Abu Dhabi take opening Volvo Ocean Race honours

Britain's Ian Walker took two gambles which paid handsome dividends to earn his Abu Dhabi Racing boat an early advantage in the Volvo Ocean Race by winning the marathon event's opening in-port race on Saturday. The conditions in Alicante tested the six-boat fleet to the full with the early wind dropping dramatically mid-race to leave them all desperately struggling to find a friendly gust and some speed. But Walker's early flyer, perilously close to a false start, followed by a well practised sail shift heading for the first mark earned him crucial early ground on closest challengers Puma and Camper and he never looked back. As the rest of the field toiled a long way behind, the twice-Olympic silver medallist cruised home to win in 53 minutes 44 seconds. The victory confirmed Walker's crew, the first from the Gulf region to enter the race, as a likely contender for the ultimate win come July next year but there is a long way to go. Abu Dhabi have already proved their speed, breaking a Fastnet Race record for a monohull in August. The fleet, reckoned by many to be the most competitive in the 38-year history of the event, will visit five continents, 10 countries and four oceans over nine months, sailing more than 39,000 nautical miles in the process. "It's a great win, I feel fantastic," said Walker, celebrating a winning margin of 14 minutes 14 seconds. "We had a great start - in fact, it was probably a bit too brave, and the call from the front was that we might be over the (starting) line, but fortunately we weren't. "We got to the first mark in front but the biggest move was our peel to the code zero (sail change) at the downwind mark. We had practised it in training and we pulled it off - credit to everyone. "It was very tricky on the water and none of us expected it to be - we thought it would be strong winds out there. We did well, and Jules (Salter) and Rob (Greenhalgh) did a great job keeping things calm tactically and reassuring me we were doing the right thing. "It's a great start for Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing." Walker's crew take six points for their victory. Puma, skippered by American Ken Read, was second ahead of Camper (New Zealand/Spain), Team Sanya (China), Groupama (France) and Telefonica (Spain). More than 20 per cent of all points in the race will be decided in in-port races.