Somewhere over the proverbial rainbow, a passion for yachting is stirring in the South African soul, or so Ian Ainslie hopes after Team Shosholoza’s battling showing at the Louis Vuitton Cup.
The syndicate, formed just four years ago, may not have made it to the semifinals and, with a budget of just â,¬25-million coming in at barely a quarter of big-leaguers such as BMW Oracle Racing, that was to be expected.
But a thrilling win by just six seconds over Italians Mascalzone on Sunday leaves Ainslie and company in with a good chance of finishing just out of the qualifiers after living up to skipper Salvatore Sarno’s pre-race description of a boat and crew who represent the ”soul of sailing”.
True, Mascalzone were saddled with an early penalty for straying too close in the pre-start, before poor tacking and overspin at the finish line gave Shosholoza their third win in second round robin competition.
But tactician and helmsman Ainslie insisted that the goal of establishing the syndicate’s credibility had been met, even f too many points had gone begging.
”We could have done better. We’ve lost a lot of races which could have gone our way,” admitted the one-time maths student from the University of Natal.
”But if we win our last two races we have a chance to come in in sixth spot, which would be great for us,” Ainslie said, looking forward to Monday’s challenge against Italians +39 Challenge, whose compatriots Mascalzone are just two points ahead of the African boat.
”Overall we are happy with our progress. This year we have been battling with our gybes a bit,” added Ainslie, who told Agence France-Presse that slowly but surely the team’s exploits were filtering through to the South African public.
”The people didn’t know about yachting really. There’s a really small community of people that do sailing in South Africa and the majority of people wouldn’t have known anything about it. They would assume that if you go on to the sea it’s something to do with fishing!
”But actually the profile has been raised incredibly. Of course we haven’t been home that much in the last two years but from our families and friends we hear that people are really excited about it.
”For sports teams in South Africa people are really passionate about doing well. Unfortunately the last few years have seen pretty thin pickings,” said Ainslie, adding that even the semifinals are too much to ask this year.
Archbishop Tutu, credited with coining the phrase ”Rainbow Nation” for post-apartheid South Africa, has vowed to take in some racing for himself on Wednesday, the final day for those who have not made it to the last four.
The Nobel peace laureate is the team patron and has been in regular email contact with the boat, signing himself simply ”Arch” for archbishop — but also arch-fan of the boat named after a mining song deeply rooted in African culture and, which loosely translated, means ”moving forward”. — Sapa-AFP