Albatrosses in your wake

After racking up the miles at very high speed yesterday, Giancarlo Pedote is continuing to barrel along towards the Cape of Good Hope this Saturday, performing some great surfs at over twenty knots along the southern edge of the Saint Helena High. “My aim is to make fast headway without breaking the boat, and to get on the right side of the system. I’m currently positioned a little further north than my direct playmates, but as I’m going to have to put in a gybe with the wind set to back round to the left, if things play out as they should I will have a bit less ground to cover than them as I’ll be taking the inside track on the bend. Added to that, I’m avoiding sailing in too much wind and too big a swell as I want to preserve the boat because it’s important to remember that there’s a long way to go”, explained the skipper of Prysmian Group, who is lying in 11th place this morning, right near a little group comprising Sam Davies, Damien Seguin and Benjamin Dutreux. “It’s very nice to be fairly bunched and not have to tackle the Indian Ocean all on my own”, commented the Italian sailor, who was also delighted to have received a visit from some albatrosses. “Some have been accompanying me for the past three days and it’s fantastic. In the morning, when I awake, I can see them behind the boat and frankly it’s just incredible. All the people I know who have been to the Deep South, whether it be during the Vendée Globe, the Jules Verne Trophy or something else, have often spoken to me about these large ephemeral creatures… It’s hard to imagine how magical it is to see them flying. Albatrosses are fantastic, very elegant… I don’t have enough adjectives in French to describe them. It’s a picture, a harmony… in short, it’s something extraordinary. It’s worth coming to these latitudes just to see them”, concludes Giancarlo.