Rare all-female team perseveres in Volvo Ocean Race

The first all-female team in the Volvo Ocean Race in over a decade, Team SCA is determined to break barriers in a male-dominated sport - and in what is widely considered the world's most prestigious offshore sailing event.

Team SCA and its opponents are heading from Brazil to Rhode Island, the only North American stopover in the race, and are expected to arrive in Newport on Thursday. The teams left Oct 11 from Alicante, Spain, and are making several stops before finishing in Gothenburg, Sweden, in June.

The all-female team was in last place on Sunday, about 70 nautical miles (130 kilometers) off the lead, after being waylaid by Sargassum seaweed a few days earlier. But Team SCA was making fast gains in what might be the tightest leg finish of the race so far.