Intro:

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing won the fifth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race to extend their lead in the overall standings in the nine-month offshore sailing contest.

Script:

Just under 19 days ago, the Volvo Ocean Race fleet left the safety of Auckland in New Zealand and set off into the Southern Ocean.

Leg five of the round-the-world epic would take the crews on a 6,776 nautical mile journey from the Pacific to the Atlantic, rounding Cape Horn in the process and heading up the South American coast to the Brazilian port of Itajai.

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, skippered by Briton Ian Walker, recorded their second stage victory of the race, crossing the finish line in 18 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes and 10 seconds.

The win takes Walker and his crew seven points clear of Dongfeng Race Team after the Chinese vessel was forced to pull out of the leg because of a fractured mast.

They also put some miserable memories from three years ago behind them.

In 2012, Walker's crew were forced to return to Auckland with hull damage and eventually retired from the leg to Itajai.

SOUNDBITE (English) Ian Walker, skipper, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing:

"Oh, what a wonderful, wonderful welcome and it's been a spectacular leg. the 24 hour record, the rounding of Cape Horn was incredible, in fact leaving New Zealand was incredible... and then we had the big storm we had to get through and then finally the big battle for first place, so time has gone really fast, it was quite cold, quite windy, seems like we never stopped the whole leg and yeah, the reward is here. Here to see my family."

Spanish boat MAPFRE crossed the finish line 32 minutes behind Abu Dhabi.

Turkish-American outfit Team Alvimedica came third, beating Team Brunel by a little over a minute.

The sixth leg to Newport, Rhode Island, begins on April 19th.

The race is scheduled to end in Gothenburg, Sweden, on June 27th.