Team Shosholoza is a yacht racing team representing

Royal Cape Yacht Club The Royal Cape Yacht Club is one of South Africa’s most active and oldest yacht clubs. Located in Cape Town, the Club plays host to many important national sailing events, including South Africa’s premier ocean yacht race, the internationally ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, competing in the

2007 America's Cup The 2007 America's Cup was the thirty-second challenge for the America's Cup and was won by Alinghi in the 7th race. The Cup is the most famous and most prestigious regatta and '' Match Race'' in the sport of sailing. As per the Deed of Gift o ...

. The name

Shosholoza "Shosholoza" is an Nguni song that was sung by the mixed tribes of gold miners in South Africa. It is a mix of Zulu and Ndebele words, and can have various other South African languages thrown in depending on the singers. It was sung by all-mal ...

refers to a popular South African indigenous song and is used in an attempt to encompass the African spirit of 'pushing and pulling together'.

History

The team's history goes back to when Ian Ainslie taught sailing skills to underprivileged youngsters in the navy village of

Simon's Town Simon's Town ( af, Simonstad), sometimes spelled Simonstown, is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa and is home to Naval Base Simon's Town, the South African Navy's largest base. It is located on the shores of False Bay, on the eastern ...

and Captain Salvatore Sarno asked them to crew his

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

yacht. As the team improved the Captain began to talk about the America's Cup. Soon he had bought RSA 48 and the team was practicing out of the Waterfront in Cape Town. In 2009, they competed in the

Louis Vuitton Pacific Series The Louis Vuitton Pacific Series was a match race regatta in America's Cup Class yachts in Auckland, New Zealand during January and February 2009. Racing started on 30 January. The Louis Vuitton Pacific Series was organised in association with ...

, where they defeated defending champions Alinghi on the last day of the regatta's first round robin.

Boats

Shosholoza currently owns two IACC Yachts. RSA 48 was bought for training purposes. The team was the first syndicate to build a boat, RSA 83, for the

References

External links

Team Shosholoza home page
America's Cup teams 2003 establishments in South Africa Sailing in South Africa {{SouthAfrica-sport-team-stub