Rich Wilson and Bill Biewenga sailing the trimaran Great American II continued to maintain a one day's lead in their attempt to break the sailing record from New York to Melbourne yesterday

Rich Wilson and Bill Biewenga sailing the trimaran Great American II continued to maintain a one day’s lead in their attempt to break the sailing record from New York to Melbourne as she sped towards Cape Otway yesterday (Sunday 25 November).

The 53-foot trimaran, which already holds the sailing record from San Francisco, around Cape Horn to Boston, is expected to finish off Williamstown early on Tuesday afternoon off the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria in Williamstown.

Wilson, from Rockport, Massachusetts, and Biewenga, who lives in Newport, Rhode Island, set out from New York on September 19 to beat the record of the extreme clipper ship Mandarin, set as she carried prospectors to the Australian Gold Rush in the winter of 1855/56.

They have sailed non-stop through the north and south Atlantic Oceans, around the Cape of Good Hope and across the Southern Ocean.

Mandarin’s record is 69 days 14 hours. To beat it, Great American II must arrive off Williamstown, before 5:21 pm, summer time, on Wednesday, November 28.