SAILING. In the quest to conquer the Everest of the ocean Volvo Ocean Race skippers are sacrificing an Olympic bid, carrying the hopes of an entire nation and putting reputations at stake for a challenge that all may complete, but just one will win.

Photo: Volvo Ocean Race

The chance to compete against sailing’s best is what drives the men back to a race that offers no prize money, just the glory of holding the Volvo Ocean Race trophy.

Team Telefónica skipper Iker Martínez had the opportunity for a third successive Olympic campaign, after winning gold and silver in the last two Games, but the chance to lead a Spanish team in the Volvo Ocean Race was an offer he couldn’t refuse.

Along with his 49-er crewman Xabi Fernández, Martínez committed to a third Volvo Ocean Race.

“I want to achieve a very different goal, to try and fight for victory in the race,’’ he said. “This is always difficult, but goals that are difficult like this can mean even more. Once you do the Olympics you want new things.”

Frenchman Franck Cammas is the face of the first French entry since Eric Tabarly skippered La Poste in 1993-94, leaving Cammas carrying the hopes of his sailing-mad country.

His reputation as one of the world’s greatest sailors is also at stake as he takes on monohull racing in his first Volvo Ocean Race.

“It’s a positive pressure,” he said. “I think it’s very good to have a French boat in the Volvo Ocean Race because we have a presence in the sailing world. The French sailors are good at ocean racing, but it’s the first time since 1993, so it’s a long time since we’ve been here.’’

At 50 years young PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG skipper Ken Read is well aware that he is the oldest competitor in this edition – mainly because the media won’t let him forget it.

Taking his third dip at Volvo victory, the seasoned sailor reckons he’s still young and remembers that the likes of Magnus Olsson skippered at the age of 60. Still, this time he is going to approach things differently.

“I plan on stopping and looking around a bit more, kind of absorbing the adventure because you don’t ever know when you’re going to get back to doing something like this ever again,’’ he said.

As the only Volvo Ocean Race skipper to have led a team to victory previously, Mike Sanderson has plenty on the line at the helm of Team Sanya.

Racing a second hand boat against a fleet of latest generation Volvo Open 70s that have had years to develop potentially race-winning advancements, he knows he’s up against it.

Making no secret of his expectations, Sanderson admits he has the simple goal of not finishing last in every race and just enjoying the race he loves. Not to mention the ultimate goal of returning to the 2014-15 race with an invincible Chinese entry.

“Obviously it’s not an ideal circumstance, we’re in someone else’s boat and we’re late,’’ he said. “But I enjoy the sailing, I enjoy the camaraderie of the team, I enjoy the whole Volvo family. I wouldn’t’ have done it if I didn’t’ think I had one more in me after this.

“The worse nightmare will be if we dropped off the back and we spend the next nine months as Tail-End-Charlie. So, there is some apprehension in that we realise the new boats are quicker, but there's lots of other variables -- where you go, what sails you’re taking -- so hopefully those have all mixed it up a little bit.”

Photo: IAN ROMAN/Volvo Ocean Race

At the “Everest of the ocean” photo shoot atop the Cabeçó d'Or, some 4000ft above the Mediterranean, the six skippers joked and chatted away like comrades. But in just days the Leg 1 sprint to Cape Town will begin and the men will become competitors with the shared ambition to win. Racing begins at 1400 local time, 1300 GMT. Don’t miss it.

Volvo Ocean Race Overview

The Volvo Ocean Race is an exceptional test of sailing prowess and human endeavour which has been built on the spirit of great seafarers - fearless men who sailed the world’s oceans aboard square rigged clipper ships more than a century ago.

Their challenge back then was not a race as such, but recording the fastest time between ports. This meant new levels of pride for themselves and great recognition for their vessel.

The spirit that drove those commercial sailors along the web of trade routes, deep into the bleak latitudes of the Southern Ocean and around the world’s most dangerous capes, emerges today in the form of the Volvo Ocean Race, a contest now seen as the pinnacle of achievement in the sport.

The first edition of this sporting adventure came in the wake of two remarkable sailors of the last century, Sir Francis Chichester and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, men who drew worldwide acclaim for amazing solo voyages around the planet. Inevitably their success led to talk in international sailing circles of a race around the world for fully crewed yachts. It became a reality in 1973 with The Whitbread round the World Race, the longest, most demanding and perilous sporting contest the world had known.

Dangerous it was. In that very first race three competing sailors were lost after being washed overboard during storms. This led to the inevitable call for that inaugural contest to be the last, but the desire for unbridled adventure and great competition led to the race being staged every four years.

The re-badged Volvo Ocean Race was run for the first time in 2001-02. Today it is, quite simply, the ‘Everest of Sailing’.

During the nine months of the Volvo Ocean Race, which starts in Alicante, Spain in October 2011 and concludes in Galway, Ireland, during early July 2012, the teams will sail over 39,000 nautical miles of the world’s most treacherous seas via Cape Town, Abu Dhabi, Sanya, Auckland, around Cape Horn to Itajaí, Miami, Lisbon, and Lorient.

Each of the entries has a sailing team of 11 professional crew and the race requires their utmost skills, physical endurance and competitive spirit as they race day and night for more than 20 days at a time on some of the legs. They will each take on different jobs onboard the boat and on top of these sailing roles, there will be two sailors that have had medical training, as well as a sailmaker, an engineer and a dedicated media crew member.

During the race the crews will experience life at the extreme: no fresh food is taken onboard so they live off freeze dried fare, they will experience temperature variations from -5 to +40 degrees Celsius and will only take one change of clothes. They will trust their lives to the boat and the skipper and experience hunger and sleep deprivation.

The race is the ultimate mix of world class sporting competition and on the edge adventure, a unique blend of onshore glamour with offshore drama and endurance.

It is undeniably the world’s premier global race and one of the most demanding team sporting events in the world.

www.volvooceanrace.com