How to win the Volvo Ocean Race

Illbruck Watch Captain Stu Bannatyne shares his Southern Ocean experience and discusses how his team have got it right - so far!

Sailing a Volvo 60 through the Southern Ocean at high speed is like no other sailing experience. Nowhere else can you be launching the boat down monstrous waves for days on end at speeds up to and sometimes over 30 knots.

With no leeward turning mark to worry about and only icebergs for company (and sometimes the occasional whale or albatross) the Southern Ocean is a special almost mystical place. The sailing there is the best I have experienced, also the wettest and coldest and there is always the prospect of something or everything going horribly wrong. The power of the wind and waves at 50 degrees south can be very daunting, a freak wave can and does cause major damage in a split second.

Strongly built, these Volvo 60s can handle most conditions with ease but every once in a while nature lets us know who is boss - seemingly bulletproof fittings can be broken like matchsticks with a rogue wave breaking on the boat. It is humbling and clipping on is a must at all times, you just never know when your turn might come to be mercilessly tossed around by the sea.

Life on board is a strict routine of eating, sleeping, sailing, eating, sleeping, sailing. If only that were true it wouldn't be too bad. In reality the eating and sleeping part is often interrupted and occasionally displaced completely by activities such as sail changes, tacking and gybing (sometimes up to five or six times during an off watch), sail repairs, boat repairs, bailing the bilge, media work and so the list goes on.

Throw in a standby system during rough conditions and all of a sudden the seemingly luxurious 12 hours off watch each day is whittled away to 6 hours of bunk
time. Then try and go to sleep while you are launching off waves upwind or surfing down waves downwind with winches working overtime, it all becomes quite a chore to steal forty winks. Often you are more than happy not to be tossed out of your bunk let alone sleep in it.

Meal times can become a delicate balancing act, try and wedge yourself in somewhere and coordinate the movement of spoon from bowl to mouth in between waves. It reminds me of trying to feed my 5-month-old daughter! Make sure you don't sleep too long because it does take a full 25 minutes to get dressed in the deep south and you don't want to be late on deck because you know your teammates are eager to get below for a warm bowl of some nondescript rehydrated substance and a dry sleeping bag.