Hampshire sailor Ian Walker has led his crew to a narrow lead in leg one of the Volvo Round the World race today.

Overnight, Walker, the skipper of the Azzam Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing boat, regained first position from Team Alvimedica as the fleet heads towards Cape Town on the southern coast of South Africa.

The Southampton-based sailor is joined on board by navigator Simon Fisher from Hamble, on the 39,000 nautical mile competition, which ends in Gotherburg in Sweden in June.

All seven boats have been sailing very close to the African coast to pick up the prevalent breeze there.

At one stage Team SCA, the all-female boat skippered by Hamble’s Sam Davies and crewed by another local seafarer Dee Caffari, went as close as 0.5 miles from the shores of Morocco.

Dongfeng Race Team is hot on the heels of Walker, who has won silver medals in the illustrious career.

Meanwhile, Team Vestas Wind took a gamble and failed. They sailed west in the opposite direction to the fleet.

It was a bad decision and are now in last.

Below is the latest video from on board Dongfeng Race Team boat:

The 15 nautical miles separating first and last was the biggest gap since the start of the race.

Today, the forecast does not seem to be improving in terms of wind speed to push the boats on their way. A light breeze is all that's expected for the next few hours.

"Sailing away from the coast is not an option where the wind has dropped away altogether," say experts on the Volvo Ocean Race website's Watch Log.

"If the conditions continue, the boats will not pass through the Canary Islands until tomorrow afternoon local time.

"Now the big question is which side of the Canaries will they take: west or east. If the forecast stays like this, they will probably go east, the channel between the islands and the African coast."

Team SCA meet a pod of whales during the race: