Salvatore Sarno is the name of the sailing maniac who has lived in Cape Town for 17 years and has been dreaming of South Africa's challenge for the Americas Cup for the past two years and has been working hard to realise it.
Sarno is planning big things for South African sailing. He is the head of Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) South Africa. With 225 ships, MSC is the second largest shipping company in the world. The shipping company's headquarters in Geneva and the fact that MSC was a minor sponsor of Prada are also worthy of note.
This also led to the purchase of the "Luna Rossa", which changed hands for 500,000 euros and arrived in Cape Town in March - on an MSC container ship, of course. The ship was quickly repainted and given African graphics, the origins of which come from the Zulu and Xhosa tribes.
The naming ceremony for the "Shosholoza", named after an old Zulu dance, was accompanied by hot African rhythms and a dozen African dancers. "Shosholoza" cannot be translated in one word. In regatta German, it loosely translates as: "We attack".
Salvatore Sarno shouted: "We want to win!" to the enthusiastic crowd at the christening. He also declared that he wanted to compete with a passionate, purely South African team, without "overseas professionals".
South Africa wants to prove that ships and crew can be built and prepared here with the help of the young successful designer Jason Ker, who has been living in Cape Town for four weeks. Training on Table Bay began a few days ago.
