"I'm going out there to race hard every minute of every day."And defining who has a tiny percentage of an edge is no easy task. Looking across the crew lists it is noticeable how none particularly stands out. All eight skippers have combined a mixture of previous race experience with new and burgeoning Olympic-style talent. What is evident is the increasing emphasis on how to work out where to go; the accepted wisdom being that the Paul Cayard and Mark Rudiger duo got it right at nearly every turn in the 1997-98 Whitbread aboard EF Language and were rewarded with an emphatic victory that was sealed soon after Cape Horn with three legs to sail.Several boats have two navigators, some have as many as four of the 12 crew inputting into the tactical mix, and two boats ­ News Corp and the all-women Amer Sports Too ­ have meteorologists on board.The popular favourite is unquestionably Illbruck. Skipper John Kostecki is a respected international sailor who tested the Southern Ocean waters aboard Chessie in the last race The team have turned over every conceivable design stone.

ASSA Abloy has the flair and skill of Roy Heiner, who performed a couple of miracles aboard an out-classed Brunel in the last race, coupled with the winning navigator Mark Rudiger. SEB's Gunnar Krantz is one of the most experienced round-the-world sailors in the race and has wunderkind navigator Marcel van Triest, who failed to deliver for Knut Frostad aboard Innovation Kvaerner in the last race And Frostad is back with a new team and a new designer. The Norwegian dJuice Dragons' skipper has gone away from the accepted Bruce Farr design norm and commissioned his boat from winning America's Cup designer Laurie Davidson.And Dalton has added to the design intrigue. He stepped into a two-boat project in March as he finished and won The Race. The Nautor Challenge was building two boats ­ a Farr boat and a boat from Mani Frers. The project was running two crews ­ male and female ­ and Dalton reserved the right to pick his boat. Two weeks ago he chose the Frers design leaving Lisa McDonald and her women's team with the Farr design.But while Dalton will today begin his seventh lap of the planet, for McDonald and News Corp and Tyco skippers Jez Fanstone and Kevin Shoebridge, the start of this race is the beginning of what they hope will be new chapters in their lives.

All have sailed around the world before but all three are stepping up to a new responsibility as skipper. Fanstone's upgrade from Silk Cut cannon fodder to News Corp skipper brings with it the comfort of navigator Ross Field, who has won in this class of boat in 1994. Shoebridge has always been the loyal grafting watch captain, first for Peter Blake and later for Dalton.So today the truth will begin to out. After a minute's silence and amid fears that the US will switch off the GPS network that will reduce navigation to sextant-games, it is nine legs, around 32,000 miles and exactly the same points for winning a gruelling Southern Ocean sleigh ride as the overnight sprint from Gothenburg to the finish in Kiel next June. And for the winner, the hard- earned right to call themselves grand prix sailing champions of the world.Full team ahead: Who's who among the eight ocean racersASSA AbloySyndicate: Assa Abloy Designer: Farr Yacht Design Builder: Green Marine, Lymington, Hampshire Home port: Stockholm, Sweden. Skipper: Roy Heiner.Crew: Magnus Olsson, Klas Nyl?both Swe); Mark Rudiger (US); Jason Carrington, Neal McDonald (both GB); Stu Wilson, Richard Mason (both NZ); Mike Joubert (SA); Sidney Gavignet, Jules Mazars (both Fr); Guillermo Altadill (Sp).dJuiceSyndicate: dJuice dragons Designer: Laurie Davidson (NZ) Builder: Cookson Boats, Auckland, NZ.

Home port: Oslo, Norway.Skipper: Knut Frostad (Nor).Crew: Espen Guttormsen, Christen Horn Johannessen, Arve Roaas (all Nor); Jean Yves Bernot, Jacques Vincent (both Fr); Ed Baird (US); Wouter Verbraak (Hol); Peter Doriean (Aus); Stig Westergaard (Den); Jonas Wackenhuth, Micke Lundh (both Swe); Erle Williams (NZ).IllbruckSyndicate: Illbruck Challenge Designer: Farr Yacht Design Builder: Killian Bushe, Germany. Home port: Leverkusen, Germany.Skipper: John Kostecki (US).Crew: Ross Halcrow, Mark Christensen, Stu Bannatyne, Ray Davies, Jamie Gale, Stu Bettany (all NZ); Dirk de Ridder (Hol); Juan Vila (Sp); Tony Kolb (Ger); Richard Clarke (Can); Noel Drennan (Ire); Ian Moore (GB).TycoSyndicate: Team Tyco Designer: Farr Yacht Design Builder: Eric Goetz, Newport, Rhode Island, United States. Home port: Bermuda.Skipper:Kevin Shoebridge (NZ).Crew: Steve Hayles, Tim Powell, Gerry Mitchell, Guy Salter (all GB); Brad Jackson, Ian Stewart, David Endean, Robert Salthouse, David Petersen (all NZ); Jonathan Swain (SA); Jan Dekker (Fr); Jim Close (Aus).Amer Sports OneSyndicate name: Nautor Challenge Designer: German Frers Builder: Nautor, La Ciotat, France. Home clubs: Nyl?ska Jaktklubben (Fin); Yacht Club Costa Smerelda (It).Skipper: Grant Dalton (NZ).Co-skipper: Bouwe Bekking (Holland).Crew: Roger Nilson (Swe); Phil Airey (NZ); Jeff Brock (Can); Claudio Celon, Stefano Rizzi (both It); Keith Kilpatrick, Peter Pendleton, Dee Smith (all US); Chris Nicholson (Aus); Pepe Ribes (Sp). Amer Sports TooSyndicate: Nautor Challenge.Designer: Farr Yacht Design Builder: Nautor, La Ciotat, France.