Shosholoza's dream fades

admin — Sat, 05 May 2007 19:35:00 +0000

Team Shosholoza's dream of a place in the Louis Vuitton Cup semi-finals faded on Saturday with a loss against the Spanish home team Desafio Espanol, but the team will be going all out to win their remaining three matches to end in an honourable position on the leaderboard.

"We are not yet dead. We are still alive and we must still be there. We have three more races to go and Areva (French challengers) are very close," said captain Salvatore Sarno, team founder and managing director.

"We can still fight. For us to have started as newcomers at the bottom of the leaderboard and come so far is incredible. We are still fighting and we will continue as we have been doing for three and a half years. We are not defeated. We are doing this for the next campaign. We will finish the Louis Vuitton honourably," he said.

Captain Sarno said Saturday should be remembered as the start of a new two boat challenge for South Africa.

"Most probably Alinghi (Cup Defenders) will win again and if they do, it is not final, but 99% sure, that the next Cup will be in Valencia. If this is the case I hope that we will be able to launch RSA 101 by February next year and have it ready for the first Acts in May. My plan is that we have a two boat programme and if we can do that we can win the America's Cup."

It was an aggressive pre-start for Team Shosholoza who met the Spanish in Flight 7 of Round Robin 2 of the Louis Vuitton Cup on Saturday. Shosholoza led off the start line by one second and the two boats fought all the way up the first beat in a tight duel for supremacy.

Sailing conditions were perfect with warm sunshine, flat seas and 10 knot breezes and despite a luff attempt by the Spanish in the approach to the mark it was the South Africans who were first around the windward mark by just five seconds.

The two boats hoisted spinnaker and the chase was on with the South Africans enjoying a two boat lead. But a poor first gybe by Shosholoza was what lost the South Africans the match.

The South African Navy & Marine and Coastal Management: Shosholoza's dream fades

Shosholoza's dream fades