SEVERAL of the region's top offshore sailors have been drawn to Australia this Christmas for the Telstra Sydney-Hobart Race, which in 1998 claimed the life of Emsworth sailor Glyn Charles.

Many of them, including Andy Beadsworth and former W60 Silk Cut crew members Jez Fanstone, Tim Powell, Jan Dekker and Gerry Powell, will be competing on Volvo Ocean 60s as part of their preparation for the Volvo Ocean Race next year.

They will be among the 82 yachts taking part in the annual 630-nautical mile classic which will be a dress rehearsal for the third leg of next year's Volvo Ocean Race.

The four syndicates involved for the Volvo Ocean Race 2001-2002 who will be taking part this year are Assa Abloy Racing Team, Illbruck Challenge, Team News Corp and Team Tyco.

Illbruck raced the last Whitbread as EF Education with an all-woman crew and is now skippered by John Kostecki, an Olympic silver medallist in the Soling Class, and tactician to Paul Cayard on AmericaOne in the Louis Vuitton Cup in Auckland 1999-2000.

Illbruck has carried out a two-boat campaign along with the Whitbread winner EF Language over a three-year period leading to the Volvo Ocean Race.

The crew includes another Silk Cut man Stu Bannatyne as watch captain and Hamble yachtsman Ian Moore as navigator.

News Corp is the unraced Merit Cup from 1997, used as a trial boat for Grant Dalton's challenge but now in the hands of a syndicate managed by former Whitbread winner, Ross Field.