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Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu on Monday (November 27) officially took over as patron of Team Shosholoza, Africa's first ever challenger for sailing's prestigious 156-year-old America's Cup. Tutu met the team when they returned home from their base in Spain for a two month summer break. Team Shosholoza managing director, Captain Salvatore Sarno, said he was honoured by Archbishop Tutu's acceptance and praised the team's huge achievement. The main sponsor behind the team, he has regularly described it as "representative of the new South Africa". "Nobody was expecting how good we were doing so and nobody still does not expect yet how good we will be next year. I know that we will be very good. They are all of them, they are motivated, they are strong and believe me, I think that we have the best in all the America's Cup," he said. Tutu, who first joked that the sailors were as big as rugby players and should be handed over to the Springbok coach for selection for the country's rugby side, said the team were representative of what South Africa could achieve. The team has been in Europe for this year's America's Cup precursor regattas in Valencia - the Spanish host city for the 2007 America's Cup - where they did surprisingly well during the Louis Vuitton Act 12 match-racing event, against far richer teams. The team won early match races against United Internet Team Germany and the French Areva Challenge, securing 8th place overall. The team received regular emails from Tutu, who signed the e-mails simply "Arch". The America's Cup is the world's oldest sports trophy.