It is likely that no team represents the spirit of the ‘new’ America’s Cup quite as well as South Africa’s Team Shosholoza. One of the first teams to challenge, Captain Salvatore Sarno’s squad is the first ever America’s Cup challenge from Africa. In the opening Louis Vuitton Acts in 2004, the team was so new to America’s Cup boats and Cup-style racing, that it was considered an achievement simply to get around the race course.
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"We feel there’s a possibility of making the top four in the Louis Vuitton Cup..."
Mark Sadler
That opening season, the team didn’t win any match races, and trailed in the fleet races as well. 2005 saw Shosholoza racing the first new boat built for the 32nd America’s Cup, RSA 83, but there were problems in making the new boat reliable and in the opening Valencia Louis Vuitton Acts that year, the team was again shut out in the match races and finished last in the fleet racing.
But in Malmö-Skåne, the team earned its first two match race wins and finished 10th out of 12 in the fleet racing. And in Trapani, Shosholoza exploded for three match race wins and finished an incredible fifth place in the fleet racing. Suddenly, a challenge that had started as an adventure was becoming very competitive.
“When I joined the team right at the beginning there was a sense of adventure that we were going to the America’s Cup,” says skipper Mark Sadler, who joined the team as a sail trimmer in 2004. “None of us really had any experience in Cup boats whatsoever, but slowly we learned more about the boats, we had different guys come in to coach us, and as the last couple of years have shown, we’ve learned quite a lot. I think the strong point was everyone came in with an open mind, and was willing to learn…(but) we didn’t think that we’d be getting the results that we are.”
As the 2006 season began, it was a reasonable question to ask whether Shosholoza could continue to improve, or would they fall back once the later challengers had had time to catch up.
The South Africans quickly provided the answer, earning four wins in Louis Vuitton Act 10, including a victory over Desafío Español, one of the better challengers. The team finished Act 10 in eighth place, and followed that up with a sixth place finish in Louis Vuitton Act 11.
In Act 12, the team finished eighth in the Round Robin on the strength of three match wins. It faced Desafío Español in the ‘division two’ Semi Final and Victory Challenge in the petit final for the second division. The South Africans lost 2-1 both times, but not before winning the first match in each series, to scare their more experienced opponents. For the year, the team finished in seventh position on the 2006 Louis Vuitton ACC Championship table, just three points behind Desafío Español.
“We’re certainly very proud of what we’ve been able to achieve, it’s been a big story back in South Africa,” says Sadler, reflecting back on the 2006 season. “Everyone is very committed. Dee Smith (coach and afterguard in 2006) was helping us this year on the technical side and Jason Ker has given us a reasonably fast boat. Everyone went into the Acts this year fully committed to pushing as hard as possible and we were able to stay on the heels of the better teams.”
Sailing RSA 83
The team has decided not to build a second boat for this campaign, preferring to focus on further developments to RSA 83. That means in 2007, it will be racing the oldest boat in the fleet, but Sadler says he doesn’t see that as a disadvantage.
“I think we’ve got some more pace to come out of this boat. We’re making some changes over the winter and I think that out of the smaller teams, we’re in a good position because we’ve sailed the boat a lot, we’re upgrading it, and we know exactly where we are with the boat. It’s not going to be a surprise getting a new boat just a couple of months before the start of the Louis Vuitton Cup. We won’t be surprised by anything with the boat.”
Team Shosholoza
He makes a good point. Many of the newer Cup teams struggle at first when they launch a new boat and the time between launching and developing a boat that is reliable and well-tuned can stretch out, as the South Africans themselves found in 2005.
With the 2006 racing season now a memory, the team spent the summer training and testing in Valencia, striking a balance between technical development and racing against other Cup teams. Later this month, the majority of the team will begin an extended Christmas break, while RSA 83 undergoes a re-fit.
Mark Sadler
“The shore team is working hard on the boat doing a refit and getting it ready for when the sailing team returns in January. We then start a full sailing programme and development, especially on the sail side up, until April,” Sadler says. “Ian Ainslie and Paolo Cian have been doing some match racing events but from January onwards, I think all of the focus will be on what we’re doing here in Valencia.”
Looking ahead to 2007, Sadler says the team isn’t setting any limits on itself. And with the type of progression Shosholoza has made over the past 18 months, why would you?
“I think the goals have been getting bigger and bigger every month,” Sadler admits, smiling. “We feel there’s a possibility of making the top four in the Louis Vuitton Cup. It’s certainly a possibility. At the beginning of this year, we wouldn’t have been thinking that, but now I think it is a possibility. It’s something that’s creeping into everyone’s minds now.”
“We’re working really hard on our sailing and with a few technical improvements I think we’re on the right track.”
Statistics
The minimum losing and winning delta is the same in 2006 for Shosholoza: 4 seconds. The loss came against Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia Team in Flight 11 of Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 12. The win was over Desafío Español 2007 in Race One of the semi-finals of the Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 12.
Shosholoza has lost two races when leading at the last mark. Both defeats came against Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia Team. The first in Flight 10 of Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 10, when Shosholoza lost by 15 seconds. The second in Flight 11 of the Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 12, when Shosholoza lost by 4 seconds.
South Africa’s maximum winning delta was 1:35 against United Internet Team Germany during the Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 12.
Its maximum losing delta was 2:19 against Victory Challenge in Flight 3 of the Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 10.
Team Shosholoza had to wait until the third day and fifth race of the Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 10 to earn its first win in 2006. It came against Areva Challenge after taking the lead on the second windward leg
The best position in a fleet race was two fifth place finishes in the first day of the Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 11.
The only race that Shosholoza has won without an opponent finishing was Match 6 of Flight 7 of Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 12 against China Team.
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