T-Systems Minute 09-05-2007

Today was a milestone for Shosholoza as it marked the end of their journey in the 32nd America's Cup. The final race for the South Africans was against Areva Challenge, the French team, for the seventh and eighth place in the Louis Vuitton Cup rankings. It was a close and exciting race and despite their slow start, Shosholoza beat the French by 14 seconds.

Unfortunately, Shosholoza's aspiration of reaching the semifinals was not achieved but their overall performance was very satisfactory, taking into consideration the fact it was the first ever participation of a South African team in the America's Cup.


Video shot and produced by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

T-Systems Minute 07-05-2007

It was supposed to be an easy race but it turned out as a disappointment for Shosholoza. Their rival, Italian challenger +39, sailed very well, had a better start and kept control over Shosholoza during the whole race. Despite their efforts, the South Africans never threatened Iain Percy and his crew and the final gap tells the story. The Italians finished the race almost a minute ahead of Shosholoza.


Video shot and produced by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

T-Systems Minute 06-05-2007

Despite being mathematically eliminated from the Louis Vuitton semifinals, South African challenger Team Shosholoza fought hard on Sunday and won a very difficult race against Mascalzone Capitalia. Shosholoza's helmsman Paolo Cian managed to outsmart the Italians in the prestart and get them a penalty.

Mascalzone Capitalia was always ahead of the South Africans throughout the race, and when Shosholoza ran into trouble after a gybe in the final leg, they managed to speed ahead and build a 150-meter advantage. Nevertheless, the lead was not large enough and winds had gotten lighter, allowing Shosholoza's RSA-83 to zoom past the Italian ITA-99 when it was offloading the penalty. Shosholoza crossed the finish line just 6 seconds ahead of Mascalzone Capitalia.


Video shot and produced by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

T-Systems Minute 04-05-2007

Friday was a day of opposites for Shosholoza. The South African America's Cup challenger had a first race with the weakest of their rivals, China Team, while in the second match they faced one of the mightiest powers of sailing, Emirates Team NZ.

As it was expected, the race against the Chinese was very easy and Shosholoza beat them by a wide margin. The New Zealanders were obviously much superior than the Chinese and beat Shosholoza by just 29 seconds after a very close race. It is the third race against one of the top-three teams that Shosholoza is beaten by a very slim margin and after an extremely close race.


Video shot and produced by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

T-Systems Minute 02-05-2007

Wednesday was probably one of the toughest days for Shosholoza so far in the Louis Vuitton Cup as the South African challenger had to race against the two top teams, BMW Oracle and Luna Rosssa. Unfortunately, both resulted in defeats but the South Africans sailed very well, fighting hard and even leading against BMW Oracle during the first half of the race.

Shosholoza's tactician, Tomasso Chieffi, describes today's two difficult matches that demonstrated the immense progress the South Africans have achieved in the last 2 years. Still, both BMW Oracle and Luna Rossa showed as well why they are currently at the top of the leaderboard.


Video shot and produced by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

T-Systems Minute 30-04-2007

In today's "T-Systems Minute", Ian Ainslie, strategist of Team Shosholoza, talks about the South African team's win over United Internet Team Germany. Following, Sunday's disastrous race against Victory Challenge, Shosholoza raced more conservatively, avoided unnecessary risks and lead throughout the race. The Germans were unable to catch up and as a result, Shosholoza won with an advantage of 1:23 minutes.


Video shot and produced by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

T-Systems Minute 29-04-2007

In today's T-Systems Minute, Marc Lagesse, navigator of Team Shosholoza, describes his team's disastrous race against Victory Challenge. Despite having sailed very well and lead during three quarters of the race, the South Africans lost after being overtaken in the last half of the final leg.

Having broken their spinnaker pole at the leeward gate and without sufficient advantage, Magnus Holmberg and his crew were able to easily overtake them and finish a minute ahead of them.


Video shot and produced by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

T-Systems Minute 27-04-2007

In today's "T-Systems Minute" Mark Sadler, skipper of Team Shosholoza, describes the team's dramatic victory over the French team Areva Challenge.

Shosholoza started the race half a second behind the French but managed to close in on them, force them to incur a penalty and pass them. A torn spinnaker aboard RSA-83 turnde the situation around once again and the French got to lead the race. While reaching the finish line, Areva Challenge decided to offload their penalty at the pin end but rounded the buoy, wanting to carry it out as fast as possible, feeling Shosholoza breath on their neck. In their effort, they rounded the buoy too close and according to the umpires, their mast did not entirely cross the line and penalized them again. The South African team was victorious.


