Knox-Johnston limps past equator

The 67-year-old's yacht was hit by a violent gust at the weekend, damaging the mainsail and slowing his progress into the southern hemisphere.

Knox-Johnston leads the latter half of the fleet with Graham Dalton and Unai Basurko still to cross the equator.

Defending champion Bernard Stamm leads the race from Briton Mike Golding.

Stamm, from Switzerland, is 800 miles ahead of his nearest rival after 26 days at sea aboard Cheminees Poujoulat.

Golding has been gaining ground on Stamm with his vessel Ecover but he has been forced to sail 200 miles off course to avoid an area where there is almost no wind.

Japan's Kojiro Shiraishi has also made a similar diversion in third with British skipper Alex Thomson fourth, but closing fast thanks to some good winds around the South American coast.

Knox-Johnston became the first person to sail non-stop solo around the globe in 1968 but is expected to considerably reduce his time in his carbon fibre yacht.

The fleet left Bilbao in Spain on 22 October and are expected to finish the first leg of the race in Australian in early December before completing the race in Bilbao next April.

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