Kiwis want Abu Dhabi win

The final part of leg two of the Volvo Ocean Races involves some unfinished business for Camper Emirates Team New Zealand.

The 98-miles sprint along the United Arab Emirates Coast from Sharjah to Abu Dhabi is on Wednesday and has six points of overall leg honours on offer if Camper can win with Telefonica fifth.

The New Zealand boat ended the first stage of the leg, which was interrupted in order to reduce the prospect of pirates upsetting the fleet, less than two minutes behind Telefonica.

A strong desert wind of 20-30 knots has been forecast on the courst which has an 18-mile beat to windward followed by an 80-mile tight reach to Abu Dhabi.

Camper skipper Chris Nicholson said it might be short but it was an unforgiving course requiring teams to be on top form from the starting gun.

"We don't see too many passing lanes out there, so it's vital that we get our sail choices spot-on at the beginning and get the beat out of the way in the best shape possible.

"We need to get the fundamentals right as it will be very difficult on this course to work your way back into contention after a mistake or poor start," he said.

"If we can go into that long drag race reaching down to the finish in a strong position then we'll be happy."

Nicholson said the jump that Telefonica got on Camper hurt them and the final leg was an opportunity to make up for that.

"We didn't like that narrow loss into 'Point A' and have identified some clear areas of improvement that will give us an extra edge for the race into Abu Dhabi.

"It is a difficult course but we rate our ability to do well in this type of in-port, close quarters-type racing so we'll be giving it everything we've got and looking to produce a top performance.

"At the very least we need a podium finish and we need to beat Telefonica and I'm confident that we have what it takes to deliver that," Nicholson said.