A quick change of course kept Norwegian boat Innovation Kvaerner out in front in the first stage of the Whitbread Round the World Race. Skipper Knut Frostad and crew needed a rethink after being forced to sail further west than the rest of the 10-boat fleet, as light winds ensured general bunching 260 miles west of the Canary Islands.

But Frostad saw the benefit between 6am and lunch-time yesterday of his altered course to the south and increased his lead again over Monaco's second-placed Merit Cup, skippered by Grant Dalton, and another Norwegian boat, Paul Cayard's EF Language.

Slightly further back, Britain's Silk Cut and skipper Lawrie Smith and Mark Fischer's Chessie Racing, for America, are engaged in a private duel for fourth and fifth.