San Marino honours Shosholoza
10 April 2006
The yacht club of one of the world's smallest and oldest republic has singled out South African America's Cup challenger Team Shosholoza as worthy of their highest honour.
The yacht club of the Republic of San Marino - a tiny fortified city-state atop Mount Titano in central Italy which has survived centuries of wars and feuds to retain its independence - will present Team Shosholoza with their prized "Golden Sail" award on 2 June.
An official letter notifying team managing director Captain Salvatore Sarno of the award said: "We have decided to give this award to a team that not only has an excellent sailing preparation but one that also has a deeply human ethic and social conscience. In addition it reflects the tradition of freedom, peace and respect for human rights that has always existed in the Republic of San Marino."
Sarno said the team would "definitely" be in San Marino to accept the award. "We have only existed for two years as a
team, so you can imagine how humbled we feel to be honoured in this way."
Italian support for Team Shosholoza has been surprisingly big, given that Italy has three of its own teams challenging for the 2007 America's Cup.
At the Trapani Louis Vuitton Acts in Sicily in October, the Shosholoza crew were continually mobbed for autographs and the Italian media enthusiastically adopted them as "their fourth Italian team."
Italian knighthood for Sarno
In December, Italian-born Sarno also received the highest honour of his home country when he was created a Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.
The knighthood was in honour of his entrepreneurial skills as chairman of Mediterranean Shipping Company South Africa, and for his many philanthropic activities, among them establishment of the Izivunguvungu MSC Foundation for Youth in Simonstown.
Izivunguvungu, the training and development wing of Team Shosholoza,
operates as a full-time youth academy where children from poorer communities can learn valuable life skills through sailing, boat building, music, computer courses, environmental projects and even fishing.
Sarno said that when Team Shosholoza first appeared at the America's Cup pre-regattas in 2004 they were considered something of an exotic first entry from Africa, but "we have come a long, long way since then."
Bringing a part of Africa to Europe
At the opening America's Cup ceremony in Marseille, France in 2004, Sarno made world headlines when he said: "I have been told several times that it is a wonderful thing that we are here as an African team, trying to take the America's Cup to South Africa.
"But that is not exactly what we are here for. Really we are here to bring a part of Africa to Europe and the America's Cup"
But now, two years on, Sarno believes Shosholoza has a new-found confidence that allows them to set their
sights much higher.
"We have made important changes to our campaign yacht Shosholoza which
should immediately make us more competitive," says Sarno.
"We plan to demonstrate that we are worthy of awards like this when we start racing again in the first of the 2006 Valencia Louis Vuitton Acts in May."
The ancient European State of San Marino, founded in about 350 AD, has remained completely intact despite attacks by other self-governing Italian city-states, the Napoleonic Wars, the unification of Italy, and two world wars.
San Marino joined the United Nations in 1922 and maintains diplomatic and consular relations with a number of European and American countries, mints its own coins, issues its own postage stamps and grants honours of merit.
SouthAfrica.info reporter
| 
