Poised to position its attacks

The last few hours have not been easy aboard Prysmian Group. Indeed, as they continue to make headway level with the no-go zone off South America, Giancarlo Pedote and Martin Le Pape had to cope with the vagaries of the doldrums last night and this morning. Though it proved to be less virulent than on the outward leg, the two men have had to contend with numerous squalls and have not made it out unscathed. “We’re going to have to get cracking again to catch up. I make no bones of the fact that we’re not in great humour as we dislike not performing well”, commented the co-skipper of the boat, who has since pepped up after a good dish of pasta shared with his associate. “We’re looking to extract ourselves from this complicated zone in order to latch onto some cleaner air thanks to the trade wind of the northern hemisphere. From then on, we’ll be able to set a more or less direct course to Martinique because in principle there won’t be many gybes. In principle I reiterate!” added the sailor from the Finistere, who is expecting a long session on starboard tack to make the finish line. A finish line which the duo is set to reach between 27 and 28 November according to the latest routing. What that means is that the sailors have four to five days left to try to claw back a few places and notably try to overtake Fortinet – Best Western and Maître CoQ again, who are currently less than 15 miles in front. “We’ll go on the attack once we’re sure about what awaits us in terms of the weather and strategy. From that point, we’ll put pedal to the metal to hunt down something specific. You have to know how to strike the right balance between taking risks and being conservative. It’s not easy to find, especially in a race spanning 6,000 miles as it’s imperative that we preserve our gear”, concludes Giancarlo.