I take it the UK, Oz and Zild, along with the USA, will be main contenders again?

Indeed. Grant Dalton, the Kiwi skipper who just cleaned up in "The Race", the circumnavigation contest for supercats, is planning another crack at "The Volvo" (yrch, it's still the Whitbread to me). Having just sailed around the world in 60-something days, he will be starting all over again in a few months - loopy!