Sailing: Braced for the beautiful, lethal South

Now we are ready to go again. Auckland has been one of the longer stopovers – and one of the more pleasant. All the team have had a good rest. Our shore crew has done an excellent job preparing the boat and we have added three new sails to our inventory. We have had time to test them and we are very pleased.

One big disappointment has been that in the last few days it has become clear that our bowman, Jason Carrington, has not recovered enough from the illness which struck him down in leg three to be able to join us. Initially he made a good recovery but he has actually become more ill recently. It is not totally clear what the problem is and more tests are required. It has been a difficult period for Jason because he really wants to do this leg and for me because he will be much missed. We have replaced him with Josh Alexander, who has worked with the team from the beginning. He is an excellent bowman and knows the workings of the rig and the boat extraordinarily well – a worthy replacement.

On a more positive note the boat is better prepared than ever, and we have every confidence. I felt that despite the poor result in leg two we actually sailed the boat well in the Southern Ocean. This time we have Guillermo Altadill back – one of our top drivers and someone with an immense Southern Ocean experience – he had to miss leg two because of a family illness. In addition we also have "Chunny" – Roberto Bermudez de Castro – back. Another Spaniard, he sailed with us on leg two, so in combination with our more regular driving team we are equipped to take on the rigours ahead.

The long-term forecasts always have to be viewed with a certain amount of caution. But it does appear that this leg is going to be windy. More than ever the key will be knowing when to push hard and when to throttle back to conserve boat and crew. Reports also indicate ice well north of where we would expect. Another concern.

More than half the leg will be in the Southern Ocean, then the last week or so will be in the humid, thundery conditions of the South American coast – quite a contrast. That in itself makes this leg one of the most tricky. We will soon be entering the wildest, coldest, remotest part of the world , to race against the best offshore sailors in the world. A hell of a challenge and one we take on with massive determination and enthusiasm.

Winning the last leg was great, but we have been careful not to be complacent. We realise that in order to win a leg you need to sail hard and get a bit of a break. We have no illusions – we will not push too hard or go into extreme tactical scenarios. There are plenty of points left and having gone round Cape Horn with half a mast in the last race, I do not wish to repeat that experience.