Sailing: After months of planning, DongFeng Race Team ready for Southern Ocean

For DongFeng Race Team's human performance manager Neil Maclean-Martin, the voyage from Auckland to Itajai in Brazil meant months of preparation being put into action.

The Volvo Ocean Race is one of the most demanding competitions the world has to offer, and the seventh leg, which will see the fleet depart Auckland on Sunday at 2pm, was arguably the most dangerous.

"Out of all the legs, this is the one that from the very beginning we highlighted as being the toughest one," Maclean-Martin said.

The sailors will face winds up to 130kph, massive swells and freezing conditions as the make their way from Auckland, out into the Southern Ocean, around Cape Horn and up to Brazil.

DongFeng Race Team's human performance manager Neil Maclean-Martin. Photo: Eloi Stichelbaut / Dongfeng Race Team

During the leg, there will be times where the closest man-made object to the fleet will be the international space station.

"We know the sailors are likely to be damp on the inside for most of the time and we know that this not just for a couple of days or even a week, but for a large part of this leg which could last up to 20 days."

It poses an interesting challenge for someone in Maclean-Martin's position, having to plan for the likely increase in energy expenditure of the sailors and well as morale on board.

After some extensive planning, Maclean-Martin said the increased workload of the crew could see them consume up to 20 per cent more calories than they would during other legs.

"A guy who is consuming 5500 - 6000 calories-a-day will be boosted to up to 7500 - 8000 calories, with the option of even taking on more should there be days and periods within the leg when the crew is simply just working and working in a non-stop fashion," he said.

Maclean-Martin's role sees him help the sailors optimise their fitness and performance in the race through physiotherapy, physiology and nutrition. He might not be on board, but his role is an important one – with sailors needing to be as near perfect health as they can be to tackle such a race.

"With human performance our goal is to contribute confidence in the human body to our sailors," he said. "We can show that their physiology is good, that they can trust their training and, along with the work of the shore team that prepares the boat in such an excellent manner, they know that everything has been put together for them to go into the Southern Ocean with confidence in themselves, their bodies and their boat."