Adapting over and over again

Having been pinned to the racetrack in a squall yesterday, conceding a few miles in the process in relation to their direct rivals (Romain Attanasio and Sébastien Marsset then Yannick Bestaven and Jean-Marie Dauris), Giancarlo Pedote and Martin Le Pape have been pulling out all the stops to get back into the game. Tired but motivated ! This Wednesday, they’re positioned around fifteen miles astern of their rivals and are continuing to make headway downwind, propelled along by around twenty knots or so of breeze along the no-go zone off South America. “Unfortunately, or fortunately, the squalls are fairly random. You can fall into them at any time, or not. The idea is to make as fast headway as possible by slaloming as best we can between the clouds”, indicated the co-skipper of Prysmian Group, which is slowly but surely clawing back miles in relation to the Charlie Enright – Pascal Bidégorry duo. “It would seem that they have some issues as their speeds aren’t very high. We hope to be able to overtake them”, admitted Martin, who believes that their current strategy is fairly simple. “Overall, it involves a bit of a straight-line course and things should stay like that as far as the finish, with the possibility of a gybe to position ourselves. As such life goes gently on, but it’s beginning to get hot in the mornings as the sun’s shining straight into the cabin. The fatigue is really beginning to set in too now. As soon as you put in a manoeuvre, your body very quickly feels the effects. We’re trying to get some good rest but it’s tough”, added the sailor from the Finistère. Solidarity is key ! “When you sail double-handed, you know that you have both strengths and weaknesses. It’s important to be able to make up for any fragility as best you can and make the most of any assets. That’s how Martin and I operate. We adapt day-to-day according to one another’s state of fatigue or mindset”, added Giancarlo, who was this morning relishing the fact that the team has exceeded 3,675 clicks within the scope of the Electriciens sans frontières operation, which aims to support the Professional Training Centre in Birkelane, in Senegal.