All around the world - again

By Sarah Holt

Caffari is preparing for her biggest test yet in the Vendee

"You are so emotionally and physically tired but you have to pick yourself up. In the end it becomes a game just to keep on going."

Dee Caffari is recalling exactly what it was like to spend 178 days alone at sea on board a cramped 72-foot yacht.

Last May, the 34-year-old from Hampshire went into the record books as the first woman to sail solo non-stop around the globe the "wrong way" against the prevailing winds.

Caffari describes her voyage with reassuring calm, which is perhaps just as well since next year she will set sail again on an even tougher challenge.

The yachtswoman is taking on the world's elite in the 2008-09 Vendee Globe around-the-world race and this time she knows exactly what she is getting into.

"People always ask me about the horror stories when the weather was awful, the sea was huge and there were icebergs to contend with," Caffari told BBC Sport.

"It is really about being at the top of your game mentally and physically. For a start, the main sail is 180 kilogrammes and you have to hoist that to the top of a 28 metre mast.

"You can never take any time off because the minute you don't sail as hard, that's when you know your rivals are working harder and gaining miles.

"This time the constant pressure in the competitive Vendee arena will push me even harder."

Caffari, who sailed as a child around the coast off Gosport with her father, has made remarkable progress since quitting her job in 2000.

The former teacher skippered 18 amateur yachtsmen in the 2004/05 Global Challenge before her historic solo voyage and is now pushing herself to further extremes in preparation for the rigours ahead in the Vendee.

Being male or female does not come into the equation - it is not a battle of the fittest Dee Caffari

After completing a 600km trek running, kayaking and cycling around Tasmania in the Mark Webber Challenge before Christmas, Caffari is topping up her endurance by taking part in next month's London Marathon.

"The challenges that I have been taking on have kick-started my training," said Caffari, who is also being monitored by sports scientists at Leeds Metropolitan University.

"I have a nutritionalist, physiotherapist, biomechanist and a physiologist and they are developing my strength and power and making sure I am fuelled for sailing."

The mental groundwork, and learning how to avoid cabin fever on the high seas, is a much more internal process.

"I play lots of mental games with myself," explains Caffari. "I set myself targets; 'If I sail hard today then I'll make the next weather system, the more miles I sail today the less I'll have to go'.

"I treat myself now and again with things I have on board, like a packet of jelly babies, but I can only have them if I get so far."

Caffari celebrates her return home after six months alone at sea

When Caffari sets sail in the Vendee next November she will line up against a predominantly male field, led by a strong French contingent that includes defending champion Vincent Riou as well as Britain's three-time entrant Mike Golding.

However, Caffari insists her meticulous preparations have not been influenced by her gender and believes Ellen McArthur, who made her name finishing second in the 2001 Vendee, and Tracey Edwards before her are proof of that.

"You can gear the boat very much to the individual so being male or female does not come into the equation," said Caffari. "Sailing is not a battle of the fittest.

"Ellen is a perfect example that all you really need is focus, drive and determination."

Nonetheless, as a yachtswoman Caffari is able to chase another entry in the record books as well as the 150,000 euros prize.

If she successfully completes the Vendee she will become the first woman to lap the planet alone in both directions.

In order to boost her chances of success, Caffari has teamed up with fellow Briton Golding, who sails in his third Vendee, to test their boats together and share technical data.

"Completing the race is the number one goal as that will give me a unique record," said Caffari. "But there is no reason why I shouldn't be trying to come top of the pile too.

"After all, life is about taking on these challenges and facing up to it."