS:

The team begins the summer ramp up to the US Olympic trials. This involves lots of training and fund raising. They are working on ordering the equipment that will be needed for testing to determine what will be used at the Trials. The US Olympic Tornado Trials will be held in San Diego California in October.

The team will be on site starting in September in order to prepare for sailing in that area.

JOIN OUR MAILING LIST:

If you would like to join the teams mailing list please send a request to funinthesun@juno.com and we will be happy to update you on the happenings of the team

FUND RAISING:

Fun raising is one of the toughest jobs that any team will tackle. Recently the team did a fund raiser in New York assisted by one of their staunch supporters. We thank all those donors who pitched in to help the team. We encourage you to pass the word as it takes many people to help make a team successful