South Africa’s Team Shosholoza caused the biggest upset of the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series so far by pulling off an unimaginable 3 minute, 49 second win over America’s Cup defenders, the Swiss Team Alinghi, in Auckland, New Zealand, on Tuesday.
The match was won in the pre-start with Shosholoza using supreme skills to control the dial up by taking the two boats head to wind into an almost four-minute stall from which it was difficult for Alinghi to escape.
The South African team then built momentum for a perfect time on distance dash to lead off the start by two boat lengths. ”It was the classic start that you want to keep in your mind for a long while,” said Shosholoza skipper, Paolo Cian.
”The tide was pushing both boats towards the committee boat and our crew did a great job of executing the turn back to the line.”
Despite an incoming current, shifty winds and puffs in the lee of the volcanic Rangitoto Island, Shosholoza shot off to play the advantageous left side of the course and steadily stretched their lead on the Swiss around every mark to finish a whopping 1,78km ahead.
Meanwhile, despite perfect racing conditions in warm north-easterly winds of 14 to 16 knots, and flat water, Alinghi lost time on every leg, got holed in windless patches and had a problem dropping the gennaker on the bottom mark, which cost them valuable time.
Said Cian: ”It was a big victory for us, especially after Monday’s races when we sailed so well but didn’t score a point. Today the course was very tricky, but we not only outwitted Alinghi in the pre-start but didn’t miss a shift. I give credit to our tactician Tommaso Chieffi and our Kiwi strategist, Cameron Appleton, who helped us with local knowledge.
”A win like this gives us a lot of confidence going into the next round robin. It shows that every team can win when using even boats on short courses.”
In response to a question from event director Bruno Trouble at the post-race press conference as to how Alinghi had managed to be so badly beaten by Shosholoza, Alinghi navigator Juan Vila’s answer was: ”Shosholoza sailed a perfect race.”
”They did well to hold us in the pre start and make it difficult for us. It was very tricky out there and Shosholoza did well to play the shifts and get the puffs right. We could do nothing but watch them sail away from us,” said Alinghi’s Vilan.
Team founding managing director Captain Salvatore Sarno, who phoned immediately from Cape Town to congratulate his team, said: ”I had a big big feeling that we could do it today and finally it has come right for us. It is 2am here. I had no internet to listen to the race but I was not sleeping. I was just thinking very intensely of the team and being with them in my mind. Now I know that in the end there is someone up there,” said an emotional Sarno.
In the other races on Tuesday, BMW Oracle Racing defeated Damiani Italia by 52 seconds in a race that was close for the first three legs.
The French boat Pataugas K-Challenge put up a good fight and engaged Emirates Team New Zealand for the first weather leg of their race but the Kiwis won by one minute 38 seconds.
Greek offshore sailor Theodoros Tsoulfas took the helm of the Greek Challenge to race Britain’s TEAMORIGIN and kept the margin close for two legs before the British pulled away to win by 58 seconds. — Sapa