Volvo Ocean Race: Tracy Edwards' top tips to conquer toughest round the world event You have to finish the Volvo Ocean to win. But having said that, when you are looking at the rival boats plotting their positions, it all goes out the window. That's the nature of the race. You can't be that competitive to want to go and then suppress that competitive spirit in the eye of the storm. It's all about controlling the need to push the hell out of the boat. It's a race which will be won on tactics and superior weather analysis, which is hugely important. When we used to race, diagnosis was still in the infancy and involved a fair bit of guess work. Now the technology is amazing and the boats are in tune. Honesty best policy On Maiden we had the best crew. You have your arguments and discussions but when you look for the crew, you are looking for people who know more than you in their specific area. With 12 very independent women, it was a question of being open and honest with each other. The skill is that you're a team and friends, first and foremost, and are ready for heated discussions. Crew togetherness When we won our second leg race on Maiden, Sir Peter Blake came up to us and said "have you noticed what the first and second boats have in common?." My first reaction was that I had something in common with Peter Blake. Then he said: "We are the only boats that haven't changed our crews the whole way round." That says it all on the togetherness front. We used to get into port and the boyfriends and husbands used to have to peel their other halves away from the rest of us. We were that together and it's key to winning. Old heads, young minds This year, we have already seen there is a great mix of very mature and very level-headed old hands, mixed with up and coming young talent. There are some fascinating dynamics working together which will work for the best boats.