Rampaging winds ahead of Volvo race

Before the intriguing second leg of the Volvo round the world race even began, storm force winds gusting up to 60 knots had been hampering preparations in Cape Town and the organisers were praying that conditions would ease ahead of the 4,450 mile voyage of discovery to Kochi, south-west India, which starts tomorrow.

This is the first time that the race, first staged in 1973, has departed from its rampaging route through the Southern Ocean to take in three stops in Asia. Singapore and Qingdao, the Olympic sailing venue in China, follow.

The course takes the eight boats west under the island of Madagascar and up the Indian Ocean to Mauritius, partly then to keep them well east of the area off Somalia, where piracy is so prevalent. It could also mean as much of a tactical battle as a speed test, with early stiff conditions followed by tricky light airs. Telefonica Blue's skipper Bouwe Bekking is confident his boat will be especially quick in the light airs.

There are relatively few crew changes, Shannon Falcone and Robbie Naismith join the American entry Puma on a rotational basis, Guillermo Altadill has left Team Russia as owner Oleg Zherebtsov returns. Ger O'Rourke hands over to Roberto Bermudez as skipper of Delta Lloyd. Ericsson 3 has a new keel fin.

Alex Thomson retired from the Vendee Globe race yesterday, conceding that further repairs in Les Sables d'Olonne to his 60-foot Hugo Boss would take a matter of weeks, rather than days, which meant he would not be able to make the restart by the 19 November deadline.

He said he hoped to be back in 2012 but: "It's just awful, not just for me but the team. We worked really hard and built a new boat [after suffering substantial hull damage and a dismasting] and to be out of it just three days feels very hard."

Further south and in trade winds, Loick Peyron's Gitana Eighty is back in the lead from Jean-Pierre Dick in Paprec Virbac.

Mike Golding's Ecover remains top British competitor in 11th place, with Brian Thompson's Bahrain Team Pindar moving up to 12th ahead of Dee Caffari in 13th and Sam Davies 15th in Roxy. Steve White's Spirit of Weymouth was 17th and Jonny Malbon 19th in Artemis.

Volvo race standings: 1, Ericsson 4 (Torben Frael), 14pts; 2, Puma (Kenny Read), 13; 3, Green Dragon (Ian Walker), 11; 4, Telefonica Blue (Bouwe Bekking), 10; 5, Telefonica Black (Fernando Echevarri), 7; 6, Ericsson 3 (Anders Lewander), 5; 7=, Delta Lloyd (Roberto Bermudez), Team Russia (Andreas Hanakamp) 4.

Listen: Stuart Alexander talks to Telefonica skipper Bouwe Bekking