Great America II update

Two days to go for the American duo on the Clipper record bid

The trimaran Great American II continued to maintain one day's lead in her attempt to break the sailing record from New York to Melbourne as she sped towards Cape Otway today.

Adventure sailors Rich Wilson and Bill Biewenga reported they were 345 miles west of Cape Otway lighthouse at the mouth of Bass Strait at noon today, and about 415 miles from Melbourne.

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. Great American II will complete her voyage off the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria in Williamstown where her finish will be officially recorded by the club's race officer.

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.

After fighting calms and light headwinds for nearly two weeks, Wilson was optimistic as he called ashore by satellite telephone today.

"We're still heading east," he said. "It seems the compass needle has been stuck on east for ever but we're closing in on the record. Soon we’ll be turning north into Port Phillip Bay.

"We have about a day and a half of ocean sailing until we reach Cape Otway. We expect to encounter bigger seas as we reach the approaches to Bass Strait but soon we’ll be in coastal waters again. It has been a long, long time."

Wilson reported that his boat was speeding east at speeds over ten knots, sailing on a broad reach under two reefs in the mail and a staysail, and driven by a 25-knot southwesterly breeze.

"We may be able to have spaghetti for dinner tonight," he said hopefully. "The waves are no longer violently shaking the boat ... well not as much. It should be possible to keep a pot of boiling water on the stove top.

The two adventurers have been busy during their 65 days at seas. When they are not on deck and sailing the boat, they send regular audio and text reports, lessons, photographs, and videos, and answer schoolchildren’s e-mailed questions. They accomplish all this with the aid of a laptop computer in the navigation station, linked to an Iridium satellite telephone

The attempt is the latest education adventure program undertaken by Wilson’s Boston-based sitesALIVE! website. The program enables Wilson and Biewenga to share their experience with schoolchildren by linking to a curriculum delivered on the Internet to classrooms throughout the United States and Australia. The website is www.sitesalive.com