THE fourth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race starts from Auckland on Sunday with another gruelling passage across the Southern Ocean set to present the sternest test for the eight boats and their crews.

Final crew lists show a host of changes from leg three, but former Whitbread winner Paul Cayard from America has cornered the media market by announcing his participation on Grant Dalton's Amer Sports One for the next 6,700 mile leg to Rio de Janeiro.

Cayard, who skippered EF Language to victory in the 1997-98 race, was rumoured to be joining the race in Sydney but opted for the most arduous stretch of water on the planet.

"Leg four is the best leg of the race. It has it all. You start in pouring rain, sail through gales, 30-foot waves and ice, and finally finish in extreme heat," he said.

Joining Hamble skipper Lisa McDonald on Amer Sports Too are Southampton yachting duo Emma Richards and Miranda Merron, who are expected to make a significant difference to the fortunes of the all-womens boat, which has come in last on all three legs.

Merron said: "Lisa just called up and asked if I fancied sailing round the Southern Ocean and I could say yes immediately. I had been thinking about it for a while.

"Lisa had asked us in the summer when she first found the sponsorship, but both Miranda and I were taking part in the Jacques Vabre so it wasn't possible then.

"We were already set up, we both had our own sponsors and this was our rest period between our next events with our other sponsors so what better to do that go sailing in the Southern Ocean."

Lisa's husband Neal, skipper of Assa Abloy starts as one of the favourites after winning the last leg, which included a rare British victory in the Sydney to Hobart Race.

His boat, built by Green Marine in Woolston under the meticulous eye of crewmember Jason Carrington, is one of the few to have suffered no damage during the race - but could they be due a failure?

"I like to think not," said Carrington during a recent visit home to Lymington.

"We knew what a pounding the boat would take in the Southern Ocean and, after three legs, feel more confident than ever that she has the speed and the strength to make it another successful leg for us," he said.