You might start as a sailing novice but by the end of eleven months at sea you will have more than 40,000 racing miles in your log book. You will have sailed in all conditions from warm trade winds, through icy storms and the tropical heat of the doldrums, crossing the Equator twice.

You will have been becalmed, battled through 65-knot gales, struggled through squalls of stinging rain, snow flurries, sleet and fog. You will have experienced the emotions of untying your lines and saying goodbye to loved ones as you head into the drama of your first Race Start in front of the world’s media and tens of thousands of spectators.

Typically, you will visit 14 ports and been welcomed ashore with all the fervour deserved for long distance sporting champions. You will have celebrated at prizegivings, made friendships that will last a lifetime and realised you can achieve more than you ever thought possible.

You will be fitter, healthier and more alive than you dared to believe. You will have joined an elite club of circumnavigators and, as you return to the point of departure and crossed your outward track in the world’s longest yacht race, you’ll head home with a set of experiences that will live with you forever. You have just become a circumnavigator.