HAMPSHIRE skipper Ian Walker was last night gearing up for a nail-biting finish to the sixth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race.

Earlier tonight Walker’s Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing crew had around 100 miles left to sail to the finish line – and were trailing leg leaders Dong Feng by just four miles.

Warsash skipper Walker clawed his way back from last place early on in the leg from Itajai, Brazil, to Newport, Rhode Island.

And with the end in sight he and his crew were preparing for a photo finish in their bid for a third leg win.

Walker said: “It’s all shaping up to be a photo finish again.

“The fleet is closing up together as we yet again sail into the lighter winds of a high-pressure weather system between us and the finish line in Newport.

“We have made some great progress over the last 24 hours, overtaking Brunel’s to move into second and getting within a few miles of Dong Feng.

“It will be interesting to see if we have positioned ourselves right to take advantage of a spiral of ocean current that – if it exists in real life as well as on the computer models – should give us a helping shove towards Newport.

“Looking ahead I think we are in for plenty of light winds and the general craziness that entails.

“Put another way, anything could happen yet, and any one of the six teams could still end up winner of this leg.

“We just won’t know until everyone is tied up on the dock in Newport.”

Abu Dhabi lead the race overall with nine points. Dong Feng, their closest rivals, have 16.

Walker said his team’s success would come down to not spilling points to Dong Feng as the 40,000-mile race enters the last few legs.

“The most important thing for us is that we’re next to Dong Feng – preferably we finish in front of them but if it’s behind them so be it,” he said.

“As long as we’re the next boat to them that’s OK. We don’t want to give away too many points to them.

“If we can just get in touch with them and stay near them then hopefully we can stay in control of the race.”

Meanwhile all-woman crew Team SCA, skippered by Hamble’s Sam Davies, were in sixth place, around 25 miles behind the front runners.

Their onboard reporter Carolijn Brouwer said: “The guys ahead are in better wind pressure now and have had it for a while longer.

“We hope to close again as we come out of the cold front, but after that it is tricky and it might just open a few doors for us.

“We realised we would compress on them and then they would pull away again. The last 12 hours have been fluky. We are all feeling good and ready for whatever comes to us.”