Hampshire sailor Ian Walker is celebrating victory in leg one of the round the world Volvo Ocean Race after narrowly avoiding disaster today.

This afternoon the two time Olympic silver medallist, who is hoping to become the first Englishman to win the 39,000 nautical mile race, skippered the Azzam Abu Dhabi boat into Cape Town, South Africa, ahead of the six other boats to win the first of nine stages.

But it could have gone so wrong for Walker.

After 25 days sailing from Alicante in Spain over 6,847 nautical miles, with the finish-line in sight, the Abu Dhabi boat hit a wind shadow behind the famous Table Mountain.

That meant, as the Chinese Dongfeng Race Team closed in, they were stranded and barely moving.

But, after a tense period, Walker's yacht found wind again, holding off Dongfeng, to win the race. 

The 44-year-old is sharing the success with another Southampton sailor Simon Fisher, who played a vital role in the victory, as the navigator on one of the most hotly contested legs ever seen.

It was an exciting end to the leg, which started on 11 October, as they narrowly beat Dongfeng after going neck and neck during the closing stages, with just a couple nautical miles separating them earlier today prior to being reduced to snails pace.

As Walker and his crew approached the finish, Dongfeng made ground on the Abu Dhabi yacht.

“We just got stuck under a huge white cloud,” Walker said. “We had to sit here a while and watch Dongfeng sail up a couple of miles and pull about 20 degrees of bearing on us, but it’s started to fill back in now.

“So hopefully just like elastic we’ll stretch back out again.”

Walker's team then secured the win despite the difficult conditions.

The fleet of Volvo Ocean 65s – which are built for durability rather than speed – will now battle it out in an inshore race on November 15 before four days later setting off on leg two, which is from Cape Town to Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates.

Hamble’s Sam Davies and Gosport’s Dee Caffari on the all female Team SCA yacht are still racing but are looking likely to finish in last place – even though they took the lead through the Gibraltar Strait earlier in the race.

Another local, Sam Goodchild, on the Spanish MAPFRE craft is also some way behind the leaders and is currently in sixth as they approach the South African coast.

The competition is set to finish next June when the fleet of seven boats is expected to arrive in Gothenburg, Sweden.

An ice exclusion zone had been introduced during the first stage after organisers spotted a 300-metre-long iceberg.