Mari Cha IV close to half way in record attempt

by Robert Miller &Sail-World on 6 Oct 2003 British Billionaire Robert Miller is on track to regain his West-East Transatlantic record. His giant racing machine Mari Cha IV has sailed 1441 miles in 83 hours. The owner reported some hours ago..

A little while ago at 20:39 UTC we completed our 3rd full day of racing since the start at Ambrose Light last Thursday. We have now completed 1279 miles and have 1646 to the finish at Cape Lizard.

Our average speed for the 3 days is around 17 knots. The performance thus far of the crew an the boat is superb.

The crew, many of whom have sailed with me on Mari-Cha III for the Sydney-Hobart and TransPac races, are world class. They have all bonded into a fine team here aboard Mari-Cha IV and are in high spirits as we race across the Atlantic.

The boat? Well she is performing beautifully. She is very very fast, sensitive and quick on the helm.

Below deck she is spartan and at speeds of over 20 knots her carbon hull resonates like a drum making sounds like a racing locomotive. Awesome at first, but you soon get use to it. We have now passed (hopefully) the trickiest part of the weather and will soon be able to increase our speed and try for the 24 hour world record.

Fingers crossed!

Food? Well hard to believe that a 3oz packet of freeze dry food when hydrated and heated can provide a meal for three men. Our best meal so far was last night - Beef Stroganoff.