By Di Meek
Valencia (Spain) - South Africa's Team Shosholoza on Friday night celebrated the christening of their new yacht Shosholoza RSA 83, together with over 800 VIP guests and a large media contingent from around the world.
Team Shosholoza were the first of 11 challengers for the America's Cup 2007 to present a fully constructed new yacht based on the new competition rules (ACC Rule V5).
Yacht Shosholoza has a deeper keel, larger sail surface area and less weight, making all the difference to boats that competed in the last America's Cup, in 2003.
The yacht's design and build team, headed by chief designer Jason Ker, worked non-stop to complete the yacht so that the crew can put in as much sailing practice as possible before the first of the 2005 America's Cup pre-regattas or Acts start on June 16 in Valencia.
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"Jason Ker and his team did a first-class job," said managing director Salvatore Sarno. "
This is a result of a five-month period of design and boat-building work."
Meanwhile Team Shosholoza, who are all now in Valencia, are keen to test the new yacht and take her through sea trials. The new RSA 83 boat is 26 metres long, 4.5 metres wide and weighs 24 tons, while the mast's height is 35 metres.
Some two weeks before the christening, the boat's hull arrived in Valencia from South Africa, so the construction team had to work day and night to finish the boat.
Finally, the mast of the new Shosholoza yacht was placed into position a few days before the christening.
But not only is the South African team considered to be fast in boat construction, its work at the Valencia America's Cup base is also thought to be the most advanced in comparison to the other teams competing in the race.
"When Shosholoza registered to participate in the America's Cup 2007, the team was dubbed a 'nice outsider' and 'colour print'," said Dieter Schweer from T-Systems, official chief sponsor of Shosholoza.
"But after today, everybody is aware of the fact that we have to be taken seriously, and this feeling is growing daily."
- This article was originally published on page 25 of Saturday Argus on May 21, 2005
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