Spain’s Team Telefonica inflicted another hammer blow on the rest of the Volvo Ocean Race fleet yesterday as they claimed victory in the Sanya in-port race despite a last-minute rigging refit and a bungled sail change.

The win leaves Iker Martinez’s team a commanding 18 points clear of their nearest rivals Camper/ETNZ at the top of the VOR overall standings, after three wins out of three in offshore legs and two out of four in the in-port series.

Martinez, the 2011 world sailor of the year, said tactics had been enough to make the difference over second-placed Puma yesterday in the 10.8 nautical-mile race after a poorly executed sail change had briefly cut their lead to just three seconds.

“It was not perfect, we had some issues with one of the sails, but the weather guys, the coach and our tactician Jordi Calafat put us in great shape,” Martinez told AFP.

“After that it was a little bit easier for us. We have a very good boat too and it’s made winning a simpler job.”

The boat did not look in such good shape on Thursday and Friday as the shore crew struggled to find out why the rigging did not have the correct tension.

They made the 11th hour decision to change it in a gamble that paid off in style yesterday.

Puma’s skipper Ken Read paid tribute to his counterpart Martinez and his men.

“They didn’t make any mistakes... they never do,” he said.

“But we were in the A division today, the two of us had a good, little race here and a good little battle.”

Abu Dhabi took third place, with Camper/ETNZ, Groupama and Sanya never in serious contention yesterday.

The fleet next face potentially boat-breaking conditions in the fourth leg to Auckland with gale force winds forecast early on.

The boats are scheduled to leave Sanya in China’s southern island province of Hainan today, weather permitting.

VOR overall standings

Telefonica (ESP) - 101
Camper ETNZ (ESP/NZL) - 83
Groupama (FRA) - 73
Puma (USA) - 53
Abu Dhabi (UAE) - 43
Sanya (CHN) - 17