Round the island on Mari-Cha IV

Thedailysail sailed the fastest monohull ride on the planet

Click here to see video from the first part of this race (more follows). NB - this is a 16MB file designed to be played from a broadband connection in Windows Media Player. If this doesn't work for you - let us know .

We wrote in suitably awe-struck terms about sailing on board Robert Miller's 140ft state-of-the-art schooner Mari-Cha IV following her launch (see parts 1 and 2 of that report) in September 2003. But yesterday we had a chance to sail the world's largest racing monohull of recent years in anger in the Rolex Race Around the Isle of Wight, the event concluding the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge.

Being a schooner, with two rigs of equal height, requires effectively two teams one manning each rig, thus on board for the race were 36 crew. Among the VIPs were Robert Miller's son-in-laws Chris Getty and Prince Pavlos of Greece, Royal Yacht Squadron Commodore Lord Amherst and Vice-Commodore Sir Nigel Southward - all veterans of the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge - plus the latest Pindar girl, transatlantic rower Debra Veal, Brookes & Gatehouse Managing Director Richard Acland and RORC General Manager Peter Wykeham-Martin.

Alongside owner Robert Miller and navigator/project manager Jef d'Etiveaud, the core team of the boat included many of Racing Helmsman Mike Sanderson's ABN AMRO Volvo Ocean Race crew such as Brad Jackson, Jan Dekker, Tony Mutter, Mark Christensen and Rob Greenhalgh, while the remainder of the crew comprised many of Brittany's top sailors including three former 60ft trimaran skippers Loick Peyron, Marc Guillemot and Jean Maurel.

The deck plan on Mari-Cha IV has effectively three cockpits, the pit furthest forward with four coffee grinders, the middle cockpit where there are a further three grinders located just forward of the twin wheels. Then there is the aft cockpit where the mizzen is handled. The French team, led by regular Mari-Cha IV crewman Jacques Caraes, set up in residence here to handle the far from secondary aft rig.

Interestingly on board was one crewman who's primary responsibility to be to deal only with the movable ballast - Mari-Cha IV's giant keel not only cants, but she also carries water ballast. This winter she has had two asymmetric daggerboards added which we understand have transformed her upwind ability and she also underwent a substantial weight loss regime.

The start of the race around the Isle of Wight clockwise on the old America's Cup course (ie in the opposite direction to this Saturday's Island Sailing Club bonanza) saw Mari-Cha lining up against her transatlantic rivals on board Charles Brown and Bill Buckley's Maximus. While at the gun Nokia Enigma made the best start Mari-Cha IV showed better speed even in the light six knot conditions and, with main, mizzen, Code 0 and mizzen staysail set, barrelled through and rolled right over the top of Maximus making the 100ft Kiwi maxi look as if she was at a stand still. Following the two boats' rivalry in the transatlantic race many of the old hands on board felt that they could have happily have gone home following this one gesture.

After the start gun at 09:10 we had reached Ryde by 10.00, gybing in towards the islands as Jef d'Etiveaud zoomed between chart table and deck carefully monitoring depth and timing the manoeuvres - the Solent becomes a lot smaller when the draft of your yacht is 6.5m... In 6.5 knots of true wind from the northwest we were making 8 knots.

At 10:40 we rounded the Nab light vessel which the Race Committee has set up as a mark of the course through the generosity of Trinity House to recreate the position of the original light vessel (long since replaced by the Nab Tower) in the 1851 race. By this stage the wind was gradually getting lighter, but already Mari-Cha IV had pulled out a substantial lead over her competitors, Charles Dunstone's lightweight Transpac sled Nokia Enigma giving the larger Maximus a run for her money in the light conditions. Going through a transitional patch, the wind filled in from the southwest as it was forecast to and by 11:30 we were hard on the wind down to St Catherine's Point, under full main, mizzen and blade jib, the mizzen staysail having been dropped.

In just 16 knots true but making around 14 knots upwind, the experience on deck was a gale of apparent wind bringing a distinct chill to the summer's day. With some 60 pairs of legs dangling over the side gave those of us forward the opportunity to look over board to see the huge white form of Mari-Cha IV's canting keel bulb following us through the water.

Meanwhile in the distance behind us we noticed Maximus having some trouble. They were down to their staysail and appeared to be heading for home. It later transpired that they had suffered a problem with one of the diodes used to operate their keel and as a result it would no longer cant.

Once round St Catherine's Point at the south side of the island we went on to a port tack fetch towards the Needles which we reached by 2:15pm. Here in a building seaway we were once again greeted by a large armada of spectator craft and press boats who had come out to witness one of the world's most exceptional sailing craft rounding the Needles.

Bearing away around the Needles with the wind speed in the high teens, Mari-Cha IV's boat speed soared to 20 knots and the final passage past Yarmouth to Cowes was covered in a matter of minutes in the finest of sailing conditions. We crossed the finish line off the Royal Yacht Squadron at 3:03pm, making our elapsed time for the course 5 hours 53 minutes and 52 seconds.

"The crew handled the boat beautifully and we were hoping to break the record but the slow start made that impossible. It was a beautiful day with great sailing," said Robert Miller.

The record for this course of 4 hours 47 minutes was set by the late Gianni Agnelli’s Stealth during the round island race of the 2002 America’s Cup 150th anniversary. Had the race started three hours earlier once the wind shift had come through then it might have been an entirely different story.

The idea has been mooted of holding the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge once every five years from now. In this case the round the island race for the over 70 footers on the old America's Cup course may well happen again in 2010. "It is a very good formula with doing this race at the end and there is a record to be taken for rounding the Isle of Wight to the east. We missed it by about an hour today, but good winds and good weather we’ll get it another time," commented Royal Yacht Squadron Commodore Hugh Amherst.

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