They are almost always wet and cold. Sleep can be fleeting, meals are Spartan and, by all means, forget even the slightest comforts.

They face every danger the world's oceans can throw at them, including death.

Some of America's most accomplished sailors will get those conditions in heaps when PUMA Ocean Racing competes in the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race. Covering 10 legs and 36,995 nautical miles, the VOR starts Oct. 11 in Alicante, Spain, and is scheduled to end in St. Petersburg, Russia, on June 27, 2009.

This is sailing at its extremes, whether it's crashing through monster waves peppered with icebergs in the frigid Southern Ocean or, just as insufferable, ghosting along through the blazing doldrums.

So why do it?

"If I answer that question, I might indict myself as one of the world's stupidest men," laughed bowman Jerry Kirby of Newport, R.I., a veteran of seven America's Cup campaigns who's now prepping for his third round-the-world race.

"It's the competition," the 52-year-old Kirby quickly added. "It's the adrenaline. These are the coolest boats, really, that are on the water right now, for monohulls that are going catamaran speeds. And the level of competition just keeps going up every race."

Kirby got to help actress Salma Hayek christen PUMA Ocean Racing's 70-foot sloop, il mostro, in Boston on May 12. Boston will be the VOR's only North American stopover, in mid-May 2009.

The sloop set out the next day on a required shakedown cruise of 2,000 nautical miles. Its first offshore test included 40-knot winds in a storm.

"They're wild boats, there's no doubt about that," said skipper Ken Read, who will lead the crew in training this summer in Newport. "But that's part of the gravitation as well. As kind of a lifetime member of the sport, it's kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

The 46-year-old Read was Dennis Conner's helmsman in the America's Cup in 2000 and 2003. This will be his first full round-the-world race. He sailed the final four legs of the last Volvo aboard Ericsson Racing.

"If I'm going to take the heat, I was ready to be the guy in charge," Read said, referring to Stars & Stripes' disappointing performance in the 2003 America's Cup.

Backed by millions of dollars from German-based PUMA, which is using the Volvo as a marketing campaign, the crew will try to make il mostro cat-quick around the globe. The sloop is painted to resemble a flying shoe and is named after one of PUMA's top brands, as well as the Italian word for "monster."

Life on board the Volvo 70s can be monstrous, Kirby said.

"You sail 24/7, just like you're competing in a round-the-buoys race," Kirby said. "You've only got 10 guys. It's big equipment, big sails and a big boat, so it's extremely physical. We eat freeze-dried food, which leaves a little bit to be desired, but it works on these boats because it's extremely Spartan. There's nothing below but a rack to sleep on."

Hot food and hot showers?

"That's the stuff you dream about when you're out there," Kirby said. "There's no showers, there's no running water. Essentially we're using a reverse-osmosis water maker and we make a day tank strictly for eating and drinking. Essentially, hygiene is a couple of baby wipes every 3-4 days."

The Volvo 70s are sparse and uncomfortable for a reason. "If you load up luxuries you just won't be fast," Kirby said.

Tasks that are simple on land can be difficult out on the ocean.

"Sometimes it's so tough you're getting smashed all over," Kirby said. "It's like driving down a bumpy road in the back of a pickup truck."

Kirby was bowman aboard America3 when it won the America's Cup in 1992. The Volvo provides a different kind of thrill.

"You can't even compare them," he said. "These boats are so dynamic. And the conditions, if you get offshore in a big system, you'll see waves like you've never seen before. It's big ocean and big wind, and you have to get out in the middle of the ocean to see that stuff."

There's often a price to pay, though.

The last Volvo was a disaster practically from the start. A handful of boats sustained damage to their canting keels during a storm just a few days in, and the mayhem continued around the world.

The race turned tragic on the North Atlantic leg when Dutch sailor Hans Horrevoets, a 32-year-old member of the young crew aboard ABN AMRO Two, died after being swept overboard during a storm.

Kirby was on the deck of the American boat Pirates of the Caribbean at 2:30 a.m. when a crewmember announced they were on standby to turn around and help search for the sailor, if needed.

"It hits you like a punch in the stomach because you know all the guys and you start to think, 'Hey, which kid is it?' " Kirby said. "All the things keep rushing through your mind. 'That could be any one of us.' It was a pretty tragic story, but that's the chance you take when you head out on this race."

Horrevoets was pulled out of the ocean, but couldn't be revived.

"That was a tough night," Kirby said. "Then the next 2,000 miles to the finish, with everyone knowing that he had died, that was a tough leg."

Still, the racing goes on.

"You always say you don't want to face your own mortality, you always believe that somehow you'll be able to pull it off," Kirby said. "It's just a dangerous race. But you've got to embrace that part of it and tell your family that everything will be fine."

Said Read: "I would say a race like this is harder on wives and kids than it is on ourselves. This is what we do. This is what sailors do."

As badly as they want to beat the other boats, Kirby and Read said the camaraderie in the Volvo Ocean Race is like nothing they see in other competitions.

"It's one of those races where you have a lot of respect for your competitors," said Kirby, a trained medic and mechanic. "In the last race, movistar started to sink and the kids boat from ABN, with a dead teammate on board, turned around in a storm and went back and rescued those guys. Essentially your competitors are going to be the only shot you have at a rescue."

There's an unwritten rule, Read said, that if there's a problem aboard another boat, "you go back and get them. If somebody's in trouble, the race comes second.

"It's added incentive not to be in last place in the race," Read added, "because then there's nobody behind you to come grab you out of the water if you need them."

Seattle's Jonathan McKee, an Olympic gold medalist and America's Cup veteran, is preparing for his first full round-the-world race. The 48-year-old has done his share of ocean racing, so he knows what's coming.

"We wouldn't be in this game if we weren't a little bit crazy and couldn't stand a little bit of discomfort," McKee said.

Kirby and others often ask themselves why they keep subjecting themselves to the punishment. Then they come back for more.

"You know that you're going to have to suffer a bit, and as long as you can embrace that part of it, you can go out and compete hard," he said. "It's not for everybody."