Southampton yachtsman Ian Moore navigated Illbruck through the final blustery approaches into Cape Town to earn his crew victory in the first leg of the Volvo Ocean Race.

Facing stormy conditions, with two metre waves and winds gusting up to 30 knots, the German crew roared across the finish line having close reached for the last few miles to keep their lead over Grant Dalton's Amer Sports One, who were just 16 miles behind.

The green and white yacht, which was one of the best prepared campaigns when it left Southampton in September, had lost the lead eight days before the end of the 7,000 mile leg but in the closing stages, pushed the boat harder and faster than ever to recover their position with just 36 hours to go to the finish line.

"It was one of those situations where the rich get richer, we just clawed back our lead - mile after mile. The boat was on fire," said Moore, a graduate in naval architecture from Southampton Institute.

"Nearing the finishing line, the wind was blowing dogs off chains, it was fantastic.

"We convinced ourselves we were gonna win, and then John came on deck yesterday morning and said 'guys, there's a new leader'. At that point we just dug in and it was great."

The achievement of Kiwi skipper Dalton, who led the fleet out of the Solent at the start of the leg, was remarkable.

Before the race, his chances of victory were said to be hampered by their rushed preparations and gear failure affected their early performance. His wife Nicki also went into labour seven weeks early with their third child last week, giving Dalton extra anxieties as he tried to hold onto the lead in the final few days of the leg.

"We were not disappointed to come second at all," said Dalton, who flew back to New Zealand to be with his wife and family as soon as the boat was tied up at Victoria Basin in Cape Town.

"We had no expectations for this leg at all, other than to just get a reasonable result with our programme being late.

"At no point did we feel any pressure. This is like the opening of the rugby season, we are happy with our position as long as we are in the final!"

"It wasn't a surprise to be beaten by Illbruck, they are a class act. They have spent a lot of time and money on their campaign, so they were bound to get a result."

The rest of the fleet were expected to start arriving in Cape Town last night with tailenders Amer Sports Too, skippered by Hamble's Lisa McDonald's due in next Wednesday.