Leg 3 kicks off today

The brave men and woman of Around Alone set out into the Southern Ocean

Tactics

High on the list of priorities for start day will be avoiding the influence of Table Mountain and the huge wind shadow it creates.

Once clear of the Cape of Good Hope - originally called the Cape of Storms and an accurate description - the first priority is to get into the strong winds of the roaring forties as quickly as possible.

Heading towards Heard Island, the skippers will try to position the yachts ahead of a low pressure system and hang onto it for as long as possible. Avoiding at all costs the possibility of getting south of low-pressure, which is sometimes difficult if a secondary low develops on an existing cold front.

The Kerguelen Islands (to the north of Heard Island) seem to act as a magnet for bad weather. Average gale frequency for the summer months is close to 30 per cent, with an average wave height (taken from satellite measurements) of 5 metres. Cold water, fog, rain, and icebergs add to the excitement as the water shallows, increasing the speed of the current and pushing the convergence zone northwards.



The sliding waypoint will keep the boats from heading too far south and the variation in longitude allowed is designed so that competitors can choose at what point they cross this latitude according to the sequence of the depressions.

Then it is back to the rollercoaster ride which will take the boats round the bottom of Tasmania and up into the Tasman Sea. This is a notoriously volatile stretch of water capable of producing ferocious winds known as Southerly Busters, familiar to anyone who has done the Sydney-Hobart Race. Equally it can see boats utterly becalmed as many of the boats were in this race four years ago.

Once round Cape Reinga the race is effectively coastal sailing down the east side of New Zealand's north island, allowing the skippers to play the local winds and currents. However rather than hanging a right into Auckland, they must round Great Barrier Island and the outlying islands before reaching Tauranga.

Their ETA is mid-January.