Team Shosholoza back in the hunt

by Team Shosholoza Media on 1 May 2007
Team Shosholoza was back in the hunt again today for a place in the Louis Vuitton Cup semi-finals after a clean, no mistake start to finish victory over United Internet Team Germany in rising 12 to 15 knot breezes that saw plenty of action and drama among the other boats on the race course.

'What is significant is that our team has been first to the windward mark in nine out of the 12 races sailed so far. That is an incredible 75 percent record. But we have had some bad luck with tricky wind shifts, shredded spinnakers and a broken spinnaker pole. Without these misfortunes we would have been sitting comfortably in the top four on the same level as Spain and ahead of Mascalzone and the Sweden’s Victory Challenge,' said Captain Salvatore Sarno, founder and team managing director.

Team Shosholoza is tied for sixth place with Italy's Mascalzone Latino Capitalia after two flights of races in Round Robin 2 of the Louis Vuitton Cup. Sharing the top of the leaderboard so far is America's BMW ORACLE Racing and Italy's Luna Rossa Challenge, followed by Emirates Team New Zealand (3rd), Spain's Desafio Espanol (4th) and Sweden's Victory Challenge (5th).

The win over Germany was a reassuring confidence booster for the South African’s after their bitter loss yesterday (Sunday) when a broken spinnaker pole lost them a crucial race to Sweden’s Victory Challenge despite building a solid lead which they had held for three of the four legs of the race.

'It was a good day in that the boys made the German win look easy. We know it isn’t, but they did and they were good at it,' said sailing manager Paul Standbridge.

Once again it was a must win match for Team Shosholoza who was first to get away off the start line after a modest pre-start tussle which saw the two boats stall head to wind and then bear away into the classic circling position of the dial-up. The Germans attempted to push the South Africans up on the line but Shosholoza got away to the right to immediately pull out a boat length.

The German navigator was scanning RSA 83 with his special binoculars which contain a built in range finder while Shosholoza’s Marc Lagesse had his laser gun out shooting for distance on the Germans as the South Africans continued to extend up the beat to swing around the first windward mark with a handsome 28 second lead.

Shosholoza quickly pulled out a 154 meter advantage on the downwind run stretching it to 207 at times while flying an asymmetrical spinnaker. The South Africans shot through the leeward gate 33 seconds ahead of the Germans and streaked off up the beat to port. Once again they took advantage of stronger winds to the right to confidently pull out leads of over 300 meters before triumphantly rounding the second windward mark 1.06 minutes ahead. The Germans were no obvious threat and Shosholoza RSA 83’s spinnaker was hoisted in a flourish for the final run to the finish. Shosholoza crossed the finish line first with a delta of 1.23 minutes.

The jubilant South Africans could be seen using the team’s huge 100 kg plus grinder Reinhardt Rauscher – albeit the youngest in the team at 21 years old – as a punch box as they crossed the line in high spirits.

Today’s win was no less a victory for the Team Shosholoza build team who worked through the night to repair the carbon fibre spinnaker pole broken in the Swedish match on Sunday. They presented it as good as new and ready for racing this morning.

A special message from Team Shosholoza Patron, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, no doubt also helped to ramp up the performance of the South Africans today:

'Guys you’re still superstars. Just look how far you’ve come. You are unbelievable and can still pull it off. Go for it! Love Arch en route for Hawaii.'

Ten days ago Team Shosholoza beat United Internet Team Germany with a delta of 1 minute 10 seconds during the First Round Robin of the Louis Vuitton Cup. It was the South African’s first victory in the event and hailed as a triumph for the entire African continent.

Meanwhile there was plenty of drama on the race course with tail enders China Team pulling off the biggest upset of the Louis Vuitton Cup so far with a resounding win over America’s BMW ORACLE who sailed the first leg without a headsail after repeated foil problems. Sweden’s Victory Challenge racing against Italy’s Luna Rossa dumped a spinnaker in the sea – referred to as a chase boat spinnaker drop - as their support boat had to quickly pick it up. The Italian +39 Challenge blew their headsail in a race against the Spanish Desafio Espanol.

South Africa races America's BMW ORACLE Racing for the second time in the Round Robin series of the Louis Vuitton Cup tomorrow (TUESDAY). A week ago in the first round robin the South Africans had the huge Sunday spectator crowds utterly on edge as they lead BMW ORACLE - a team with one of the biggest budgets, and the currently the top ranked challenger - for more than half of the match before being overhauled.

Germany, like South Africa, is racing in the America's Cup for the first time. United Internet Team Germany were 11th on the Challenger ranking going into the Louis Vuitton Cup. They have a budget of 50 million Euros and are racing the first America's Cup class yacht to be built in Germany - GER 89 which was launched last year. The team is led by Danish skipper Jesper Bank, a two time Olympic gold medallist and previous America's Cup skipper with the Swedish Team in 2002/3.

Louis Vuitton Cup - Monday's Races

 

FLIGHT 2

Match	Team	Delta
1	Team Shosholoza beat United Internet Team Germany	1:23
2	China Team beat BMW ORACLE Racing	3:15
3	Luna Rossa Challenge beat Victory Challenge	0:27
4	Areva Challenge beat Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team	2:06
5	Desafío Español 2007 beat +39 Challenge	0:01

 

FLIGHT 1

Match	Team	Delta
4	Emirates Team New Zealand beat Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team	0:25
5	Areva Challenge beat +39 Challenge	1:11

 Louis Vuitton Cup - Round Robin Two - Provisional Leaderboard

Position	Team	Points - End of RR1	Matches Sailed RR2	Matches Won RR2	Total Points
1	BMW ORACLE Racing (USA 98)	21	2	1	23
1	Luna Rossa Challenge (ITA 94)	19	2	2	23
3	Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL 92)	18	1	1	20
4	Desafío Español 2007 (ESP 97)	17	1	1	19
5	Victory Challenge (SWE 96)	14	2	1	16
6	Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia (ITA 99)	14	2	0	14
6	Team Shosholoza (RSA 83)	12	2	1	14
8	Areva Challenge (FRA 93)	9	2	2	13
9	+39 Challenge (ITA 85)	6	2	0	6
10	United Internet Team Germany (GER 89)	3	2	0	3
10	China Team (CHN 95)	1	2	1	3

 

 

Date :	30th april
Team Name :	Team Shosholoza
Crew list for	Race one	Nationality	Race two
Helmsman	Paolo Cian	ITA	Cian
Tactician	Tommaso Chieffi	ITA	Chieffi
Navigator	Marc Lagesse	RSA	Lagesse
Traveller	Mark Sadler	RSA	Sadler
Runner	Ian Ainslie	RSA	Ainslie
Mainsail Trimmer	David Rae	RSA	Rae
Aft Grinder	Reinhardt Rauscher	RSA	Rauscher
Trim up	Brett Jones	AUS	Jones
Trim Down	Michael Giles	RSA	Giles
Port Grinder	Johann Spilhaus	RSA	Spilhaus
STB Grinder	Shaun Pammenter	RSA	Pammenter
Mid Grinder	Camron Wills	RSA	Wills
Pit 1	Tim Kröger	GER	Kröger
Pit 2	Gui Verhovert	RSA	Verhovert
Mid-Bow	Ken Venn	RSA	Venn
Bow	Golden Mgedeza	RSA	Mgedeza
Mast	Charles Nankin	RSA	Nankin
18th Man
Skipper	Mark Sadler	RSA