This Thursday, January 28 at 12:02:20hrs UTC Italian skipper Giancarlo Pedote crossed the Vendée Globe finish line in seventh position.

Pedote, a graduate in Philosophy originally from Florence, is the fourth Italian skipper to compete on the Vendée Globe and achieves the highest ever finish, bettering Alessandro Di Benedetto’s 11th in 2012-13 by more than 20 days.

Aboard his Prysmian Groupe the VPLP Verdier foiler which finished fourth in 2016-17 as Jean-Pierre Dick’s St Michel Virbac, the charismatic Pedote sailed a solid race, building on his early positions with assured routings and fast, smart sailing. He preserved his boat and material well, his sparky personality and positive, can-do attitude ensured he was always on the attack.

“I am always pushing. Always looking to take places. I race with a knife between my teeth.”He laughed on the Vendée Live show while racing homewards in the NE’ly trade winds.

And while his rivals appeared to fuel their races on a usual mundane diet of freeze-dried food, Pedote made a positive virtue of taking the time and effort to make sure he cooked and enjoyed typical Italian dishes, lifting his mood whilst maximising his energy.

When leaving the pontoon on November 8, the Italian was at his nervy, passionate best jumping on the deck of his IMOCA, "happy who like Ulysses had a beautiful trip".

Second in the 2013 Mini Transat Pedote was the winner of the 2015 Transat Jacques Vabre racing with Erwan Le Roux (Multi 50 class) and twice Italian sailor of the year.

He set off on his first round the world race with relish. 16th when he passed south of the Azores, he started to pick off places. He crossed the equator in 13th position and was not satisfied with that. "I've come a long way, I was 100 miles behind at the entrance to the Doldrums. I attacked! ".

And so he installed himself in the group of hunters getting more and more into the match between Dutreux, Davies, Joschke and Pedote approaching the Cape of Good Hope.

"This little game is very nice but I want to get out, my hope is still to gain miles"smiled Giancarlo who took 10th at the longitude of the South African Cape.

And as soon as he was into the south for his first time he showed his true colours, breaking into the top 10. He is tenth at Cape Leeuwin, ninth at the Horn with a boat in good condition. "I took care of my own little planet as the Little Prince says! "He chuckled as he sailed up the South Atlantic.

And then he still ups his pace and his attack, enjoying his carbonara pasta as much as pushing his IMOCA, looking at the rankings and aiming for the right course.
It works, he is up to seventh crossing the equator challenging for the the top five, always tussling it seems with Damien Seguin, the first straight boards IMOCA in the leading group.

"Damien (Seguin) keeps me busy, I don't have time to be bored. I am constantly checking each and every setting. Tick ​​tock, tick tock. I feel like I’ll have another Les Azores - Les Sables d´Olonne race. " Confided Giancarlo, 300 miles from the finish, super focused on this final sprint.

 

The great passages

Equator
13th on 19/11/2020 at 18:24 UTC after 11d 05h 04 min of race

Cape of Good Hope
10th on 12/2/2020 at 12:48 UTC after 23d 23h 28 min of race

Cape Leuuwin
10th on 12/14/2020 at 14:37 UTC after 36 days 1h 17 min of racing

Cape Horn
9th on 01/05/2021 at 01:12 UTC after 57d 11h 52min of race

Equator (back)
7th on 01/17/2021 at 9:13 UTC after 69d 19h 53min of race

His boat
Prysmian Group, former IMOCA of Jean-Pierre Dick (Saint-Michel-Virbac), 4th in the Vendée Globe 2016/17, winner of the Transat Jacques Vabre 2017, 2nd of the Route du Rhum 2018, Plan VPLP / Verdier à foils launched in April 2015.