Intro:

The Doldrums continued to slow the pace during the opening leg of the Volvo Ocean Race on Wednesday, with Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing and Team Brunel the first to break through to windier conditions.

Script:

The 12th edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, a nine-month sailing marathon covering the world's most treacherous waters, continues to throw up problems for the seven competing crews.

Wind - or the lack of it - frustrated the sailors as they negotiated the Doldrums, a convergence zone where weather systems collide - and the wind dies.

Will Oxley from Team Alvimedica.

SOUNDBITE: (english) Will Oxley, Team Alvimedica:

"That (weather) system is visible on a satellite picture for a hundred miles that way, and we just scraped along the edge of it overnight and got caught between two rain cells and then we had nothing. So we had three stop-starts, one particularly bad, but we only pointed north for how long? Five minutes? Not very long."

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing made the best gains on Wednesday as they, together with second-placed Team Brunel, benefited from their decision to sail across the Doldrums.

The fleet still has just over half, the almost 4000 nautical miles, to complete the opening leg between Alicante in Spain and Cape Town in South Africa, but it appears Abu Dhabi and Brunel have made this a two-boat sprint to the finish in November.