SA yachtsman Geoff Meek’s appointment as skipper of the SA America’s Cup Challenge Team Shosholoza is the realization of a promise he made to himself as a 18 year old when international sports boycotts and a ban on South African participation in the Olympics dashed his hopes and ambitions for a 1976 Olympic campaign on a Flying Dutchman. And in fact ever participating in the Olympics.

“I was seriously motivated to go full out for a medal and had plans to link up with an Olympic gold medalist who would get me up to speed. I was 18, in my prime, and like so many other sportsmen of our generation, international participation in sport was suddenly closed to us for over 20 years. At the time I thought “OK I will never be able to do the Olympics but, never mind, I will mess around and have fun sailing until I am over 50.” I don’t know why I thought that, but I did,” said Meek who at 51 has landed the best job he could ever have hoped for.

His “messing around” in yachts has also earned him many world championship titles over the years. He was the alternate skipper for the British team in their pre-America's Cup trials in Freemantle in 1987 and as skipper and helmsman he has won many international big boat yacht racing championships, among them the Fastnet Race and Cowes Week in the UK, the Sydney Hobart Race, the SORC Race Week in Miami, Block Island Race Week off New York, Sardinia Cup, the Southern Cross Cup in Sydney and the Onion Patch regatta in Newport, US.

He was recently invited to skipper one of the 82 foot Maxi's in a European Series organised by Ernesto Bertarelli, head of the Swiss Alinghi Challenge, the current America's Cup defending champions. As skipper of the official South African entry in the series he won the Cowes Week regatta of the circuit.

He has has won every major offshore regatta in South Africa and holds the record of 20 Table Bay Race Week championship titles. He has skippered five Lipton Challenge Cup regattas, two of which were winning campaigns with Royal Cape Yacht Club and Hermanus Yacht Club. He has been South African Yachtsman of the Year five times and has been awarded SA Colours for yachting six times. He has also been awarded the State President's Sports Merit Award.

“The America’s Cup is bigger than the Olympics but obviously not as direct – in terms of sailing – if you are racing dinghies. Still it is a promise come true for me – just bigger than I imagined!””

Meek believes there is no one else besides Durban’s Captain Salvatore Sarno, chairman of Mediterranean Shipping Company, who could have put together the SA America’s Challenge for 2007: “Without him there would be nothing. When he first approached all of us last year he convinced us it was possible – even against our better judgement. And of course he has proved us wrong. He is already ahead of the game and constantly surprises us with the speed in which the campaign is moving forward. And he is good, really good, in leading the project and especially in terms of raising sponsorship - all of which, at the moment, goes into our sailing programme.

“A lot has been said about Captain Sarno’s passion and vision but there is also the reality that he gets things done. He has supported and sponsored South African regattas, shipping of yachts, recent Olympic campaigns and had the foresight to sponsor the Izivunguvungu MSC Foundation For Youth sail training development programme in Simonstown which will be used a filter system for people (with no previous sailing experience) wanting to try out for the America’s Cup. These are structures that have been in place for many years. The America’s Cup is just another – radical perhaps! - step forward for him.”

“We’ve had two months sailing together now as a team on Shosholoza RSA 48 and it is working well. We had to appoint a core team as America’s Cup yachts are complicated and potentially dangerous to sail unless you know what you are doing and Paul (Standbridge) and I were the only two who had sailed these yachts before. We’ve also been fortunate to have professional assistance over the past month from SA international professional sailors like Jan Dekker and Mike Joubert who have sailed America’s Cup and Volvo campaigns.

“The yacht exudes serious power because of the sheer weight of the bulb. We’ve had some critical moments because of the big seas and strong winds in Table Bay and the massive inertia of the 20 ton bulb (by comparison the rest of the yacht only weighs four tons). It puts a huge load on everything else and as a result we have had a lot of breakages. This is not unusual, but the difference between our campaign and others is that we don’t have a big shore crew on hand to constantly fix things for us. We do it all ourselves.

“All America’s Cup yachts need repairing and maintenance on a daily basis and this includes complete servicing of hydraulic and winch packages. We are using old ng old sails and sometimes do over 50 tacks a day so the headsails particularly take a hammering and the guys are fixing tears almost every night

“The seas here are bigger than any of the America’s Cup venues have been. It can be quite radical in Table Bay and we’ve sailed in 22 up to 30 knot winds in choppy seas. The boat is very low and going into the chop the inertia of the bulb will sometimes force the bow down half a metre deep, so sometimes we have water rushing right over the deck.. Sailing in these conditions on our own is probably better than being in flat seas as it forces us to become more aware of the complexities of the boat and its capabilities.