Video shot and produced by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

T-Systems Minute 25-04-2007

Today's T-Systems Minute certainly lacks the enthusiasm and optimism clearly evident yesterday evening. Team Shosholoza faced two very tough rivals, Emirates Team NZ in the first flight and Desafío Español in the second one.

Despite the early lead and hard fight by the South Africans, both rivals proved superior and scored two valuable points each.


Video shot and produced by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

T-Systems Minute - 24 April 2007

In today's "T-Systems Minute", Tomasso Chieffi, Tactician of Team Shosholoza, gives an account of his team's amazing victory over Luna Rossa, one of the top-three challengers and unbeaten until today. Once considered a second-tier team, Shosholoza pulled off the big one today by slaying the Italian giant and then scoring an easy victory over China Team.

Still, the South Africans have a long way to go as they have two tough races on Wednesday when they meet Emirates Team New Zealand and Spain's Desafío Español in Flights Six and Seven.


Video shot and produced by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

T-Systems Minute - 22 April 2007

In today's "T-Systems Minute" Marc Largesse, navigator of Team Shosholoza, describes the South African challenger's race against the Challenger of Record, BMW Oracle.

Shosholoza sailed remarkably well ahead and were leading the American challenger halfway through the middle of the race. Despite a problem with the spinnaker drop at the leeward gate, the South Africans rounded 21 seconds ahead of BMW Oracle.

Unfortunately, Chris Dickson and his crew powered away and managed to steal the lead, rounding the top mark 38 seconds ahead. Shosholoza fought back gybe after gybe in the last leg but was not able to reduce the gap.

"I think we tried to overcomplicate the leeward mark and that's why we lost the spinnaker. We led for more than half of the race and even when they overtook us we continued to attack. It was a great day. We didn't get the point but to lead for over two legs on a big superpower team like BMW ORACLE Racing is something we can all be proud of”, said sailing manager Paul Standbridge.


Video shot and produced by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

T-Systems Minute - 20 April 2007

In today's "T-Systems Minute" Mark Sadler, skipper of Team Shosholoza, describes the South African challenger's first two races in the Louis Vuitton Cup.

The first race was against Victory Challenge. Despite having the lead at the start, the South Aficans chose to sail on the left side of the course while the Swedes went to the right. The move seemed to pay and Victory Challenge rounded the top mark 16 seconds ahead of Shosholoza. Despite the hard fight, Shosholoza staid behind for the rest of the match and crossed the finish line trailing the Swedes by 46 seconds.

The day's second race was much easier and was indeed the first victory ever of an African team in the Louis Vuitton Cup, considering of course the fact that Shosholoza is the first ever African participation in the America's Cup. They led their German opponents throughout the course and won with a very comfortable margin of 1:10.


Video shot and produced by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

T-Systems Minute - Day 5

In today's "T-Systems Minute", Paolo Cian, Shosholoza's Helmsman, comments on the day's two races. In the first one, Shosholoza managed to climb and gain positions after receiving a penalty at the start. In the second race, the South African challenger finished tenth.

The South African challenger finished Louis Vuitton Act 13 reaching its target of obtaining an additional bonus point. Shosholoza will now start the Louis Vuitton Cup carrying two bonus points.


Video shot and produced by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

T-System Minute - Day 4

In today's "T-Systems Minute", Ian Ainslie, Shosholoza's Strategist, describes the two races. In the first one, Shosholoza finished seventh, after holding on to second position halfway through. In the second race, the South African challenger finished fifth, a couple of meters ahead of Desafío Español after an agonizing final stretch.


Video shot and produced by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

T-Systems Minute - Day 3

There was no racing today but Tim Kröger, Shosholoza's Boat Captain, tells us it was really cold sitting on the boat for more than 3 hours.


Video shot and produced by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

T-Systems Minute - Day 2

In today's "T-Systems Minute", Marc Largesse, navigator of the South African America's Cup challenger talks about the day's two difficult races. Going into the final upwind beat of the second racetheir jib ripped out of its forestay track and come collapsing down. Forced to bear away, an attempt was made to hoist another jib but in the meantime the batwing, swinging free, slashed a hole in the mainsail.

T-Systems Minute Day 1

In today's "T-Systems Minute", and first for the 2007 racing season, Shosholoza's skipper Mark Sadler comments on the shifty and difficult conditions encountered on the race course. Still, the South African challenger managed to stay in the game throughout the race and with a good call in the last leg finished second just behind BMW Oracle.