Mari Cha IV ahead of the record

Robert Miller's giant schooner storms her way across the pond

Sat 4th Oct 03 at 16:24 UTC
Lat: 42 55.52 ' N
Long: 56 31.44 ' W
SOG: 14.6 knots
AvSp: 14.46 knots
COG: 118 deg
DTF: 2118.16 nm

Robert Miller's maxi schooner Mari Cha IV was this afternoon some 770 miles away from New York on her transatlantic record attempt between New York and the Lizard.

The record she is after is that of Bernard Stamm who covered the 2925 mile course in a time of 8 days 20 hours 55 minutes and 35 seconds at an average of 13.73 knots. The data from the boat shows her to be ahead of Stamm's record in terms of average speed.
In the early hours of this morning project manager Jef d'Etiveaud wrote: "This evening after a awesome day of reaching boat speed constantly between 20 to 25 kts we have reached the edge of the trough, an area of shifty light winds which we will have to negotiate at best all night and tomorrow morning before we reach the stronger South winds on the other side of this trough. The boat and crew handled well the first 24 hours, Moose Brad, Stu and the boys had a bit of a night with the small chute up in 35 to 40 kts. We chose to hang in there and pushed the boat to get a bit under our belt. Our first day went well then covering 470 on course ( 496 miles sailed). Still a long way to go but definitely a good sling shot start out of NYC."

The forecast charts show a giant stationary high pressure system dominating the weather in the middle of the north Atlantic which the schooner will have to skirt around in order to keep the pressure. However with three low pressure systems to the northwest, northeast and southwest compressing the isobars around this high pressure system, the prospect for decent breeze is looking good - possibly all the way to the finish.