Giancarlo Pedote and Martin Le Pape in sweet harmony!

This Sunday 28 November at 07:44 UTC, Giancarlo Pedote and Martin Le Pape completed the 5,800 theoretical miles of the 15th edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie Le Havre, finishing in sixth place in the IMOCA category. An outstanding and noteworthy performance for the duo on Prysmian Group, who sailed a very fine trajectory and managed to get the absolute best out of their boat to keep up with the large foilers, totally confident in one another’s abilities to ensure maximum enjoyment and performance! “A sixth place, given the line-up as well as the short amount of time we’d spent together prior to the start is just fabulous! It was an extremely emotional moment for both of us when we crossed the line!” commented Giancarlo Pedote. “On setting sail from Le Havre, we reckoned a Top 10 would be a very fine performance in itself. We’re obviously absolutely delighted to finish sixth. Happy and moved. We both shed a tear on finishing. It’s been a tiring race. Twenty-one days at sea is not nothing, even though we massively enjoyed sailing together”, confirmed Martin. Managing to compete with the more modern and hence more technologically advanced boats in the fleet required the utmost commitment from the pair, together with unfailing determination and also a great deal of resolve. “We gave our absolute all from beginning to end. The race was very interesting, even though we had rather atypical weather and crossing the doldrums twice really was quite a challenge”, explained the skipper of Prysmian Group. The human, a key to performance Though he posted a very inspired performance on a strategic level and was fast enough to keep pace with the large foilers on certain points of sail and in certain conditions, Giancarlo also owes his success to the great understanding between himself and Martin. “I could not have wished for better in terms of the way we work together. We were on the same wavelength throughout. The discussions we had were very slick and we split the workload impeccably well. Martin did a fantastic job with the navigation and for my part I was able to fully focus on getting the boat making headway. We had a very positive mindset the whole time. There was always sunshine aboard! We were really able to work in sweet harmony!” explained the Italian. “We thoroughly enjoyed sailing together. There’s been a genuine alchemy between the pair of us. There was full and complete confidence on both sides. Beyond our complementary natures, there really was a deep bond between us. In fact, I’d even go so far as to say that it was inspired. I’m extremely happy to have been able to have this experience. Happy to have been able to express myself on a navigation front and happy to have a new friend”, concluded Martin Le Pape.