Hampshire sailors Sam Davies and Dee Caffari led virtually from start to finish, romping to a convincing victory in the Volvo Ocean Race In-Port Race in Abu Dhabi today.

Lack of wind nearly forced a postponement but the all-female Team SCA boat, which Davies skippers and Caffari is a crew member of, stormed to first place.

Race officials judged that the breeze had picked up enough for a viable race and the Hamble and Gosport-based sailors never looked back.

They took a starboard course early on and by the first mark in the 3.2-nautical mile, two-lap race, had established a 50-metre lead and they continued to build on it from then on with a display of skilful in-port sailing.

In the end, it almost looked easy as the Swedish-backed boat crossed the line, 1min 28secs ahead of second-placed Team Brunel.

Another Hampshire sailor Ian Walker’s boat, the Abu Dhabi Azzam, who won the corresponding race here three years ago, again finished on the podium in third.

Walker’s crew lead the overall standings by two points from Team Brunel with Team SCA now in third.

The win is doubly sweet for the first women’s crew to contest the Volvo Ocean Race in 12 years.

"There's no 'woman of the match', it's the 'women'!" smiled Davies. "We're a team, and we did it together.

"We're really happy, and it's a great way to boost the whole crew's morale before we leave tomorrow for Sanya."

SCA came third in the last in-port race in Cape Town but two sixth places in the opening two offshore legs had hampered their progress.

The third off-shore leg sees the round the world epic race 5,264 nautical miles from Abu Dhabi to Sanya, a city of the Chinese island of Hainan.

Abu Dhabi In-Port Race result: 1 Team SCA (Sweden) 1 pt, 2 Team Brunel (Netherlands) 2 pts, 3 Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing 3 pts, 4 Dongfeng Race Team (China) 4 pts, 5 Team Alvimedica (Turkey/USA) 5 pts, 6 MAPFRE (Spain) 6 pts.

Overall standings in the Volvo Ocean Race In-Port Series: 1 Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing 6 pts, 2 Team Brunel 8, 3 Team SCA 10, 4 Team Alvimedica 12, 5 Dongfeng Race Team 13, 6 MAPFRE 16, 7 Team Vestas Wind 20.