Giancarlo Pedote: "Getting over the problems is more the measure of the sailor than the number against your name at the end.”

I really wanted to! Plus, four years ago I took less time than this. And I started out with a slightly optimistic projection, so now, after 85 days, I was starting to find it all really long...

I don't know where to start! It was more complicated than the previous one, because with more speed, the boat takes more out of you. I had technical problems, especially my rudder which no longer would stay secure in its casing. I tried several solutions, but each time it came away at some point, always happening in complicated conditions of course. Each time, you wonder if you’re going to make it, you really feel that it’s a bad story. That’s what penalized me the most! Every time I accelerated, when the boat reached 30 knots, bam, it jumped up. And so at one point, I said to myself it’s no use, if I get angry in the end it’s going to be worse. So maybe I did fifty miles at full speed, but then everything will blow up… So I’m going to have to do what I can.

Yes, a little. The Indian Ocean and the Pacific, we really had terrible weather, sailing all the time on the backs of depressions, so with bad seas.  And after going up the Atlantic, it was a disaster: either a lot of wind, or a complete calm. So in fact the moments when you have good seas, when you go fast, they were rare. The Vendée Globe is a restaurant where you don't choose your menu! You are served with the house dishes, and it depends on Neptune's mood!

In fact, you can't do anything, you have to accept it, everyone has problems... At Point Nemo I had a problem with my engine, it was normally something simple to change. I worked 14 hours without even eating a biscuit. The engine ended up starting again, but I lost out so much then.  In the end, I think these things are what makes a sailor much more than a number in the end! The people who finished ahead are obviously extraordinary, but behind there are also some who are just as extraordinary with less powerful boats, who are going all out and who are going from one battle to another.

Yes, I'm very happy with all the work I've done on the boat, it was super enriching. But what's a shame is that right at the start of the race, at the Canaries, I was taken out of the pack with Alan (Roura), we both wanted to cry... We got stuck in the calms while all the others were going full speed ahead. I didn't have the opportunity to race the other more powerful boats to see what it was like...

It takes time, I can't answer like that! The Vendée Globe, it has to die down. Right now, it's just a whirlwind of emotions. What will remain of it, I'll understand at Christmas, it's such a powerful experience!

Sailing in the Southern Ocean quite simply. The incredible lights, the albatrosses flying behind you, you breathe the cold air, this very special humidity, you are privileged... It is indescribable, it can only be experienced. It's so powerful, it aligns you with the planets, the universe.  It's fleeting, you'd like to remember it, but it goes away quickly. But it's really magical! The reason for being there is that on your shoulders you have all the solitude and the struggles that you have experienced, it puts you in a state of mind where you are receptive to all that, and without the struggles, you would risk missing out on these emotions.

I need time to find an answer to that! I just came back from three months at sea, I have not even had five minutes with my family, it would be disrespectful to answer today. I am a husband, a father, my decisions do not only involve me, I need to know how they experienced the race too, and not just say "come on, I'm leaving again". I am lucky to have a family, and I want to respect them more than anything. So in the heat of the moment I am not saying anything.