Surviving At Sea.

A nine-month race around the world will test the skill, nerve, and endurance of top-notch sailors.

You will need more than foul-weather gear and Volvo's three-point seat belt to sail in the world's wildest waters! On September 23, 2001, Volvo, a Swedish automaker, will sponsor the world's most dangerous sailing race.

Eight 64-foot racing yachts, each crewed by a team of 12 international sailors, will depart from Southampton, England, en route to Cape Town, South Africa, their first stopover on a race around the world. From there, the Internet-linked yachts will compete in eight more legs, ranging in length from 24 hours to 4 weeks at sea. As on the Tour de France bicycle race, each leg counts as a point. The team with the most points at the end of the race wins.

Life on Board

When the teams reach a stopover, they will have a few days to a couple of weeks to regroup. Rest is vital to the sailors because they get very little of it during the race. "We work and sleep in four-hour shifts," explains Stig Westergaard, a Danish crew member for Djuice Dragons, one of the eight teams competing in the race.

Below deck, Westergaard points out that his team carries only six sleeping bags for its 12 sailors. Since excess weight on board the sleek yacht can affect its performance, most personal items, including deodorant and soap, are left behind. "It gets real stinky down below," says Westergaard. "You get used to it."

At sea, the sailors' meals consist of muesli, freeze-dried food from waterproof packets, and protein bars. Eating such scant portions of food while working around the clock, the crews will burn more calories than they consume. On the longer legs, each crew member can lose as many as 25 pounds.

Stopovers allow crew members to regain their strength, which they will need--especially when they sail through the treacherous waters of the Southern Ocean.

The Southern Ocean

To arrive at the finish line 32,700 nautical miles later, in Kiel, Germany, the teams will need to sail through the Southern Ocean not once, but twice.

Simon Boxall, an oceanographer (a scientist who studies oceans), defines the Southern Ocean as the body of water from about 40[degrees]S to the Antarctic continent. "Technically speaking, it is not an ocean but the place where the warm waters of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans smack into the frigid currents from Antarctica," says Boxall. The most dangerous point of the Southern Ocean is just south of Cape Horn, South America.

Rounding Cape Horn at 57[degrees]S, the teams will sail their farthest, coldest, and stormiest south as they pass into the Atlantic Ocean.

Stadium-size icebergs, dense fogs, and hurricane-force winds make the turbulent waters there the most hazardous in the world. Sailors call the area the "graveyard of the sea."

Sailing or Surfing?

To sailors, the Southern Ocean represents the Mount Everest of the sea--a crew's greatest challenge. Waves crest as high as eight-story buildings, and temperatures drop below freezing. One mistake could be your last! The waves are so massive that skippers must surf them, turning their high-tech yachts into million-dollar surfboards.

Knut Frosted, the Norwegian skipper of Djuice Dragons, says that as soon as your boat shoots down a towering wave, you have to climb right back up another one. "In the Southern Ocean," he says, "you have no time to be afraid."

Virtual Sailor 

The yachts are online, so you can track the race and explore the world's oceans at www.VolvoOceanRace.org.

Fast Facts:

* The ocean covers about 71 percent of the earth's surface.

* The waters of the ocean form one giant connected body of water sometimes called the world ocean. But the continents divide the world ocean into parts.

* Geographers do not agree on how many parts. Some count only the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. Others include the Arctic and Southern.