Fresh back from the challenging first three legs of the Volvo Ocean Race, Wouter headed back to Cape Town to join his American team-mates on the 90 foot maxi Rambler.

"I love coming to Cape Town. The atmosphere and the people are incredible. The Cape Town to Bahia is one of the Ocean Race Classics  that is missing on my list and to do it with the Rambler is great. We  have gone through quite some exciting racing with the Rambler over the last three years. It is well organised, with a top crew and very very  keen owner. It is always a pleasure sailing with the team, and I am 

looking very much forward to the race." Wouter explains from Capetown before the start.

The race is run every three years and provides the fleet with  hallenging strategic choices to tackle the St. Helena High. In  earlier years the race finished in Rio de Janeiro, but since 2005 the race as found a new home in Salvador the capital of the providence of Bahia further north along the Brasilian east coast.

Wouter on the challenges ahead: "The race has a rich history with reputations being crushed in the fickle winds winds in the centre of the Atlantic. With the large no wind area blocking the way, the fleet is forced to make a tough decision on trying to cut the corner but risk to get caught in no wind, or stay in the wind, but add up to 800 

NM to the 3300 NM distance. It is going to be nerve racking in the nav-station."

11 days and an overall win later, behind the happy smiles and twinkling eyes of the crew the toll of the race is clearly visible. "We had a fantastic start in strong downwind conditions for the first  12 hours, what a blast! After that the weather situation really had us  on our toes for the remaining ten days. Best to call us now "cloud  chasers" instead of sailors. We have had to maximise the squalls to  get through the light winds, often gibing several times and hour to  stay on the right side of the clouds. We got it right most of the  time, but also had some challenging times with very very fickle 

conditions. Exhausting....A nice and long sleep is very welcome!"