Gwen Villet, catches up with Ken Read, the skipper of the 70ft Puma il Mostro racing yacht just hours before the team left the Victoria Basin at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town to begin the second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race destined for India.

Born in Newport, Rhode Island, USA, Ken is 47 years old and has already racked up nearly 50 World, National and North American championships.

He has also helmed two America's Cup campaigns and has been named the Rolex Yachtsman of the Year twice.

This is his second time competing in the Volvo Ocean Race but his first time as skipper.

The race is referred to as the ‘Everest' of sailing, which meant finishing second after the first leg in Cape Town on 2 November after setting out from Alicante, Spain in October, would not only establish him as a skipper to contend with but also that the game was on.

Other teams would need to keep up if they wanted to get to India first.

I was so impressed with his tally of achievements but more so after he made time to chat to me about travel and exploration. I was in the presence of yachting royalty.

il Mostro, meaning ‘monster' in Italian, is just that. Click here for the great images.

Designed to sail around the globe in nine months, the race will conclude in St Petersburg, Russia, during late June 2009. The teams will sail over 37,000 nautical miles of the world's most treacherous seas via Cape Town, Kochi, Singapore, Qingdao, around Cape Horn to Rio de Janeiro, Boston, Galway, Goteborg and Stockholm.

When asked which city he most looked forward to seeing along his journey, Read confidently answered: ‘St. Petersburg'.

The goal is set in mind, for this sailor, there is no time for star gazing, sipping cocktails at sunset or even day dreaming about all the countries he can visit. This is a race and anyone who thinks it is a luxurious way to travel the world should think twice.

So just where does a man who sails around the world for a living choose to go on holiday? "I would choose a luxury 5 star hotel on a tropical island over camping in the mountains anyday, seeing as I'll be slumming it for a while on board the il Mostro", says Ken.

There is just enough downtime between legs to catch up with loved ones, which is where he plans to sneak in a vacation or two with his wife, daughter and friends.

Last week a game safari helped to anchor his feet back on solid ground.

But even a few days isnt enough to fully recover from the gruelling conditions these sailors endure.

During the race the crews experience life in the extreme: no fresh food is taken onboard so they live off freeze dried fare, they experience temperature variations from -5 to +40 degrees Celsius and only take one change of clothes.

They entrust their lives to the boat and skipper. Experiencing hunger and sleep deprivation is the norm.

Any previous romantic notions I had about sailing around the world have all but dissapated after my encounter with Ken Read.

The Volvo Ocean Race is definitely not an opportunity where one will get to enjoy endless sunrises and sunsets, lazy afternoons snoozing in a hammock, feasting on the finest seafood or getting to explore deserted islands.

But rather to fufil a goal of being the fastest yacht to circumnavigate the earth - an experience nothing else can come close to.

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