16 Mar 2012

Sailors looking forward to down wind racing

11:32 am on 16 March 2012

Many of the sailors in the Volvo Ocean race are excited about the next leg of the round-the-world race, that'll take them into the Southern Ocean.

The six boats leave Auckland on Sunday heading for Brazil on a 6,700 nautical mile leg that will be the toughest for the fleet.

The watch-captain on Team New Zealand's boat Camper, Stu Bannatyne says the leg could be the defining one of the race.

Camper is in third place overall and Bannatyne feels the reliability Camper has shown will hopefully help them on this leg.

There is an inshore race in Auckland Saturday with the fleet leaving for Brazil on Sunday.