HAMPSHIRE sailors have set off on the third leg of one of the world’s toughest challenges and strong winds have ensured it lives up to its reputation.

All 12 teams are under way in round three of the Clipper Round the World Race which sees amateur sailors tackle a 40,000-mile course.

Led by professional skippers, the teams are racing between Cape Town and Albany, Western Australia in a 4,845-nautical mile trip.

Justin Taylor, race director, said: "Many sailors see this leg as one of the biggest challenges of the race.

"The conditions are massively testing and those who get it right will see exactly what the Clipper Race yachts are made of, surfing at more than 25 knots on swells bigger than buildings.’’

Winning the last leg and currently in joint first place was team GREAT Britain, which includes a pair of local sailors – Dawn Miller, 44, a Clipper Race worker, of Gosport, and Charlotte Morton-Haworth, 33, BID manager, also of Gosport.

Their skipper Peter Thornton said: "It’s my first time sailing in the Southern Ocean and something I have been looking forward to. The crew is anxious about the conditions to come.

"The Southern Ocean is notorious for a reason, when we first get out there we’ll be heading into some southerlies which will sort the men from the boys and then try to get south into the Roaring Forties conveyor belt.

"It’s going to be tough.The important thing is to get the boat well set with the right sail plan and a feeling that we are racing at our optimum.’’

The fleet is beating upwind with some teams reporting 50-knot winds and big swells as a low moves quickly along the coast.

The teams have taken different courses to ride out the storm, with some yachts heaving to while others are seeking shelter.

The Clipper race is the world’s longest ocean adventure with the teams taking almost a year to cover the 40,000 miles in their 70ft ocean-racing yachts.

The race was created in 1996 by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first person to sail solo non-stop around the world in 1968-69.