Giancarlo Pedote, what a scare! “I had a difficult day.” VIDEO

What if, while you have 35 knots of increasing wind, and very formed wave, while you are trying to furl a sail to reduce sail area, the top of the furler breaks? If you are on a “normal” boat maybe on a summer cruise in the Mediterranean, you get by with a bit of a struggle. If you’re on an Imoca 60 in the southern 42 degrees, in the midst of the Roaring 40s, the talk is definitely more complicated.

It was a difficult few hours for Giancarlo Pedote, who found himself with one of the sails from carrying gaits flapping violently in the wind without being able to furl it. Apart from the aft spinnaker, which very few have on board, all of the Imoca ‘s headsails are furling. This makes sail plan configuration changes, as the wind increases or decreases, quite nimble and can be performed almost without moving from inside the boat. Unless a serious unforeseen event happens. Pedote was furling his sail, retrieving the furler line after dropping the sheet. The loads on the top are important, because an ultra-rigid carbon sail, flapping in the wind in 35 knots, even if the sheet is let down, imposes significant loads on the furling sheet, which in Prysmian Group’s case literally blew up. Giancarlo then found himself with a broken circuit and a sail too large to be able to haul on deck in such weather conditions. He did not lose heart, however, and managed to make a ligature between the two lengths of line, then managed to roll the sail and secure the boat, which received significant stresses to the rig as well as to the sail itself at that juncture, but fortunately there was no technical problem on board. Here is Pedote’s account.

Meanwhile, the race goes on and the lead of the fleet prepares for the dizzying descent to the Kerguelen and 50 degrees south. Charlie Dalin finally seems to have succeeded in halting the hemorrhaging of miles he was losing to
Louis Burton
. The leader picked up speed after a cautious phase to handle the harsh conditions of the depression that Imoca has been riding for several days now. He has lost hundreds of miles, and now holds a 149-mile lead over the undefeated Burton. Thomas Ruyant, third, is instead 208 behind Dalin.

Mauro Giuffrè

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