'The pinnacle of The Ocean Race' - Teams wait for daunting Leg 3 challenge ahead of Sunday start

Leg 3 of the Ocean Race is the longest ever since the competition’s inception, and when it kicks off, 11th Hour’s skipper Charlie Enright is aware of the task ahead. Enright said: “When the course for this race was announced, everybody keyed in on this leg pretty quickly as the big one. You know, it's going to be somewhere between 30 to 40 days.” Ad The Southern Ocean brings with it cold weather and the potential threat of icebergs that must be tracked on radar.

The Ocean RaceWatch highlights as Holcim-PRB thrive in Cape Town In-Port race with impressive win14 HOURS AGO On the other hand, the strong winds and huge waves can make for quick, if difficult, sailing. “The south can be unbelievable,” explained Enright. “I mean, it's big westerly winds with no leeward mark, a sailor's dream and you get to go downwind forever.

But it's also a pretty treacherous part of the world. In the two previous editions of the race we’ve been either side of that. In 2014/15 we were a group of young guys and to find ourselves leading the fleet around Cape Horn was a magical moment.

But in the next edition of the race we dropped a rig about 50 miles after going around Cape Horn. So the Southern Ocean can give and it can also take away.” Enright’s peer, Biotherm skipper Paul Meihat, said Leg 3 was a key part of his recruiting drive ahead of the start of the whole endeavour. Holcim-PRB dominate Cape Town In-Port race with impressive win The Ocean Race — Review of the drama so far, from drag race to fascinating duels Cape Town In-Port race as it happened He said: “When I announced the project and said I was looking for crew, they all asked to do this leg.