It's been dubbed a return to the heritage of the Volvo Ocean Race - a true Southern Ocean classic.

Leg 7, from Auckland, New Zealand to Itajaí, Brazil, is the longest of the race at 7,600 nautical miles. It's also the most valuable; a double-points scoring leg with an additional bonus point available for the first boat to round the iconic Cape Horn. 

"It's the leg that from a distance you most look forward to," said Chris Nicholson, the watch captain on Leg 6 winner team AkzoNobel and a Southern Ocean veteran.

"And then as the day rapidly approaches, you start to remember how truly nasty it can be. It is an amazing leg in one of the most remote parts of the planet."

========

How to follow the start of Leg 7, from Auckland to Itajaí, Brazil, on Sunday 18 March.

The Leg 7 start is at 14:00 local time (0100 UTC), with our broadcast beginning at 13:45 local time.

Watch it on the website:
Head to www.volvooceanrace.com to catch a live stream of the action from 1345 local time (0045 UTC).

Watch on Live Race Tracker:
The Race Tracker will be live for the first 24 hours of the leg. Follow your favourite team as they race down the coast of New Zealand.

Check out Facebook Live:
We'll go live at 1345 local time (0045 UTC)– you can go to our page to schedule a reminder so you don't miss it.

Check out Twitter Live:
Join the conversation on Twitter with the live broadcast at 1345 local time (0045 UTC) by visiting live.twitter.com/volvooceanrace and tweeting us with #volvooceanrace. We'll be live-tweeting the action, as well as broadcasting the feed via our new partnership with Twitter. Check it out as we share the best content from the teams, stakeholders and fans on our feed

Join us on our live blog:
We'll be blogging all the moves, previews and news from the start of Leg 7 on our live blog, including the best of clips and social content, from 1330 local time (0030 UTC). You can find it at www.volvooceanrace.com under the 'Racing' section.

Download the app:
It's full of great content and fits on your mobile phone. Why wouldn't you want the official Volvo Ocean Race app? Head to the App Store or Google Play to download it. It's called Volvo Ocean Race.

Come down to the Race Village:
Based in the Auckland Viaduct, we've got a fantastic Race Village including the Volvo Ocean Race Boatyard facility, the Volvo Pavilion and Volvo Ocean Race Globe as well as the team bases. The Village is jam-packed full of interactive elements, innovative structures and loads of exciting things to do.

Watch from North Head:
If you're after a special look at the race track, complete with Sky Tower on the horizon, why not head up North Head, to the east of the city? If the climb doesn't take your breath away, the view definitely will!

========

The teams will take on the challenge of this Southern Ocean leg without the ability to 'hide' from the opposition.

Stealth Mode, whereby teams could elect to have their positions concealed from the rest of the fleet for three consecutive position reports has been dropped following the skippers' briefing on Friday.

A concern was raised that Stealth Mode was primarily being used at the end of legs, when fans most wanted to see the positions and follow the action.

When it was recommended to increase the limit on using Stealth Mode from 200 to 500 miles from the finish, the teams indicated they would prefer not to use it at all, and it has now been eliminated as an option via the Sailing Instructions.

www.volvooceanrace.com