Builder
Mark McManus
Apache Powerboats founder. Two decades of carbon fiber and Kevlar composite experience with a zero-failure record. The man who would later operate the throttles on Apache Star’s world-record run.
The Boat
Apache Star® — The Boat
Born from a
World Record
Two-time Powerboat World Champion. One-of-a-kind 45-foot custom Apache. 2,700 HP twin-engine. 110+ mph. The offshore powerboat that crossed the Florida Strait in record time — and gave a brand its name.
Discover the Story1992 · Key West, Florida
Apache Heritage #50
Built for an Idea No One Believed In
Before APACHE STAR was a brand, she was Apache Heritage — the world’s first canopied sit-down V-bottom offshore race boat. Three people built her in five months. She would change the sport.
5
months development
concept to water
47→45’6”
Apache hull mold, 14″
freeboard removed, 900 lb lighter
Kevlar
military-grade DuPont formulation
never used in boat construction before or since
Triple
1000SC
1000SC
MerCruiser race engines
developed with Mercury Marine
The Three Who Built Her
Designer & Driver
Omar Danial
22 years old. LeMans and Daytona endurance racer. Conceived a boat that had never existed. Would become the youngest offshore world champion in history.
Throttleman
Richie Powers
Multiple world offshore champion. Widely considered among the greatest throttlemen in the sport’s history. Saw the vision from the first conversation.
1992 · 1993
Two World Championships
Two Consecutive Years
1992
Key West World Championships
Superboat Vee · World Champion
- 94.74 mph average over 147-mile course
- First overall in points
- Omar Danial, 22 — youngest offshore world champion in history
- Out-raced four-engine catamarans with three V8s
1993
SBI World Championship · Fort Myers
SuperBoat · Overall Champion (Repeat)
- 88.73 mph in eight-foot breaking seas
- Out-ran every V-bottom and every cat in the field
- Mark McManus called it “the greatest day of my life”
- Won every race entered together, except one
Apache Heritage #50 is, by record, the most valuable deep-V powerboat of the last twenty-five years of powerboat racing. Many manufacturers copied the design. None ever duplicated the laminate formulation.
2012 · The Acquisition
7,000 Hours
To Bring a Legend Back
Roger Anthony Cassius Klüh didn’t see a retired race boat. He saw a vessel with unfinished business. The most iconic Apache hull ever built — engineered to withstand punishment no ordinary hull could survive — was about to write its greatest chapter.
7,000+
hours of painstaking restoration
to as-new condition
Twin
Mercury 1350
Mercury 1350
Mercury Racing bi-turbo V8s
2 × 1350 HP = 2,700 HP combined
Recaro
racing bucket seats
fighter-jet-grade technology
#50
the original racing number
preserved on the hull
She was rebuilt, re-equipped, and given a new name: APACHE STAR®. The legend had been reborn.
The Crossing
Florida to Cuba.
One Hour, Thirty Minutes.
On a hot August morning in 2015, Roger Klüh pointed the Apache Star south out of Key West, opened twin Mercury Racing 1350 bi-turbo V8s totalling 2,700 horsepower, and crossed the Florida Strait to Havana faster than any civilian powerboat had done before.
The Apache Star is a one-of-a-kind 45-foot custom Apache powerboat — a length not available as standard from Apache Powerboats. Twin-engine offshore racing configuration totalling 2,700 HP. A hull engineered for open-ocean speed, not for showrooms. At top speed she runs north of 110 mph — territory most civilian craft never see.
The crossing wasn’t a stunt. It was a working record: GPS-verified, witnessed on both shores, and acknowledged by the Cuban government on arrival in Havana. The U.S. Coast Guard cleared the southbound transit; Club Náutico Hemingway received the boat dockside.
The Apache Star is built to perform. Everything else follows from that.— Roger Klüh, Founder · World-Record Setter · Entrepreneur
Specifications
Built for the Open Ocean
Offshore Racing Powerboat
Type
2,700 HP
Twin Mercury 1350
Twin Mercury 1350
Engine Power
110+ mph
Top Speed
Florida–Cuba
World Record
World Record
Heritage
Roger Klüh
+ 3-Person Crew
+ 3-Person Crew
Captain
1 h 30 min
Key West → Havana
Key West → Havana
Crossing Record
August 1, 2015 · Key West → Havana
An International
Four-Person Crew
The Apache Star didn’t cross the Florida Strait alone. A four-person international crew, prepared for months, executed the record-breaking run together.
Owner & Driver
Roger Klüh
Germany
At the wheel. Founder of APACHE STAR®, World-Record Setter, Entrepreneur. Acquired the boat, conceived the attempt, and drove it across.
Chief Captain & Navigator
Damien Sauvage
France
Based in Saint-Tropez. Career yacht captain who oversaw navigation across 110 nautical miles of open ocean.
Chief Engineer & Co-Pilot
Mark McManus
United States
The man who built the boat in 1992. Apache Powerboats founder. Chief Engineer and Co-Pilot on the world-record crossing — his own creation, his own hand at the helm.
Chief Mechanic
John Pompi
United States
Founder of Marine Performance Inc. Trained from age 15 by powerboat legends Don Aronow and Mark McManus. Mechanical integrity across 110 nautical miles — nothing left to chance.
Roger Klüh received the Cuban government’s Orden al Mérito Deportivo, signed by President Raúl Castro — joining chess legend Anatoly Karpov (2004) and marathon swimmer Diana Nyad (2013) on a short list of foreign nationals to receive this distinction.
Documented Heritage
Provenance
Four Official Documents
The Florida–Cuba crossing of August 1, 2015 is not narrative. It is documented across four sovereign authorities — the Cuban government, the US Treasury, the US Department of Commerce, and the Hemingway International Yacht Club of Cuba.
