Our skipper G. Pedote voted “TAG HEUER Sailor of the Year 2016”

categories: Corporate 

V.Battista urges Giancarlo on the Vendée Globe, the hardest and most famous sailing race in the world

Milan   -   17/05/2016 - 02:00 AM

 

On 7 May, during the night of champions at the VELA-Festival in Santa Margherita Ligure (Italy), the annual Italian event dedicated to the world of sailing, Giancarlo Pedote was voted “TAG HEUER Sailor of the Year 2016”. This award has been presented to an Italian sailor every year since 1991 and is based on a vote by a prestigious jury from a shortlist of five candidates selected in several stages, starting with an online poll.

Valerio Battista, CEO of Prysmian Group, the sailor’s main sponsor for the last eight years, attended the award ceremony, where he took the opportunity to address the business world about  Giancarlo’s possible participation in the Vendée Globe: “We’ve been sponsoring Giancarlo for nearly 10 years now. We invite other companies to join Prysmian Group to help him reach the Vendée Globe, because we’ve already proven that Italian ocean racing can be at the highest level. Wherever he goes, he wins.”

Vendée Globe is the hardest and most famous sailing race in the world. Nicknamed the Everest of the Seas, it involves sailing around the world alone, without stopping and without assistance, setting sail from and finishing in Les Sables d’Olonne, after rounding the three legendary capes: The Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, Cape Leeuwin in Southern Australia and the infamous Cape Horn at the tip of South America.

Giancarlo Pedote dedicated the award to his main sponsor: “I dedicate the award to Prysmian Group, which has supported me for so many years. Valerio’s willingness to accompany me to the Vendée Globe makes me very happy and I’m ready to work harder than ever.”

Together on stage at the VELA-Festival, Giancarlo Pedote and Valerio Battista entertained the audience by recounting their initial encounter and how the first sponsorship began: “In 2000 I was working as a sailing instructor when I met Mr. Battista,” said Pedote. “I was young and passionate about sailing and was also writing a book about it in Italian. I sent it to Mr. Battista, who read it and decided together with the company to support me for the Mini Transat.”

This title joins the long list of those already held by Giancarlo Pedote: Champion de France 2015, Champion de France Promotion Course au Large en Solitaire 2014 and 2013, Italian Sailor of the Year 2013, and two first places in the Mini class world ranking (2014 and 2013).