Spartan washing

Whilst making headway this morning midway between the Cape of Good Hope and the Kerguelen islands, Giancarlo is sailing in the wake of a closed-off zone of low atmospheric pressure, which has been mishandling his part of the fleet over recent days, as he explained during an exchange with his team earlier today: “The low-pressure system is clearing away to the east, towards Australia. We’re having to chase after it in a bid to hold onto the pressure, because behind it, there is a risk of us no longer having too much breeze, even though it is subsequently set to pick up again via the west, a scenario indicative of a slight squeezing up of the fleet”. For now, the skipper of Prysmian Group is in 10th position in the ranking, but the good news is that he’s clawed back a few miles in relation to the German sailor Boris Herrmann, who is now less than 40 miles ahead of him. “We hoisted some more sail aloft last night. It’s a little calmer now, even though we still have very heavy seas, with waves of between 4 and 5 metres, though they’re quite nicely spaced with around 12 seconds between them. Within this context, you have to keep an eye on how the boat handles. You have to give the right instructions to the automatic pilot to maintain a suitable average speed without putting too much pressure on the machine”, explained the Florentine sailor who is managing to maintain a good level of personal hygiene. “I have a wash every day because it makes me feel good. I can’t have a full shower in this zone as the boat is making headway very fast and it would be too dangerous to undress in the cockpit, but I wash in short bursts. To do that, I heat up a bit of water. It’s not easy, but we knew from the start that we weren’t setting sail on a cruise on a 5-star ship and you get used to living in a spartan manner”, concludes Giancarlo Pedote.