Zinzan signed up for round-the-world yacht race

Former All Black tough guy Zinzan Brooke is going to sea, on the handles of a round-the-world boat.

A week after resigning as coach of London rugby club Harlequins, 35-year-old Brooke has signed up to grind on a yacht in the pay-your-way circumnavigation race, the BT Global Challenge.

The veteran of 58 tests will join the 22m yacht Veritas in Wellington for the short leg to Sydney, starting next month.

Brooke's wife, Alison, may not be so impressed. The boat leaves dock on February 18 - the day before their first wedding anniversary.

The trip across the Tasman should take a week.

The former All Black No 8 will be one of 18 crew on board Veritas, which is sponsored by a British business software company. All but the skipper are sailing novices.

Among Brooke's crewmates are his namesake, Robert Brooke, a 60-year-old British accountant who happens to be a rugby fan, and 55-year-old housewife Babs Powell.

Sailors in the race have had to pay up to $100,000 each for the opportunity to sail around the world the wrong way. But Brooke, one of rugby's millionaires, is a guest star on the boat.

The fleet is expected to arrive in Wellington this Monday at the end of the treacherous Southern Ocean leg from Buenos Aires.

Brooke stepped down as Harlequins head coach, taking responsibility for the poor form of the high-brow team.

But since his resignation, they have made the final of the English Cup.