Prysmian Group and Giancarlo Pedote: great regattas in 2023 in preparation of the Vendée Globe 2024

Giancarlo Pedote and his Prysmian Group Team will participate in an intense sporting schedule: four regattas – two of which are transatlantic – will be held to build up mileage in case there are more teams qualified for the Vendée Globe than the 40 spots available.

The spectacular Rolex Fastnet Race, the 605-miles doubles race that has included, for the past 50 biennial editions, the circumnavigation of the lighthouse in southern Ireland, will begin on July 22nd from Cowes, England’s Isle of Wight and will end in Cherbourg, France.

The Défi Azimut – Lorient agglomération, the regatta composed by different trials that will take place off the port of Lorient, between September 19th and September 24th.

The famous Transat Jacques Vabre, which Giancarlo won in Multi 50 in 2015, departs from Le Havre on October 29th and includes an arrival in Martinique: 5400 miles double-handed.

The new Retour à la Base, which takes place between Martinica and Lorient, port used by Prysmian Group. This regatta, starting on November 26th, will be the only one performed in solo.

A program that captivates Giancarlo Pedote and around which his long time sponsor Prysmian Group wants to continue to communicate the values that have bound them to the Italian skipper since 2007:” This sponsorship project it’s extremely important for Prysmian Group, as Prysmian identifies, through Giancarlo, the quest for performance, the commitment to always surpass ourselves as a company and as individuals working in a team. In addition, sailing recalls the elements of wind and sea, with which we are confronted every day in our business: I am thinking about the underwater cabling and the development of renewable energy, an increasingly important part of our business” says Valerio Battista, CEO of Prysmian Group. “This sponsorship helps us highlight our commitment to promote local communities’ development through the access to energy”.

Prysmian Group and Electriciens sans frontières, a consolidated partnership

Since January 11^th 2016, Prysmian Group, global leader in the cable sector and in the energy and telecommunications system sector, supports Electriciens sans frontières, an international solidarity ONG whose mission is to improve the living conditions of underprivileged or in need population, by establishing or restoring access points to energy and clean water. Everything is done using local labour force, fostering a sustainable growth of the poorest countries in the world.

Since 2019, Prysmian Group offers visibility to the ONG, by hosting them on board of the IMOCA and activating a series of actions which aim to promote awareness and increase its resources. These operations include “1 click = 1 meter”, which involves social networks and will continue in the 2023 season, marked by the hashtag #4PEOPLE.

#4PEOPLE continues

Since November 2019, Prysmian Group promotes the concept of #4PEOPLE through the sailing project Prysmian Ocean Racing. Visible through the project communication, on the sails on the hull and on the team’s technical clothing. #4PEOPLE expresses Prysmian Group’s social and environmental responsibility and commitment.

This spirit has animated Giancarlo Pedote and Prysmian Group’s first Vendée Globe project and will similarly animate the 2024 project, seeking to raise awareness on the importance of electricity in daily life and to promote access to electricity and water to populations in need.

The boat is evolving

If the values remain the same, the boat is evolving: designed at the end of the Vendée Globe 2020/21, the Prysmian Group IMOCA renovation project is nearing finalization. Immediately after the conclusion of the Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe 2022, Giancarlo and his team started a complex phase: the installing of the latest generation foils.

An important building site that follows on from last year's, during which, in addition to changing the bow, preparatory reinforcements were carried out for the modifications currently underway.

The aim is to improve performance: "The decision to upgrade the boat (a 2015 VPLP/Verdier design, ed) was made in February 2021. It is a project that has been carefully considered and widely anticipated, planned phase by phase evaluating its feasibility according to the available resources," explains Giancarlo Pedote.

"The overall idea was to modify the hull by means of the new bow (we replaced six metres of hull), so as to have a much smoother passage over the wave and limit the ballasting that was really considerable in short wave conditions. On the other hand, the change of foils will be the boat's new boost: with these additions designed by Guillaume Verdier, our boat will have a huge gain in terms of speed, with the clear objective of trying not to get left behind by the leading group”.

A schedule perfectly followed

"We disassembled and inspected everything before opening the deck to allow the Gepeto Composite team to start installing the foil housings. It was a long and meticulous job that paid off," says Giancarlo, who has already received the two foils delivered by CDK Technologies. "We are in the process of completing the hull reinforcement started last year and there are still some elements to be assembled and some mechanical parts to be received. So far, we have kept to the schedule: the advantage of when things are thought out and organized almost two years in advance," says the Prysmian Group skipper, whose post-shipyard launch is scheduled for mid-May.

"This relevant refit of the boat gives us the opportunity to look at new horizons in terms of performance, to try to achieve new goals. I will have to learn to sail with new reference points on a faster machine. I will have to adapt my technique, my training and my strategies," says the Italian sailor, who is planning two months of intensive training before competing with the latest generation of boats.