Two Hampshire sailors led the way as the Volvo Ocean Round the World Race exited the Mediterranean Sea via the Strait of Gibraltar on the second day of racing on Monday.

Hamble’s Sam Davies, skipper of Team SCA, leads the narrowly bunched pack alongside Gosport’s Dee Caffari on the all-female crew vessel.

They were in first place as the seven boat fleet entered the North Atlantic off the coast of northwest Africa on yesterday morning.

Davies and her crew tacked north, moving away from the group and avoiding strong currents in the middle of the Strait.

An hour later they were leading, two nautical miles ahead of the Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing boat.

The Abu Dhabi is captained by Ian Walker and navigated by Simon Fisher, both of whom come from Southampton.

As reported, Walker is hoping to become the first ever Englishman to skipper a winning boat in the competition.

Meanwhile, Sam Goodchild, also from Southampton, on board Spanish boat MAPFRE, is among the chasing pack.

The entire fleet are currently closely clustered together, with only a matter of few a miles separating them.

They left Alicante on the east coast of Spain on Saturday and are out at sea for more than a month as they head south towards Cape Town in South Africa.

The seven boats then head up through the Indian Ocean, arriving in Abu Dhabi in January.

The final destination is Gothenburg, Sweden, next June.

Started in 1973, and formerly known as the Whitbread Round the World race, the Volvo competition is won by the team with the lowest points at the end.

There are also mini races at each host-port the fleet stops at, which go towards the final scores.

Late last night Team Vestas Wind had taken the lead.