Bekking feared that his Movistar boat was sinking

The Spanish yacht sent out a distress signal after the boat started taking on water 278 miles off Cape Horn on the New Zealand to Brazil leg of the race.

The crew worked furiously in cold and dark conditions to seal the leak and bail out the knee-deep water.

Rival yachts were put on standby for a rescue until the boat was made safe.

"A sailor's nightmare is sinking and this looked like a pretty serious situation," said skipper Bouwe Bekking. "If we had rats onboard they would have jumped off.

"After seeing the amount of water, I decided to ask headquarters if other boats could assist.

"With the personal torches on it looked like a scene that Hitchcock would only dream of.

"Even though we knew we were on the losing hand, strangely enough you don't give up. Slowly but surely the levels went down and got the situation under control.

"I am proud of the boys - they did well, not only in this emergency situation, but how magnificently they have sailed Movistar in this race."

Movistar edges out ABN Amro One

Movistar, who won the last leg from Melbourne to Wellington, slumped from second to fourth place and is still losing time.

The boat is now due to dock in Ushuaia, Argentina to fix the problem before resuming the leg, which finishes in Rio de Janeiro.

Overall race leader ABN AMRO ONE is leading the leg, with Pirates of the Caribbean second and Brasil 1 in third.

After Rio de Janeiro, the fleet heads up to the United States before travelling to Britain and then Scandinavia.

The race, which began in Spain on 12 November 2005, is due to end in Gothenburg, Sweden around 17 June.