Team Telefonica and Camper in fight to finish for Volvo Leg 2

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing team more than 100 miles in arrears as the lead pair jostle for win.

Andrew McLean, the Camper navigator, keeps a close watch on Team Telefonica as both boats take it to the wire.

With less than 100 metres separating them at times, Team Telefonica and Camper/Emirates Team New Zealand swapped the lead back and forth yesterday in the second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race.

The boats have been within hailing distance of each other as they race to an undisclosed safe haven, where they will be loaded on to a transport ship and ferried to Sharjah to continue the race to Abu Dhabi.

"Boxing Day is appropriate because we have a full-on street fight right here with Telefonica over my shoulder," Stu Bannatyne, the co-skipper for Camper, said.

"You can see it's going to be a pretty tight game all of the way. Guys are working, as usual, on getting every ounce of boat speed out of the boat."

Having taken the lead on Saturday, Chris Nicholson's Camper had been steadily reeled in by the overall race leaders, Iker Martinez's Team Telefonica.

Neal McDonald, the watch captain on Telefonica, said Camper had been "about four or five boat lengths, 100 metres away".

"We have been like that for the last 20 hours."

After several thousand miles of ocean racing, the second leg of the round-the-world race has come down to a match race for the leading pair.

"Every metre, every run is decisive," said Telefonica's media crew member, Diego Fructuoso. The crews are exhausted from the extended battle, having had little sleep for days on end.

"It will be full-on, close-quarters, neck-and-neck racing all the way down to the wire," said Hamish Hooper, the media crew member on board Camper.

In third place, Ken Read was able to draw his Puma Ocean Racing outfit 15 nautical miles ahead of Franck Cammas's Groupama sailing team, while Ian Walker's Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing team is still fifth, more than 100 miles in arrears.

The boats are all trying to reach the spot where they will be lifted out of the water and onto a ship for safe transport through an area known for piracy attacks.

That process will be repeated three more times, including twice during Leg 3 from Abu Dhabi to Sanya, China.

Jack Lloyd, the race director, expressed concern about possible damage to the boats.

"I'm anxious that these boats have never been loaded on a ship with the rig in before," he said. "The problem I have is that if anything goes wrong, the first thing to get damaged is the rig and as we've seen in Leg 1 and Leg 2, they are very fragile.

"The head of the crane that's lifting the boat is so heavy that if it hits the mast or the rigging it will damage it. I'm anxious that something could go wrong.

"We've got to do the manoeuvre 20 times and going into the water is no more certain of success than coming out of the water," Lloyd said.

"So in 20 times, there's a chance that something will go wrong."