Who will win leg 2?

James Boyd looks at the form for the Volvo Ocean Race's first Southern Ocean leg

Illbruck Challenge

John Kostecki’s beautifully repaired Illbruck was race favourite prior to the start in Southampton and won leg one after overtaking Amer Sports One a day out from the finish. Their preparation for the race has been faultless in every respect from the R&D for their new boat to sail development to crew training and this is has already proved itself in results on the race course.

In Cape Town all the boats have made significant changes to their sail inventories and it is too early to say whether Illbruck's Southern Ocean sail package will be as potent as her rivals. But the chances are they will.

As a crew, Kostecki’s troop have the experience of having sailed in the Southern Ocean when they delivered their training boat from Fremantle to Sydney via the south of Tasmania. The crew have also been together the longest and should already know the limits of their craft and when to reduce sail and when to keep it up. This should help them prevent time costly foul-ups.

The only downside of their campaign I can see is that Kostecki - like Paul Cayard four years ago - lacks the experience of some of his peers such as Dalton and Field in the Southern Ocean. As Cayard found the crew will burn out if they sail the Southern Ocean like an inshore course, but only time will tell if Kostecki - who has a similar racing background to Cayard - has learned this.

"We are rested and ready to take on the Southern Ocean," said Kostecki of how he views leg two. "Our team trained in the Southern Ocean one year ago so we have a good idea what to expect and how we work together in these tough conditions. This time we will be pushed harder because we are competing against seven other teams."

For this leg navigator Ian Moore has stepped off the boat and has been replaced by trimmer/helmsman Noel Drennan. Illbruck will therefore be sailing this leg with just one navigator, Juan Vila. "We're adding Noel Drennan, who has done 17 Sydney-Hobarts," commented Kostecki. "He is a great helmsman and he has been training with us for six months and it will be great to have him onboard."

Crew for this leg:
Stu Bannatyne, Watch Captain
Stu 'Waffler' Bettany, bow
Mark 'Crusty' Christensen, Watch Captain
Richard Clarke
Ray Davies, trimmer/helmsman
Dirk 'Cheese' de Ridder, trimmer
Noel Drennan, trimmer/helmsman
Jamie Gale, mast
Ross 'Rosco' Halcrow, trimmer and Sail Program Manager
Tony Kolb, bow
John Kostecki, skipper
Juan Vila, navigator.