Transat Jacques Vabre 2017: meteo analisys and strategic plan by Pedote

Le Havre. Sunday, 5 November, at 13.30, kicks off the Transat Jacques Vabre 2017. A regatta in double that embodies 4 competitions: Class 40, Multi 50, IMOCA and Breaking. 38 boats in total. Among the IMOCA, Giancarlo Pedote sail aboard Newrest-Brioche Pasquier alongside Fabrice Amedeo and he is accompanied as always by his historic sponsors Prysmian Group.
 
Thirteen IMOCA will be on the imaginary start line off Le Havre, in Normandy, and they will take off in the direction of Salvador Bahia, Brazil.
 
One of them is Newrest-Bioche Pasquier, aboard which Giancarlo Pedote navigates alongside Fabrice Amedeo, French skipper who participated in the last Vendée Globe arriving eleventh. Together they will face this ocean crossing: 4,350 miles not to be missed, as explained by Giancarlo Pedote who tells the weather developments and announces the key points of the regatta.
 
« The cold front that passes over Le Havre on Saturday night and dissolves, will throw a stream of 15-20 knots from the Northwest on Sunday. These are the starting conditions that will evolve in a regime of lighter winds coming from the North on Sunday afternoon. This change will be caused by an anticyclone of the Azores placed farther north, more or less between the Azores and Cape Finisterre. Following a depression in the West of Iceland, this anticyclone will cover with a ridge towards the tip of Britain and will generate very light winds the night between Sunday and Monday ».
 
The scenario is obviously a forecast, but weel defined, and Pedote continues to describe its development: « After the depression positioned in the West of Iceland will move towards the coasts of Western Europe, the fleet will be affected by a Southwest flow of 25-30 nodes associated with a rather intense cold front that will touch the fleet Tuesday between 3.00 and 7.00 a.m.-According to current forecasts. There will be a rotation of the wind on the right: the wind will move from the Southwest to the Northwest, and on that occasion it will be important to place very well our tack to start sailing downwind in low pressure tail with unsteady wind 25-30 nodes ».
And unsteady winds means needs to be really carefull.

« The descent towards the Equator will be pretty toned: we will need to make the right sails choices and try to don't get surprised by gusts of wind. Later, when the wind will begin to decrease in intensity, it will be important to make changes of sails at the right time to allow the boat to express its best target speed. At this point the cold front will evacuate along with depression and we head back to the stream high-pressure forming just behind the depression. Here we will have to “play” with the curve of the anticyclone and to place the gybe which will lead us to follow the flow of the trade winds, at the latitude of the Strait of Gibraltar ».
But the races are never just tactics and strategy. Emotions, experiences and memories are playing their key role. And Giancarlo Pedote has a lot of memories : « In 2009 I arrived in Salvador Bahia with Prysmian ITA 626, a mini Pogo 2. It was the first arrival overseas, the conclusion of my first solo Atlantic crossing, and it was really very exciting. The first crossing has a special flavor and is never forgotten. We throw ourselves in the first ocean crossing with an idea, then we arrive, I arrived on the other side having lived a reality very different from the one I had imagined. In these eight years I have had the opportunity to do so many experiences, to sail on so many different boats, and now I can look at these years and embark towards Salvador Bahia taking with me all the experiences that I had. Basically I can only draw a positive balance of everything that has happened since the first Mini Transat, and that makes me calm ».
 
For Giancarlo Pedote this is not the first participation in the Transat Jacques Vabre, but it is the first ocean crossing in class IMOCA. In 2015 the skipper won this competition in Multi 50 alongside Erwan Le Roux on Fenêtréa -Prysmian; This year he sail with Fabrice Amedeo, which besides being a Navigator, is a journalist of the popular French daily "Le Figaro".
 
« During this preparation period, Fabrice Amedeo turned out to be a good companion, earnest, who knows his boat. I'm happy to sail with him, we will try together to give our best ».
Aboard Newrest-Bioche Pasquier there will be also Prysmian Group, which accompanies Giancarlo Pedote in its growth since 2008. Lorenzo Caruso, Corporate and Business Communications Director of the Group global leader in cables and systems for energy and telecommunications, state:

« We are excited to take part again at the prestigious Transat Jacques Vabre thanks to Giancarlo, which for us is an integral part of Prysmian Group. His persistence and professionalism represent the spirit of the Group and, through this fruitful collaboration that combines the values of sailing and business our mission to always pursue excellence in performance, quality, competitiveness and innovation, we are ready to face this new adventure ».

«We will follow Giancarlo », continue Caruso. « Every employee of the Group will have the opportunity to follow the race through which we will give updates on our intranet and on our corporate website www.prysmiangroup.com ».