IAN Walker this weekend starts his third bid to become the first British skipper to ever win one of the most prestigious races in the sailing calendar.

Southampton-based Walker is one of Britain’s most successful sailors, with two Olympic silver medals – in 1996 and 2000.

Walker, below, also coached the Isle of Wight’s Shirley Robertson and her Yngling Team to gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

But in the last decade Walker has skipped any Olympic campaigns to concentrate on round the world sailing.

He has twice competed in the gruelling Volvo Ocean Race, and tomorrow starts his third bid.

If all goes well, Walker – on board Azzam, the Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing entry – and his fellow six skippers and their crews will finish in the Swedish port of Gothenburg towards the end of June next year.

In 2008/09 he was the skipper of the Green Dragon boat which finished fifth out of eight competitors.

In 2011/12, Walker skippered Abu Dhabi’s first entry in the Volvo Ocean Race – Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing.

Abu Dhabi’s campaign started well when Walker skippered them to victory in the first In-Port race in Alicante.

But within hours of the main race itself starting, on November 5 2011, Walker and his crew suffered a broken mast in heavy winds and high seas off the Spanish port.

Abu Dhabi eventually finished fifth out of the six boats that finished, winning one of the six legs in the process.

The 2014/15 Volvo Ocean Race is due to last 39,379 nautical miles, making it the longest race in the competition’s history.

It is sailing’s biggest offshore race and one of the most coveted prizes in the sport of yacht racing.

It is the longest sporting event in the world.

The worst weather conditions are usually encountered in the Southern Ocean, where waves sometimes top 100 feet (30 m) and winds can reach 60 knots (110 km/h).

Each of the seven entries has a sailing team of nine professional crew who race day and night for more than 20 days at a time on some of the legs. They each have different jobs on board the boat. Two of the nine will have had medical training and there will also be a sailmaker, an engineer and a dedicated media crew member.

No fresh food will be taken on board, so the crew will live off freeze-dried fare.

Walker and co will experience temperature variations from -5 to +40 degrees Celsius and will only take one change of clothes Walker’s crew includes the Southampton-based Simon Fisher, a highly experienced navigator with Vendee Globe campaigns to his name.