* Sylvain Mondon, the Gitana Team weather expert, comments on the race start forecast: “For the moment, it looks like being an upwind start in a south-westerly blowing between 20 and 25 knots. Then, the wind is expected to strengthen during the evening reaching an average of 30-35 knots. This disturbed flow will be accompanied by heavy seas, with waves reaching 6 to 9 feet at the start line. It is going to weed out the men from the boys from the outset!”

* French solo legend Isabelle Autissier regarding the Southern Ocean, that unyielding span of torture that connects the tip of South Africa to Australasia: "To go there alone you have to really love sailing, because it will hard to be keep that love. The weather is bad, the sky is grey it is cold, the sea is rough and you feel really far from the human race, mentally and physically. To go through that kind of thing, you have to be cool headed, you simply have to be happy to be there. It is not a matter of doing a race and wanting to win, you have sometimes have to just find your own personal balance, that is the point."

Race website: http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en