Juan K's latest creations in head-to-head shakedown

“It’s been a long time coming to reach this point, but we’re very excited to see how the two new boats perform against each other in the qualifying sail,” said yacht designer Juan Kouyoumdjian.

Thirty-six-year-old Juan K has every right to be anxious. The Argentine designed the winning yacht in the 2005-06 Volvo – ABN AMRO ONE – and has spent many hours since then creating the new generation Volvo Ocean 70s for the 2008-09 Ericsson campaign.

“Each one is a progression and an evolution of what we did before,” Kouyoumdjian said. “The racecourse around the world has changed so we had to adapt the parameters to the new wind and sailing conditions. If we’ve done our homework right, we’ll all get a good score this time.”

The journey time for the two boats, skippered by Torben Grael and Anders Lewander, will be approximately 10 days.

Meanwhile, both Telefonica boats have completed their pre-race qualifier. Telefonica Blue skipper Bouwe Bekking said they were satisfied with the performance of the Farr-designed Volvo Open 70s on their first offshore outing.

"Undoubtedly it has been a great test both for boat and crew,” Bekking said.

"On the first few days the breeze was light in the Med, before we faced a nice Atlantic breeze. Once we came back to the Med we found lots of breeze, more than we expected, which allowed us to do some solid testing. The best thing has been seeing a good crew working well together.”

Navigator Roger Nilson, who will tackle his seventh Whitbread/Volvo later this year, at the age of 59, was able to pass on his vast experience to the newcomers during the shakedown.

"We have learnt a lot about the boat and also about living together on the boat,” the Swede said. “For some of the young guys it has been very helpful for them to learn how life is on board - how to sleep, how to eat, learning the whole routine onboard."

South African Jono Swain, a three-race veteran and a member of the Spanish movistar team in 2005-06, was impressed with the speed of the new boats.

"Compared to the previous version these new generation Volvo Open 70s are more powerful,” he said. “Regarding the crew, we have made good choices. The mood on board has been fantastic.”