Many of New Zealand's successful America's Cup sailors learned their craft on these boats and examples of their successor the Elliott 6m.
[6] Mari-Cha IV gained particular distinction in 2005, when she broke the 100-year-old record for fastest monohull Atlantic crossing under regatta conditions (as opposed to solo runs, where the team can wait for optimal weather projections), previously established by Atlantic under Charlie Barr during the 1905 Kaiser's Cup.
During the 2005 Rolex Transatlantic Challenge she beat out another Greg Elliott design, Maximus, for line honours and set the new record of 9 days, 15 hours, 55 minutes and 23 seconds.
[7] Maximus is a 100 ft maxi yacht built by TP Cookson for Charles St. Clair Brown; The boat was designed by Greg Elliott and Clay Oliver and was launched in Auckland[8] in February 2005.
Despite the very calm conditions, her tall rotating rigging allowed higher wind speeds some distance above the water's surface to be accessible, giving her an advantage over rivals.