in the 94-year history of the Newport-Bermuda race.

The 80-foot boat, owned by Larry Ellison and skippered by New Zealander Chris Dickson, was thought by organisers to be leading the fleet of 176 boats, about five miles from the finishing line at St. David's Lighthouse at 10.30 p.m.

Ironically, Sayonara was being closely followed by the current record holder, George Coumantaros and his maxi-yacht Boomerang , who won the 1996 race in 57 hours, 31 minutes and 50 seconds.

And for both boats, it was proving a frustrating finish as a high pressure system sitting over the Island reduced wind speed to around one knot with land in sight.

To break the record, the winner needed to cross the line before midnight, which remained a possibility at the time of going to press.

The long but lightweight Maxis dominated the race driven by winds which never dropped below 16 knots for the first 500 miles of the 635-mile crossing, according to reports sent to organisers by Geronimo , the communications boat travelling with the fleet.

By 8.00 a.m. yesterday morning, Sayonara was just 121 miles from Bermuda, having travelled at an average of 12.23 knots -- more than one knot above record pace -- from last Friday's lunch-time start in Newport.

The first Bermudian skipper to finish looked set last night to be Kirk Cooper, on New York-based boat Temptress . Cooper co-skippers the Swan 51 with owner Richard Schulman. Another Bermudian, Bill Dawson, is among the crew.

At 8.00 a.m. yesterday, Temptress was lying second in class six of the Cruiser-Racer Division, 231 miles from the finish, 16 miles behind class leader Dietrich Weismann's Sceptre D'Isle .

Eleven miles behind Temptress and also racing in class six was the leading Bermuda-based boat War Baby .

But the lack of wind in the latter stages of the voyage would most likely have taken its toll on Warren Brown's heavy 61-foot sloop last night.

Just five miles astern of Brown in a lighter Swan 48 was another Bermudian skipper, Buddy Rego, on the chartered yacht Hinano .

Only six miles separated the two Bermuda boats in class four, with Colin Couper's Babe , at 256 miles from home, just holding the edge over Richard Spurling's Petites Cayes , 262 miles away.

Meanwhile, Les Crane's Monterey , competing in class one, was 291 miles from the finish.

Two Bermuda boats were sailing in non-spinnaker divisions not eligible for the Lighthouse Trophy, which goes to the skipper of the fastest boat on corrected time.

In the Cruising Division, Paul Hubbard's 431 -foot Bermuda Oyster was 306 miles off Bermuda by 8.00 a.m. yesterday.

And in the Classic Yacht Division for the vintage models, three of the four boats, one being Stephen Sherwin's 35-year-old Camper Nicholson Borderlaw , were within five miles of each other. Sherwin was 325 miles from St. David's, 40 miles behind divisional leader Kirawan , a Rhodes 54 which actually won the race 64 years ago.