Who will win leg 2?

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

Kevin Shoebridge's team have thrown a similar amount of resource at the Volvo Ocean Race as illbruck Challenge and although they didn't have the same amount of work-up period as Kostecki's campaign, the time they did have was more than adequate to be thoroughly well prepared.

Although they came fourth on the last leg many feel this is not a true reflection of their potential and they will certainly do better this time round. Among the crew there is considerable Southern Ocean experience including a number of experienced drivers such as Tim Powell. Looking at their performance in leg two it seems that tactically they play a conservative hand and it will be interesting to see if this pays.

Of the leg skipper Kevin Shoebridge comments: "It is an interesting leg in that there is going to be two distinct parts to it. There's the southern ocean leg which is going to be a hang-on sort of leg, and we're going to pile into the high pressure up by Western Australia and battle across the Australian Bight, so there are opportunities there for someone breaking through and getting away, or a park-up. It could go either way.'

It is interesting to note that Shoeby has made no crew changes for this leg. "We're running the same team and we have really just been working on a lot of little jobs, general maintenance as opposed to any major changes to the boat and obviously the sail checks, we are changing our inventory to suit the next leg."

Crew:
Jim Close, Jan Dekker, David Endean, Damian Foxall, Steve Hayles, Brad Jackson, Gerrard Mitchell, Tim Powell, Guy Salter, Robert Salthouse, Kevin Shoebridge, Jonathan Swain.