Things are looking up for Jason Carrington following his illness during the third leg of the Volvo Ocean Race.

Carrington is back home in Lymington with his health and confidence restored after Assa Abloy crossed the finish line into Auckland at the front of the fleet.

Carrington, who suffered a urinary infection and was confined to his bunk for six days, will return to New Zealand later this month to prepare for the next leg to Brazil.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Echo, he said Assa's first victory of the race, which came on top of a first place in the gruelling Sydney to Hobart race, had transformed spirits on board.

He said: "We feel we are now on the way. It has been frustrating because we had sailed well on the first two legs and the boat had good speed but we made errors. We felt our results should have been better. Everyone realised we had the pace but we needed a bit of luck."

That luck came when, spinnaker hoisted, an opportunity to gybe passed them by, a few miles out of Hobart forcing them well north of the fleet.

"We'd always intended to stay north but I don't think we planned to go so far north," Carrington added.

"In the end it worked well for us, and at one stage we had a 60-mile advantage on Grant Dalton who was in second place.

"I was pretty much out of it, but we knew we were doing okay. We were aware we had a lead but you can never relax because, if you have a 20-mile lead, you always want a 30-mile lead.

"We knew it would be tricky coming into Auckland because there is a renowned spot off the coast where people can sail round you. We stopped dead for an hour but found some breeze and then we knew we would be all right."

Carrington, who masterminded the build of Assa Abloy at the Green Marine boatyard in Southampton, paid tribute to his skipper, Neal McDonald from Hamble, with whom he sailed in the last race on Silk Cut, and their American navigator, Mark Rudiger.

"Winning was good for everyone, especially Neal and Rudi. It has given them confidence because it was getting a bit desperate after the mistakes on the first two legs.

"We were always confident of the boat but it is better knowing that the guy in charge is the right guy. We never felt that with Roy," he said referring to previous skipper Roy Heiner, who was replaced by McDonald after the first leg.

"Neal is a brilliant sailor but also a good leader. He is not someone who pushed himself into the skipper's role because he is quite reserved about his talent but he was thrown in at the deep end and has proved how good he is.

"This result is great for Neal and great for the boat. We are heading back into the Southern Ocean but we are more confident now than we were when we started leg three and we feel we are back in contention for the overall title," he said.

Despite having covered more than half the Volvo Ocean Race course, only 30 per cent of the overall points have been awarded, leaving McDonald, Carrington and the rest of the Assa Abloy crew with much to do to see off race leaders illbruck.

"It is still early days and a lot can happen but the boat is holding up well and spirits on board are better than they have ever been so we are quietly confident," Carrington explained.