The trouble starts when huge chunks of ice, sometimes more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) long, break off Antarctic glaciers and into the sea. They generally flow with currents around the continent until the Antarctic Peninsula forces the currents north, flinging the icebergs into warmer waters.

In these warmer seas the bergs begin to break up, spawning countless growlers and larger pieces called bergy bits. Though the method is not foolproof, sailors can generally avoid these baby bergs by steering clear of their parents. “You never sail downwind of an iceberg,” says Andy Hindley, manager of the 2001-02 Volvo Ocean Race. “You just don’t do it.”

In previous Whitbread/Volvo races the serious ice threat began sooner, during the second leg, because racers were allowed to go as far south as they wanted into iceberg-infested water, which they did to shorten their travel distance.

Initially such a brave move offered a competitive advantage, but in time everyone headed south, putting everyone in greater danger and giving no one any benefit. So now racers must pass near the southwest corner of Australia during Leg Two—a route that forces them to stay well north of serious iceberg territory.

Ice will haunt racers again on the U.S.-to-France leg across the North Atlantic. In those waters U.S. and Canadian government agencies—including the U.S. Coast Guard’s International Ice Patrol, formed in response to the Titanic sinking—monitor ice conditions closely because of the region’s heavy ship traffic. (The little-traveled Southern Ocean is not nearly as closely watched.)

Race organizers will be consulting with those monitoring agencies before the U.S.-to-France leg starts and will move the race course farther south if it looks like there will be too much ice on the course.

“Everyone’s very vigilant,” says race spokesperson Lizzie Green. “We haven’t had any incidents with ice, but we have had people close on every race.”

—Mark Schrope

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