Team Shosholoza exits Louis Vuitton Cup with a win

by Team Shosholoza Media on 10 May 2007
Team Shosholoza bowed out of the Louis Vuitton Cup on a high note following a win over the French AREVA Challenge in her final race of the 32nd America’s Cup today off Valencia, Spain.

'I want to start, yes, I want to start again. I feel a little empty. Yes, of course. The dream was to go to the semi-finals. We had the possibility but it wasn’t to be and we did well. I am very, very proud of my team. They are winners all the way. Next time we will bring the Cup back to South Africa,' said team founder and managing director Captain Salvatore Sarno who along with the rest of the team was cheered back to the dock and then ceremoniously thrown into the harbour.

Team Shosholoza finished 7th overall on the Louis Vuitton ranking at the conclusion of 11 flights of match racing in Round Robin Two. The team’s much sought after place in the semi-finals ultimately eluded them but bar that the South African first timers achieved an international following of fans, enormous respect from their competitors and fame in their home country.

Intended as an African dream for all to share, Team Shosholoza, after three and a half years of hard racing and sail training on the America’s Cup Class circuit in Europe, also successfully achieved Captain Sarno’s intentions of showcasing all that is good about South Africa’s new democracy and above all the country’s extraordinary human resources, skills and world-class technology.

Captain Sarno has already spoken of a second two-boat campaign for Team Shosholoza. However a formal announcement will only be made following the outcome of the America’s Cup match in July.

Emirates Team New Zealand is the new leader on the Louis Vuitton ranking after a massive wind shift gave her a walk over win on BMW ORACLE Racing – the American team that has lead the ranking since the start of the Louis Vuitton Cup on 16 April. The Kiwi’s, BMW ORACLE, Italy’s Luna Rossa Challenge and Spain’s Desafio Espanol are the four teams that make the cut to go through to the semi-finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup which start on the 14 April next week. Two of these teams will go through to the finals – the winner of which will face America’s Cup Defenders Team Alinghi in the America’s Cup Match starting on 23 June.

Team Shosholoza, AREVA Challenge, China Team, United Internet Team Germany, the two Italian teams the + 39 Challenge and Mascalzone Latino Capitalia and the Swedish Victory Challengers are all now eliminated from the competition.

It was an emotional final docking out ceremony for the South Africans with Andrea Bocelli’s 'Time to Say Goodbye' being played before the team’s customary theme song Shosholoza – which always gets supporters clapping, dancing and singing. Captain Sarno and his wife Sandra were both on board for a team photograph. Also on board for the first time for the ride out to the race course was sailing manager Paul Standbridge, a veteran of two previous America’s Cup and instrumental in both the selection and training of the South African team.

Another important guest sailing out with the team today was one of the team’s biggest fans, journalist Liryn de Jager of the South African Sunday newspaper Rapport. She last sailed with the team in Table Bay in 2005. The '18th man' aboard today was Valencia’s Fallera Mayor.

Team Shosholoza’s match against AREVA was the battle for 7th overall and despite a slow almost drifting start it was the French who controlled the start while the South Africans struggled to get past the race committee boat. But the South Africans eked ahead to lead around each mark to ultimately take the finish line with a winning delta of 14 seconds amid much jubilation and cheers on board.

The semi- finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup start on Monday 14 April.

Louis Vuitton Cup - Wednesday's matches

FLIGHT 11

Match	Team	Delta
1	Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team beat Victory Challenge	0:38
2	Luna Rossa Challenge beat Desafío Español 2007	1:54
3	Emirates Team New Zealandbeat BMW ORACLE Racing	1:34
4	+39 Challenge beat United Internet Team Germany	0:30
5	Team Shosholoza beat Areva Challenge	0:14

Bye - ChinaTeam

 

Louis Vuitton Cup - Round Robin Two - Provisional Leaderboard

Position	Team	Points - End of RR1	Matches Sailed RR2	Matches Won RR2	Total Points
1	Emirates Team New Zealand(NZL 92)	18	10	10	38
2	BMW ORACLE Racing (USA 98)	21	10	8	37
3	Luna Rossa Challenge (ITA 94)	19	10	8	35
4	Desafío Español 2007 (ESP 97)	17	10	6	29
5	Victory Challenge (SWE 96)	14	10	6	26
6	Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia (ITA 99)	14	10	4	22
7	Team Shosholoza (RSA 83)	12	10	4	20
8	Areva Challenge (FRA 93)	9	10	4	17
9	+39 Challenge (ITA 85)	6	10	2	10
10	United Internet Team Germany(GER 89)	3	10	1	5
11	ChinaTeam (CHN 95)	1	10	1	3

 

Date :	9th May
Team Name :	Team Shosholoza
Crew list for	Race one	Nationality
Helmsman	Paolo Cian	ITA
Tactician	Tommaso Chieffi	ITA
Navigator	Marc Lagesse	RSA
Traveller	Alex Runciman	RSA
Runner	Ian Ainslie	RSA
Mainsail Trimmer	David Rae	RSA
Aft Grinder	Mark Sadler	RSA
Trim up	Brett Jones	AUS
Trim Down	Michael Giles	RSA
Port Grinder	Johann Spilhaus	RSA
STB Grinder	Reinhardt Rauscher	RSA
Mid Grinder	Camron Wills	RSA
Pit 1	Tim Kröger	GER
Pit 2	Solomon Dipeere	RSA
Mid-Bow	Ken Venn	RSA
Bow	Golden Mgedeza	RSA
Mast	Charles Nankin	RSA
18th Man	Fallera Major	ESP
Skipper	Mark Sadler	RSA

www.teamshosholoza.com