Michael Ferguson (Ireland), co-skipper Ariel 2 (IMOCA)

"Well, I’ve never done this bit before, normally I jump off in 20 minutes time, this is acutally the most nervous part with all the people, once you’re out there (before the start) you’re just on your own. We’re looking forward to getting out there.

"The first little is going to suit us for 15 miles (the beat to mark at Étretat and then after that it’s the opposite because it’s downwind (laughs). While the helicopters are still there we want to be in the mix and then the quick boats leave. The routing - there’s an option to go to west, which there has been a lot of talk about. We’re going to dabble with that a little bit and if we get into bits that are too windsy, we’re just going to nip south and as soon as you nip south you’re out of the big breeze. So, we’re either going to over towards the Azores or we’re going to be over towards mainland Europe."