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Last Updated: Tuesday, 2 November, 2004, 17:57 GMT

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Vendee Globe route

Click on the hotspots above to find out more about the 23,000-mile Vendee Globe route.

Start and finish: Les Sables d'Olonne, France
The fleet will begin by sailing south through the infamous Bay of Biscay. Autumn westerly gales are likely, meaning tough sailing into strong headwinds.

The speed will increase down the west coasts of Spain and Portugal as the sailors start to harness the north-east trade winds approaching the Canary Islands.

Doldrums
This area near the equator is known as the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone, a belt of variable weather which could yield either very light winds or violent squalls.

The exact extent of the region is hard to predict but can stretch over thousands of square miles.

It is historically narrower at the eastern end but this means boats must sail upwind into the south-east trades.

A more western crossing can take longer but gives boats a better angle downwind on the other side.

The next weather system the skippers will be aiming for is the St Helena high, which must be passed to the west to reap the faster downwind conditions into the Southern Ocean.

Cape of Good Hope (South Africa)
Turning left at the bottom of the Atlantic, the fleet will enter the Southern Ocean, in which they face a treacherous 15,000-mile voyage through the most savage seas on the planet.

Storm-force winds generated by depression after deep depression, huge waves, temperatures often below freezing and ice are the order of the day for about five weeks.

The boats will dive south to make the route shorter, but will be mindful of certain imaginary waypoints to keep them out of the worst of iceberg territory.

Cape Leeuwin (Australia)
The extreme south-west tip of Australia should be a long way to the north of the competitors' intended route but a boat in difficulty early in its Southern Ocean passage may see the west coast as its only refuge.

The Pacific Ocean starts below Tasmania.

Cape Horn (South America)
The mythical landmark of round-the-world sailors, Cape Horn marks the end of the Southern Ocean.

But it needs to be treated with respect, as the ocean shelves rapidly and narrows to about 200 miles between South America and Antarctica, squeezing the weather systems and generating highly confused seas.

Once past the Cape, the journey home up the east coasts of Argentina and Brazil is largely upwind, with quickly rising temperatures.

The doldrums again have to be negotiated before the north-east trades and the Azores high present more upwind challenges.

The boats will be open to the worst of the northern hemisphere winter storms as they near the finish sometime in February.

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VENDEE GLOBE

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Evolution of the Vendee Globe

Vendee Globe route