British skipper Ian Walker set off for the penultimate leg of the nine-month Volvo Ocean Race on Sunday with his sights set on wrapping up the title and establishing two landmarks in the prestigious offshore event.

No British sailor has ever skippered a team to overall victory in an event which was first launched as the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1973 when Walker was just three years old.

The trophy would also be an enormous achievement for his team, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, which is at the forefront of a sailing boom in the Gulf region.

They launched the first campaign from the Middle East in the previous edition of 2011-12 but could only finish fifth out of six boats in a challenge, which was dogged by breakages and ill-luck.

Hard-won lessons were learned, however, and a largely similar crew, again under the stewardship of Walker, has set the pace in the race from the start in Alicante, Spain, back in October last year.

They currently lie six points clear of their closest rivals, Team Brunel (Netherlands) and Dongfeng Race Team (China), and victory in the 647-nautical mile eighth leg from Lisbon to Lorient, France, would seal the deal for Abu Dhabi providing the chasing pair finish fourth or worse.

But Walker, a twice-Olympic silver medallist, is taking nothing for granted yet.

"There's a lot of this race left. In offshore sailing, you can lose it going up a river at the end," he told a pre-leg press conference on Friday.

"I've seen Admiral's Cups lost in the dying seconds. We're a long, long way from winning this race. When you start to think you've got it won, that's when you start to lose.

"I prefer not to even look at the scoreboard – these guys (his rival skippers) know they still have plenty of chance to beat us in this race."

The eighth leg marks the return to the race of Danish boat, Team Vestas Wind. The crew grounded their yacht on an Indian Ocean reef in late November in leg two and it has taken six months to rebuild it for a return to the start line.

The fleet is expected to reach Lorient early on Thursday (June 11). They will have a short maintenance period there before setting off for the final leg to Gothenburg on Tuesday, June 16.

The event finishes with an in-port race in Gothenburg on June 27. In all, the boats will have covered 38,739nm and visited 11 cities and every continent.
Source: AFP