Yachting: Five Volvo yachts reach Rio

8.00 am - By JULIE ASH and NEIL SANDERSON

Illbruck won the 6700 nautical mile fourth leg of the round-the-world yacht race from Auckland to Rio de Janeiro last night after an agonisingly slow run to the finish.

The German entry, with six New Zealanders aboard, crossed the line after 23 days, 5h, 58min 42sec at sea - claiming their third win in the 9-leg race and retaining the overall lead.

The Norwegian entry djuice placed second after a dramatic come-from-behind performance.

Tyco, skippered by New Zealand's Kevin Shoebridge finished third, just minutes behind djuice.

Assa Abloy was 4th and Amer Sports One, skippered by New Zealander Grant Dalton finished 5th.

News Corp is limping to the finish after breaking her rudder on February 14. At last report, she had approximately 220 nautical miles to sail.

A further 100 nautical miles back is the last yacht in the fleet, Amer Sports Too.

The Swedish yacht Team SEB will arrive in Rio on the deck of a freighter after losing her mast early in the 4th leg and being forced to divert to Chile.

Illbruck led the fleet for most of the leg and at one stage were more than 70 miles ahead.

But a couple of days ago in the fickle wind conditions off the Brazilian coast, it looked as though victory could be cruelly snatched away from them.

Illbruck watch captain, New Zealander Mark Christensen said with no wind and Amer Sports One, Tyco and Assa Abloy all breathing down their neck, the last few days were extremely nerve racking.

"Relief is probably what we are all feeling now," he said.

"The last four days have been really scary.

"At the beginning we just stayed with the fleet waiting for some breeze and when it came we just worked as hard as we could and managed to work up a good lead.

"Once we had the lead we were really careful.

"We heard about boats wiping out and hitting icebergs - we just made sure when the conditions were really bad we backed off a little."

Illbruck led the fleet out of the Southern Ocean and were the first to round Cape Horn.

"The Southern Ocean is a scary place.

"I have raced through there twice before but this time it was unbelievably scary.

"There were so many icebergs and so many growlers (bits that have broken off icebergs).

"We were on the edge the whole time, the wind was so unstable and you got a lot of snow squalls."

But despite the roller coaster journey, Christensen said that the crew and the boat were all in good shape.

"There is no damage to the boat, we ripped three spinnakers in one period and had to back up after hitting a shark but that was about all.

"We are all pretty much injury free, a few guys got a bit of frost bite but nothing major."

Second-place finishers djuice picked up lost ground after rounding Cape Horn in 6th place, some 50 miles behind the leaders.

Opting for an easterly route around the Falkland Islands, the Laurie Davidson designed djuice came out neck and neck with the fleet. In a nail-biting final week, the pink boat went from sixth to third, to fifth and back again.

At the last minute, djuice went inshore in search of wind, and sailed past Amer Sports One, Tyco and Assa Abloy.

"It just shows that anything can change in this race and nothing is ever to be taken for granted," said djuice skipper Knut Frostad.

"We worked hard for it and knew we could do it. I am very happy."

The Volvo Ocean Race, previously known as the Whitbread, started in Southampton on September 23 and is due to finish in Kiel, Germany, in June.

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