Another Record Broken by MARI-CHA III !			From Sydney...			To Hobart...
	e-mail

Hobart Dec 28, 1999 07:32 am Mari-Cha III, Bob Miller's 147' Ketch, holder of the fastest time accross the Atlantic, beat this morning the Sydney to Hobart record. Sailing the 627 course in 1day 18h 37' at an average speed of 14.75 Knts Mari-Cha beat Morning Glory's record by 19h30'10" a gain of 46% The crew lead by the owner Skipper Bob Miller and co-skipper Jef d'Etiveaud included 3 watch leaders: international top sailors Michael Sanderson, Tom Dodson and Herve Jan who arrived in Sydney after his victory in the Transat Jacques Vabre. Prince Pavlos of Greece and Prince Alexander Von Furstenberg were members of the crew. See crew list
On a rough course with wind averaging between 25 and 40 knots, the ketch showed running superiority often hiting speeds in excess of 30 Knts best speed recorded is 32.45 Kts in winds favoring lighter boats such as Nokia which arriving two hours after Mari-Cha took the official race 1st place. Mari-Cha however established a new class record. She also becomes the fastest boat on this course. Bob Miller who found the race "too short"... comments: We trust we set a hight level of performance for the next superyacht race on the same course. Download pictures free of rights
Last run, before the line.
Mari-Cha III had a good 24 hour run covering 428 Miles.
From fore to background: Bob Miller Michael Sanderson Sonia Delaurentis
Bob Miller (center), Prince Pavlos of Greece (left) and Prince Alexander Von Furstenberg (right).

List of honours, top part of results officially published by The 55 th Sydney Hobart web site:

Mari - Cha III crew list and position OFF WATCH ROBERT MILLER SKIPPER / HELM Great Britain GODFREY CRAY NAVIGATOR / AFTERGUARD New-Zealand SONIA DELAURENTIS COOK / MIZ.RUNNER Italy WATCH 1 MIKE SANDERSON [Moose} HELM New-Zealand JEF D'ETIVEAUD AFTERGUARD France KINY PARADE PIT Suisse KEVIN SHOEBRIDGE HEAD SAIL TRIMER New-Zealand CHRIS SALTHOUSE (Curly) HEAD SAIL TRIMER New-Zealand RICHARD BICKNEL (Bicky) MIZ.RUNNER New-Zealand PRINCE ALEXANDER VON FURSTENBERG MID BOW Deuschland WATCH 2 TOM DODSON AFTERGUARD New-Zealand RICHARD MEACHAM {DICK) FLOTTER New-Zealand ANDRE LUTHY FLOTTER Suisse ETIENNE GAUDRIOT FORWARD France TERRY GUISEPPE MAIN RUNNER / WATCHER OF MAST New-Zealand GRAEME FLUERY (Grim) MAIN RUNNER New-Zealand PRINCE PAVLOS MID BOW Greece MARCO CONSTANT MAIN SAIL TRIMMER South Africa WATCH 3 HERVE JAN FLOTTER France VINCENT FAUQUENOY MIZ.TRIMMER / BALLAST France MARC CHAVEROT BOW MAN France BRAD JACKSON MIZ.TRIMMER New-Zealand MARK HAUSER (Herbert) MAIN SAIL TRIMMER New-Zealand NICOLAS CLARIS CAMERA France GRAHAM FREEMAN (Frizzle) MAIN RUNNER New-Zealand STEPHANE FODOR FORWARD U.S.A.