Mari Cha IV Record-Wrecking Campaign–Another One Bites The Dust: If it looks like a monster and sails like a monster, it’s probably a monster. How else to describe Robert Miller’s 140-foot sailing machine, Mari Cha IV, the fastest monohull EVER to speed across the oceans? Her latest victim is the West Coast-Hawaii Pacific record. The big schooner sailed from San Francisco to Oahu in just 5 days and 5 hours. That’s a 2000 nautical mile crossing at an average of close to 400 miles a day, or more than 16.5 knots average boatspeed. That’s multihull territory, so it’s no surprise that she didn’t just improve the old record, she ripped it to shreds by some 32 hours. MC IV even beat a Matson liner that left San Fran at the same time by some hours. Ouch. So she’s got the west-east transat record, the 24-hour record, and now this one. Miller is so excited about this beast that he’s planning to make an attempt this winter to become the first monohull to sail around the world nonstop in under 80 days. If you had suggested that might be possible just a year or two ago you would have been laughed out of the bar. Not today…



San Fran Departure: “Say, Bob, I think that Matson liner captain is giving us the finger. Whaddaya say we make him the laughingstock of the merchant marine…?”