If you got excited with Shosholoza in the America’s Cup you have to come here

America’s Cup enthusiasts, or rather, America’s Cup history enthusiasts, there is a must-see event for you. Where. In Milan, Wednesday, June 26 at 7 p.m. at Libreria del Mare, 28 Broletto Street.

In fact, a presentation in the presence of the author of the volume “Shosholoza. A Commander in the America’s Cup” by Salvatore Sarno (published by Mursia, pp. 384, Euro 18.00, you can find it here), or the man who took an African team to the America’s Cup for the first time (it was 2007). The South African trade union Shosholoza, indeed.

The story of Salvatore Sarno and Shosholoza

In this intense autobiography, Commander Salvatore Sarno reveals the plot of his life, going beyond the feat that made him famous in world sailing, the first African challenge to the America’s Cup, with Shosholoza of which he was the creator, and guide. At the 32nd America’s Cup in Valencia, he had led a South Africa, recently released from apartheid and finally open to the world, to race in the oldest trophy in sports with a multi-ethnic crew of young South Africans under his leadership and the help of two well-known Italian sailors, Paolo Cian and Tommaso Chieffi. Since the America’s Cup, now in its 37th edition, will be held this year in Barcelona starting August 22, and many Italians will be following it as usual since the days of Azzurra in 1983, here is where this tale comes back today more relevant than ever.

Sarno traces an adventurous life of great hard work and equally great satisfaction to the pinnacle of his professional career, which led him to lead MSC Mediterranean Shipping in South Africa. Here, with the MSC, he helps young people escape difficult situations, and here he immediately follows the innovative ideas of figures who belong to the very history of humanity, such as Nobel laureates Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Team Shosholoza emerges as the culmination of a life dedicated to work, love of the sea and sailing, but above all generosity, profiling the profile of an extraordinary man.

States the author: “Shosholoza is the realization of a dream, the dream of so many young people seeking a better future. Nelson Mandela’s dream of defeating racism and seeing his country united with blacks, whites, coloreds and Indians working in harmony. Shosholoza is also a song, later to become an anthem that calls for teamwork. The word “Shosholoza” means, let us proceed, let us go forward and the refrain repeats: let us pull and push together, in the sun and in the rain, let us pull and push as one.”

From the introduction by Giuliano Luzzatto: “The book you hold in your hands is the passionate autobiography of a naval commander, a self-made man of the sea, with perseverance and dedication to work, family and the less fortunate, driven by a boundless passion for the Big Blue. Born in Campania, however, Salvatore Sarno is not a son of the renowned seafaring industry of Sorrento or Torre del Greco. He was born inland, in a hamlet of Nocera Inferiore where, in order to be able to see a small triangle of sea and dream of his adventures, he had to climb the ruins of the castle, erected on the hill overlooking the town.

The book opens with our author-protagonist at the airport, waiting for a flight that will take him back home, to that South Africa where life’s instances and his professional skills have taken him, where he has made his fortune and where he feels, precisely, at home. The previous day saw the completion in Valencia, Spain, of the most important feat of his life: the first-and so far only-participation of a team from the African continent in the America’s Cup of sailing. With Shosholoza, Commander Sarno wrote an unforgettable page of the world’s oldest sports trophy but, more importantly, of the new post-apartheid South Africa.

Although he has won a well-deserved success, he is reminded every day of his origins, the difficulties he encountered in life and how so many people, most of them, struggle on a daily basis. I met Commander Sarno on the occasion of the 32nd America’s Cup. I have always been fascinated by biographies of successful men, for I find that there is always something to learn from these people; anecdotes can often be read going beyond the fact itself, as revealing an approach to life that can be of stimulation, inspiration, and personal growth.”

Who is Salvatore Sarno

Salvatore Sarno, (Nocera Inferiore, 1946) contributed to the development of the MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company. He moved to South Africa during apartheid and set up a foundation to help young black men learn a maritime trade, for which he was made a Knight of the Italian Republic.

He sponsored three Olympic participations by a South African sailor and led Team Shosholoza in the 32nd America’s Cup, achieving great media success. Today he lives in Durban, runs MSC in South Africa, continues to work with the South African Navy and his Izivunguvungu Foundation to which proceeds from the book’s royalties will go.