Acuerdo 5392
Signed November 6, 2015
Published in Gaceta Oficial, January 22, 2016
The Council of State of the Republic of Cuba awards the Orden al Mérito Deportivo to Roger Anthony Cassius Klüh, Mark McManus, John Pompi and Damien Sauvage — for the historic Florida–Cuba crossing aboard the Apache Star. Signed by President Raúl Castro Ruz.
Certificate of Crossing
August 1, 2015 · 10:00 AM → 11:45 AM
Issued by Club Náutico Internacional Hemingway de Cuba. Confirms 110 nautical miles from Stock Island Marina (Key West) to Havana Harbor entry buoy. Crossing time: 1:30. Average speed: 73 knots. Signed by Commodore José Miguel Díaz Escrich.
US Government Authorization
OFAC Licensing · Export License D1017203 (May 20, 2015)
US Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control licensing + US Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security export license. The first time since 1963 that a US-built pleasure boat with an American crew was government-authorized to visit Cuba under the embargo.
Orden al Mérito Deportivo
Awarded November 6, 2015 · Carné No. 5392 (Tomo 01, Folio 197)
Personal carné de condecorado — the official Cuban government decoration document issued in the name of Roger Anthony Cassius Klüh. Signed by the Secretary of the Council of State. Roger joined a short list of foreign nationals to carry this distinction (alongside Anatoly Karpov and Diana Nyad).
Four sovereign documents. One record. The most documented civilian powerboat crossing of the modern era.
International Recognition
A Record Acknowledged on
Three Continents
2015 · Washington
A Letter from President Obama
President Barack Obama personally acknowledged Roger Klüh’s Florida–Cuba crossing in a signed letter — a rare civilian gesture at the height of US–Cuba diplomatic thaw.
Read the Story →2015/2016 · Havana
Orden al Mérito Deportivo
Cuba’s highest sports honor, awarded by the Council of State (Acuerdo 5392, signed Raúl Castro) to all four crew members: Roger Klüh, Mark McManus, John Pompi and Damien Sauvage. Published in the Gaceta Oficial, January 22, 2016.
Read the Story →2015 · Hemingway Marina
Club Náutico Hemingway
The Apache Star was received at the historic Club Náutico Internacional Hemingway in Havana — Cuba’s most storied maritime address.
Read the Story →2016 · Hollywood
Hollywood: Speed Kills
The Apache Star was approached for the Hollywood production “Speed Kills” — the John Travolta feature on offshore powerboat racing.
Read the Story →2017 · Port Everglades
The Return to Florida
17 months and 11 days after the record run, a US government–authorized freight forwarder shipped the Apache Star from Marina Hemingway via Mariel cargo port to Port Everglades, USA — returning the boat to her home waters in Florida, where she was built.
Read the Story →The Apache Star Today
From a Powerboat
to a Brand
The Apache Star is more than a record-holding offshore powerboat. She is the source of a brand built on the same principles that took her across the Florida Strait: engineered performance, real heritage, and a refusal to compromise on either.
Every Apache Star® piece — from outerwear to leather goods — carries the DNA of that crossing. We fuse offshore-powerboat heritage with modern performance: rugged luxury that actually performs.
Born from a world record.— Apache Star® · Fuel Your Legend
Built for those who write theirs.
Stories from the Archive
Fourteen Reports.
One Record.
Apache Star — Specs & Features
The technical anatomy of the 45-foot custom Apache: twin-engine power totalling 2,700 HP, hull architecture, and the engineering behind 110+ mph.
Read
World Record Speedboat Triumph
The full account of the Florida–Cuba crossing — preparation, execution, and the moment the record was set.
Read
Record-Breaking Journey USA–Cuba
Roger Klüh completes the historic transit from US to Cuban waters — the moment a powerboat became a brand’s origin story.
Read
Obama’s Personal Letter
A signed letter from President Barack Obama acknowledging the crossing — a rare civilian gesture from the Oval Office.
Read
Cuban Government’s Official Recognition
Official state recognition on arrival in Havana — a historic acknowledgment of the first modern civilian crossing.
Read
Hollywood Calls: Speed Kills
The Apache Star approached for the John Travolta feature on offshore powerboat racing.
Read
Cubans Want to Honor Roger Klüh
Local reports from Havana on how Cuba received the captain who broke the Florida Strait record.
Read
Apache Star’s Historic Return
The boat returns home to Florida — closing a 17-month odyssey of US government negotiations, special permits, and a criminal file that ended with a warning instead of 20 years.
Read
How Dangerous Was the Crossing?
Sea state, fuel range, navigation, and the real risk profile of a 110-nautical-mile open-ocean run at 110+ mph.
Read
Celebrated in Havana
The reception at Club Náutico Hemingway — Cuba’s most storied marina welcomes the Apache Star.
Read
German Roger Klüh Breaks Speedboat World Record
International press coverage of the new speed record between Florida and Cuba.
Read
Florida to Cuba
The Düsseldorf captain who pointed a 2,700 HP offshore powerboat at Havana — and beat the clock.
Read
On the Way Back
The Apache Star leaves Cuban waters — the return logistics behind the record.
Read
His Very Special World Record
Why this crossing — diplomatic timing, route, witnesses — stands apart from any other powerboat record.
ReadContinue
Where to Next
The Founder
Meet Roger Klüh
The captain behind the crossing — founder of the brand, World-Record Setter and Entrepreneur.
Read Bio
Retail
Visit Concept Stores
Apache Star® Concept Stores — see the collection in person and the heritage behind every piece.
Find a Store
Archive
Full News Archive
Every report, every interview, every milestone — the complete Apache Star® press archive.
Browse Archive
