Round the world mission for three Irish sailors

This Sunday sees yacht racing's epic get underway from Southampton when the eight yachts of the Volvo Ocean Race start the first of 10 stages around the world. Known better perhaps as the former Whitbread race, there have been several imitations catering for variations on the theme though for professional sailors, this event remains the pinnacle.

More than $100 million has been pumped into these 60-foot boats and pundits reckon this event will be the fairest race yet with all-comers tipped in one form or another. Surprisingly, given the state of offshore racing and uncertainty over handicapping, Irish involvement in the race is the highest since the distant days of the Sail Ireland project in the 1989/90 event.

Three Irish sailors are involved with three separate campaigns, all of varying fame in home waters. three times race veteran Gordon Maguire is arguably the best known, both at home and around the world. Having cut his teeth in windsurfing and small boat campaigns in Ireland, his step into major league sailing began with Lawrie Smith in 1989. A brief spell - the first leg in fact - saw him switch from the Irish boat to join Smith causing not a small amount of controversy.

But the Howth yachtsman is not in Ocean Village this week. Having moved to Sydney and married since the last round the world race, Maguire's race doesn't start until Cape town, the first stop-over port some 7000 miles from the Solent starting line.

The first leg could prove crucial if previous race winner and skipper of the victorious Club Med catamaran in the non-stop circumnavigation "the races' is correct.

Damien Foxall from Kerry has been a constant figure in the single-handed Figaro circuit in France over the last four years. an occasional appearance at home for a variety of one-off events has given him some profile here and many keen bow crew of club racing boats in Ireland would recognise him as a role model. Nevertheless, his professional sailing life lies beyond Irish waters and he is now preparing for battle on board Kevin Shoebridge's team tyco.

This will be his first circum-navigation and considerable consolation for his first attempt last year when a succession of sail problems followed by gear failure forced adventurer Steve Fossett's playstation out of the race soon after crossing the equator. "I still feel that we could have done really well, but as owner/skipper, it was Steve's call to retire," he said.

Meanwhile, the third Irishman involved will be co-navigator on board Illbruck. Ian Moore (30) hails from Belfast and has competed in a variety of offshore events from Admiral's Cup to Fastnet and Newport-Bermuda races.