INTERVIEW Route du Rhum approaches, Pedote is ready

The Route du Rhum, (3,543 miles solo from Saint Malo to Point-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe) is just over two weeks away, and Italians are preparing to tackle this long and difficult race: one of them is Giancarlo Pedote (the other participants are Alessandro Di Benedetto and Andrea Mura), whom we contacted for an interview.

The sailor, fresh from a stellar season on the Mini 650s (Five regattas, five first places: Lorient-Bretagne Sud Mini, Pornichet Sélect, Mini en Mai 2014, Trophée Marie-Agnès Péron and now the Les Sables), Will be questioned among the Class 40. Prysmian, already the main sponsor of Giancarlo’s Mini (Prysmian ITA 747), has also decided to support the Route du Rhum project with a participation on Fantastica, provided by owner Lanfranco Cirillo. Here is what he told us.

What do you expect from the regatta? This is really the litmus test….
“The Rhum Route is definitely a very important regatta, which deserves all the attention of the media and the participating skipper. My history with this regatta started unexpectedly in May, when I was already running an intense program on my Mini Prysmian ITA 747. This means that I have been full-time on this project since September. For me this is an opportunity to confront a new dimension having at my disposal a boat yet to be discovered and all the commitment, passion and method that are present in my baggage.”

Are you tense? Determined?
“Tense no, determined yes, especially since I am managing a project where everything is a priority, everything is necessary. Putting on a Rhum Route in two months requires a great deal of concentration to be applied in every single aspect of the preparation: the sailing, the discovery of the boat and also its preparation, since once again I have chosen not to work with a project manager but to direct the work of the suppliers I have chosen.”

Among minis you are a real champion: don’t you fear the proverb “he who leaves the old way for the new knows what he leaves but does not know what he finds?”
“The Mini route is a fascinating one, which I love, but undoubtedly sooner or later I will have to leave it. We will soon decide together with Prysmain whether I will participate in Mini again in 2015 or not, but even if that is the case, at the end of next year the Mini road for me will end, as I foresee a switch to a different class. The desire to explore is great….”

And hopefully the different class Giancarlo is talking about is the IMOCA 60, and the desire to explore refers to the 2016 Vendée Globe (the nonstop solo round-the-world race)…