Mission accomplished!

This Wednesday at 11:41 UTC, Giancarlo Pedote and Martin Le Pape crossed the finish line of the 49th edition of the Rolex Fastnet Race, wrapping up the 695-mile course between Cowes and Cherbourg-en-Cotentin in 8th position in the IMOCA category after three days of racing. In this way, the duo aboard Prysmian Group have not only validated their qualification for the Transat Jacques Vabre 2021, but also developed their first automatic reflexes, which bodes well for what comes next.  “We’re pretty happy. We managed to sail a rather good race and above all we’ve been able to progress and begin to form a solid foundation for our pairing by validating some important points such as communication and manoeuvring. The conditions at the start, with a rather boisterous exit from the Solent, were not necessarily an easy way to find our bearings together but, ultimately, everything played out simply and naturally. As such, I feel immensely positive about this first experience teamed up with Martin”, commented Giancarlo Pedote, just minutes after the finish. In fact, it would seem that the pairing rapidly found a groove for working efficiently and Martin very quickly got his bearings aboard Prysmian Group. “I needed to understand how an IMOCA works in race mode and I have to say that it was a delight from beginning to end. Ultimately, we didn’t make any blunders and we have little to regret with regards to trajectories. Though we didn’t sail in the same way as the front runners, we were always in the right place with the weapons we have at our disposal”, confirmed Martin Le Pape, very pleased to have already shared over 1,000 miles with the Italian sailor both out on the racetrack and during the return delivery trips between Lorient and the Isle of Wight. “The time we’ve had out on the water has enabled us to validate a number of our automatic reflexes and to see that we were able to play around with our rivals, even though we knew from the start that it would be difficult to compete with the latest generation boats in this type of exercise”, added the Florentine sailor, who was embroiled in a almighty battle with the duos made up of Isabelle Joschke – Fabien Delahaye and then Damien Seguin – Benjamin Dutreux, to finish between the two in 8th place. “It was the first major step for Martin and I and our qualification for the Transat Jacques Vabre is now in the bag, which was one of our main objectives in this event”, concluded Giancarlo Pedote who, since crossing the line, has immediately set a course for his port of registry of Lorient, Brittany.