Tim Powell

Ed Gorman spoke to the Tyco watch leader before he left Southampton

Prior to the start of the Volvo Ocean Race, Ed Gorman spoke to the British helmsman and watch captain on Tyco, Tim Powell, about favouritism, the legacy of Silk Cut and the way to win this round-the-world classic.

Tim, why do people regard illbruck and Tyco as favourites in the Volvo Ocean Race?

A little of it is to do with the fact that we've been quite quiet during the build-up. We've been out in America doing our testing thing and we haven't really sought that much PR on it. We've got a really strong crew. It also probably goes to show the respect that Shoeb (Kevin Shoebridge, skipper on Tyco) gets from people if Tyco is seen as one of the main threats.

You do have a strong crew - it must be one of the best outfits you've ever been with.

We were lucky that we started early enough that we managed to get in before the America's Cup and all the other Volvo campaigns tried to sign people up. So we got a lot of the people that we wanted which I imagine some of the later campaigns struggled with.

What do you believe are the key strengths of your syndicate?

I think we've got a very well built boat by Goetz which was project-managed by Ian Stewart who has done a great job. Hopefully it's a light boat and hopefully it will be fast.

Do you know where the boat fits in, in terms of the Farr fleet in this race?

No idea - we know where we are compared to Farr's medium, but we have no idea compared to anybody else.

But were you looking for an all-round hull or something on one side or the other, so to speak?

It stems from Shoeb's perception of how Merit Cup was last time (the thinnest boat in 1997/98) and her weaknesses during the last race. So we've gone for a much more all-round boat. But, to be honest, I think all the boats are going to be very, very similar from what I've seen.

You only built one boat and used Merit Cup as your training boat. Was your sail development programme hampered in any way as a result of having just one boat for a lot of the time?

No. We kind of went through a period with one boat when we, generally-speaking, went down the ideas route where we were just looking at ideas. Even with one boat you could tell fairly accurately which was better and what worked and what didn't. So we were happy, area-wise, that we were where we wanted to be with a lot of the sails. Then we used the two boats to fine-tune them.

How confident are you about where you have got to in sail development?

We're pretty happy with where we are now - we've done a lot of testing. I have to say that we would not have got to where we are without testing - that has been invaluable.

How many sails have you been through?

Five mainsails and three of each spinnaker and two or three of each jib.

So you are firmly of the opinion that this is going to more about how you sail, where you put the boat, than a boat design contest?

Yes. Obviously speeds will come into it and some boats will have certain sails which are suited to certain angles which others won't have - that's always the case. But from the racing that we've done against illlbruck and News Corp on the way across the Atlantic, we were just neck-and-neck the whole time. There were such small speed differences.

But are you sure that was a true test?

Yes definitely. We all turned up with pretty good gear and we all raced hard on the way over. We had four days with illbruck when we were just broad-reaching and running in 10-30 knots, and we were never more than one or two miles apart.

On page two Tim talks about personalities and the relative performance of the different boats....