South Africa’s Team Shosholoza sailed an epic race on Friday, earning its first win of the season, and indeed in 25 starts at the 32nd America’s Cup.

The victory came as the result of some incredible team work and match racing manoeuvres by the rookie team, with new helmsman Chris Law providing the guiding hand of experience.

"The guys were elated," Law said. "But they’re very controlled; they don’t let it all out."

On a day when the sun returned to Malmö, the conditions later in the afternoon proved to be testing to the extreme as Sweden offered up a magnificent day of racing conditions.

For the first flight of the day, blue sky, heavily dotted with big cumulus clouds, and occasional wind and rain squalls brought Southwesterly winds of 15 knots. Later in the day, strong gusts upwards of 25 knots tested the teams with both sailors and equipment pushed to the limit.

Two main booms were broken, the China Team nearly capsized during a strong squall and a sailor aboard United Internet Team Germany, Christian Buck, was evacuated from the boat after suffering an injury sustained after the race had ended.

On the race course, the tacticians had a tricky day as well. The dark, heavy cumulus clouds represented storm cells that brought stronger winds, and shifts to the left.

A current running across the race course was another factor to consider, during a testing afternoon on the Øresund, just to the North of Malmö.

Results of the Day

Flight 3

Luna Rossa def. Team Germany (1'40'')
Team New Zealand def. Desafío Español (0'33'')
Mascalzone Latino def. China Team (1'09'')
Alinghi def. +39 Challenge (1'45'')
BMW Oracle Racing def. K- Challenge (1'12'')
Shosholoza def. Victory Challenge (1'20'')

Flight 4

Luna Rossa def. Desafío Español (DNF)
Team Germany def. China Team (6'32'')
Team New Zealand def. Mascalzone Latino (2'58'')
Alinghi def. K- Challenge (1'04'')
+39 Challenge def. Shosholoza (DNS)
BMW Oracle Racing def. Victory Challenge (1'48'')