Yachting: Patriotism puts puff into Team Shosholoza's sails

Team NZ scored a further two wins yesterday, beating Victory and +39. Picture / Chris Cameron

TRAPANI - When captain Salvatore Sarno went to Geneva to enter Team Shosholoza in the America's Cup he took a South African flag with him.

After signing the necessary documentation he posed for photos with the flag held high.

Although the cup is no longer country against country, that hasn't stopped Team Shosholoza beaming with nationalistic pride.

"In the past five or six months more South Africans have come to know about Shosholoza," Sarno said in Trapani yesterday.

"They know that Shosholoza is overseas and fighting for their country."

The diminutive Sarno is the driving force behind South Africa's maiden cup challenge.

The Italian-born sailor has lived in South Africa for 14 years, arriving as a ship's officer on a freighter picking up granite in Durban.

His is now the chairman of the Durban-based branch of the Mediterranean shipping company - the main backers of the challenge and the one which will dig deep to find the additional cash the syndicate needs to fund their campaign should other sponsors not come forward.

Although their 25 million ($43.3 million) budget pales in comparison to the 100 million or so Alinghi and Oracle will spend, Sarno is not fazed.

"I think we have much more than them in terms of spirit that is our strength.

"They have problems. There is a lot of politics inside. We are a very close team, we represent a nation and will fight for that nation."

The syndicate were the first to launch a 2007 generation boat, something that hasn't exactly gone smoothly.

First there was an altercation with a whale in February, which resulted in two broken steering wheels and a damaged hull.

Then there was a mast problem which wasn't fixed in time for the year's first regatta in Valencia.

However it now appears the demons have been banished. After securing their first win in a match-race in Sweden, Shosholoza now have four wins. Not bad for a team in which most of the crew had never set foot on a cup boat.

Like many of the smaller teams, they are benefiting from the pre-regattas.

Sailing manager Paul Stanbridge said not only was their crew work improving but they were learning to sail the boat faster.

Despite that, they were not fast enough on the fourth day of the regatta in Trapani, losing narrowly to Spain by 26s and to heavyweights Luna Rossa by a disappointing but respectable 52s.

Emirates Team New Zealand secured a further two wins beating Victory Challenge by 1m 30s and +39 by 19s.

Team New Zealand had too much speed for the Swedish boat, but shaking +39 proved more tricky. Despite acing +39 at the start, Team New Zealand never managed to extend their lead over the Italians who seemed to be going just as fast.

The strength of Alinghi was evident again after they recovered from gear failure to beat Germany.

The defenders ran into trouble after the start when the halyard lock mechanism on the top of their mast broke, causing their mainsail to flap.

Bowman Pieter van Neiuwenhuyzen was whisked up the mast, a temporary repair made and in no time Alinghi had recovered from at least a six-boat deficit and were back in front.

Alinghi strategist Peter Holmberg said the malfunction was something his team had discussed. "It was a good little fire drill and the team did a great job."

Team New Zealand raced China and Alinghi overnight.

They face Spain and Luna Rossa tonight in the final day of the regatta.