At the gateway to the Deep South

After three weeks of racing and nearly 25% of the 21,638 miles of the Vendée Globe course already in his wake, Giancarlo Pedote can see the longitude of Good Hope taking shape on the horizon. Once he passes the first of the three major capes, which make up his journey around the world, the skipper of Prysmian Group will enter the Indian Ocean and the true Deep South, though he has already been making headway in the Roaring Forties for some days, accompanied by the famous albatrosses, these ephemeral creatures which are disproportionately large. Ahead of him an ocean of anguish and fascination is about to unfurl. A region elusive to landlubbers. A place that has to be seen in order to know, experience and be able to describe it. Sailing in the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific is like nothing else. Low-pressure weather systems, isolation, ice, everything in this maritime desert makes conditions extreme. “The air is dense and the temperature has dropped right off. There are a huge number of albatrosses around the boat: there’s no doubt about it, it is the Deep South and I’m beginning to gain a true understanding of my playmates’ accounts of these places”, commented Giancarlo Pedote this Monday morning, during a chat with his team, well aware that entering into these areas heralds the start of a long passage without any land on the horizon. A zone synonymous with hostile desolation, which he’ll have to try to tame. “You feel a long way from everything here, but the energy of the place is incredible. It’s pure, mysterious and magical, and it inspires you to continue your journey of exploration, to go and see what’s up ahead”, explained the skipper of Prysmian Group, who knows that vigilance and anticipation will be all the more essential over the next three weeks. “I was thinking last night that in Europe, we’ve managed to confine nature and we feel as if we have the minimum of control over it, because the places left unexplored or where we feel remote are few and far between in these zones, since even high up in the mountains, we’re still within reach of emergency assistance. For its part, the Deep South is still a relative unknown. Few travellers have navigated these waters. The wakes carved out on these seas are rare and the waters remain relatively inaccessible”.   Discovering the force of nature The Deep South undoubtedly stirs up fascination, fuels fears and conveys the craziest narratives. “You realise, once you’re here, the ginormous scale of nature. You remember that a human being is just a minute microbe in the face of such force, such rhythm with its very high waves, its leaden skies and the albatrosses which are certainly the true bosses here…” stressed the Italian sailor, who is currently continuing to make headway in bracing conditions, with over 30 knots of breeze and waves of nearly four metres due to a low-pressure system sweeping across the south of the African continent. “For the past 24 hours, we’ve continued to navigate the breeze associated with this low-pressure so conditions are very gusty and very fluky. It’s not easy to find the right trim for the boat, especially given the sea state, since we’re currently in a zone where the sea bed is rising, making the waves particularly short and boat-breaking”, explained the skipper of the 60-foot IMOCA in the colours of Prysmian Group and Electriciens sans Frontières, who should see a return to slightly less chaotic conditions from tonight. “We have to grit our teeth for another dozen hours or so. I have to continue going about things in the right manner to preserve my gear. The boat is my safe haven and for things to continue like that, I have to take care of her”, concluded Giancarlo Pedote, currently ranked in 10th place.