Southampton sailors Ian Walker and Simon Fisher have been tussling for the lead of the Volvo Ocean Race.

As of last night they were sat in second place behind the Dongfeng Race Team, after spending two spells at the head of the seven fleet race that is navigating its way round the world.

The boats are six days into leg one of the 39,000 nautical mile epic, which ends in Gothenburg, Sweden in June next year.

The first stage takes them between Alicante in Spain to Cape Town in South Africa.

Walker, pictured, is the skipper of the Azzam Abu Dhabi boat that was in first place yesterday but later lost it to Chinese team Dongfeng, who also led the pack on Wednesday evening.

All the vessels are very close together, but Dongfeng had last night opened up a small gap.

However, the Abu Dhabi craft, navigated by Fisher, is hot on their heels. Such is the competitiveness of this opening stint that only six nautical miles have separated first and last place for large parts of the race so far.

The seven identical Volvo Ocean 65s are now south of Fuerteventura and have left the Canary Islands behind them, off the northern part of the west coast of Africa.

An expert report on the event’s official website said: “The light breeze from the coast of Africa was pushing the boats on their way south very slowly and will continue to do so until they take the shift of trade winds that will propel them west across the Atlantic.”

Fellow Hampshire sailors Dee Caffari and Sam Davies, on board the all-female Team SCA boat, are near the back of the fleet after leading through the Strait of Gibraltar on Monday.

Meanwhile, Southampton-based Sam Goodchild on the Spanish MAPFRE vessel was last reported to be in third place.