“Its been a big learning curve for the team and they are learning fast. There is a great vibe on the boat and everything is progressing really well considering most of us weren’t professionals – yet have to get into a professional way of thinking. The crew’s main focus though – in order to secure a spot on the boat - will be in getting their strength up and on gaining muscular weight. We’ve already starting working on this with our training manager Salvatore Siviero who has devised personal fitness and diet programmes for each individual crew member - bearing in mind that crew on the grinders, mast and foredeck should weigh in around 98 kg.

At the moment the crew have five meals a day. They have breakfast at home, a meal as they leave the V&A Waterfront mooring, a midday lunch break out at sea, another meal on their return to shore and supper at home. “It’s a long very physical day so we really need it. Some of the crew also has extra responsibilities like maintenance of the winches, sails, hydraulics, navigation and so on, which means they often have to work late at night,” says Meek.

He said having a core team on track meant they were able to start trying out the some 120 other yachtsmen (100’s without sailing skills have applied through Izivunguvungu) who have applied to join Team Shosholoza. The applicants come onto Shosholoza on a trial basis for a week or two and the process will continue for the until the best possible team is found.

“Some applicants are more experienced than others and we’ve had some really good ones. It will take time but we want to give everyone a chance,” said Meek.

As far as possible the intention is that Team Shosholoza will be South African.

“We are not known internationally and none of us are Olympic medalists whereas other Challengers have four or five medalist per team. We don’t have the track record but it doesn’t bother me. We have the talent and I’ve beaten the likes of Connors and Coutt’s (three times America’s Cup winner and current skipper of Alinghi) at other events over the years. I don’t feel overawed.”

However top of Geoff’s personal agenda for the next two years is to get onto the Swedish Match Tour to get his match racing skills on a par with the best in the world.

“I have been in contact with the organisors and asked if there are any gaps we can fill as the Tour is by invitation only. The yachts are supplied and we would look at taking five or six of the crew from Team Shosholoza with us.

“Competing on the Tour is critical not only in terms of getting our skills up to speed but in terms of interpretation of match racing rules. The America’s Cup takes its jury from the pool of paid professional umpires who run the Swedish Tour as the rules are identical for both events. It is very complex and therefore imperative to understand their interpretation of the rules in the correct way.

The Swedish Match Tour is held worldwide. There is talk that the America’s Cup Challenge from South Africa could mean that this country be considered as a possible tour venue for next year.

Other more immediate plans for the entire crew include competing in the Louis Vuitton Act 1 of the 32nd America’s Cup in Marseilles in September followed by Act 2 and 3 in Valencia, Spain in October this year. These are fleet and match racing events which will form part of a series of regattas that will climax with the Louis Vuitton Cup and the 32 America’s Cup Match in 2007. Points earned at these events will count towards seeding at the Louis Vuitton Cup in 2007.

“Our plan is to get international exposure and racing experience for the whole crew at these upcoming events but we still need to decide whether we will be chartering an America’s Cup yacht there or whether we will do some huge modifications to Shosholoza and take her. It all depends on what is decided with regards to the building programme for our new yacht which we would like to be ready by the middle of next year. The building and design team is almost set up and we would rather get everything in place than rush it.

“I have the utmost faith in Jason Ker (naval architect) who will lead our local design and building team and am seriously positive about how good our new boat will be.and how well it will sail. I think we are going to surprise people and we’ll do better than the perception people currently have of us. I have a very positive feeling about it.”

Meek said the benefits to the local boat building industry might not be immediately evident but it would raise the profile of the South African industry and sport and hopefully attract more yacht owners and sailors.

“What it will do is raise the standard of boatbuilding generally as we will be building two yachts using high temperature oven-baked carbon technology – something that is not usually done here.”

“In the meantime we are trying to put in as much time on the water as possible. We are sailing four times a week and the programme will become more structured with the opening of our new SA America’s Cup base in the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town in mid July. At the moment we are working out of two containers on the quayside. The V&A have been incredibly supportive giving us the use of a spacious berth for Shosholoza on a floating pontoon in front of the Cape Grace Hotel, the use of a floating crane on a number of occasions and are always ready to open and close the two lifting bridges.

“Once the base is open we will have our own crane to lift the yacht out of the water every night and have offices, conference facilities and a gym which will make things easier and more efficient for everyone. Especially in winter!”