Phenomenon is phenomenal

by Bob Wonders on 18 Mar 2010 When I was at the Miami International Boat Show just a few weeks ago, one particular display stopped me in my tracks.

It was a massive, 17.0-metre (56') ‘speedboat' named ‘Phenomenon' and if you'll overlook the play on words, it was absolutely phenomenal.

This big beauty is a story in itself; Al Copeland Junior, son of the late and legendary offshore racer and multi-millionaire founder of Popeye's Famous Fried Chicken, Al Copeland Senior, built this boat with one aim, to break the world's propelled speedboat record of 220.5mph (354.85km/hr).

I had the pleasure of meeting Al Senior some years ago, before he sadly succumbed to the disease that took his life in 2008, a rare form of cancer known as Merkel Cell Carcinoma. He passed away just eight months after the diagnosis.

Al Copeland Snr, at the throttle of the offshore superboat ‘Popeye's/Diet Coke, with popular ‘tough guy' movie star Chuck Norris at the wheel, popularised the sport of offshore racing in the 1980s and won six US national titles.

I remember Al describing Chuck Norris as 'one of the nicest, most pleasant guys you could meet.' Now, his son, Al Jnr, is out to do what his father intended to do before cancer claimed him; smash the old and set the new record with Phenomenon.

This 56' ‘monster' with its 13'6' (4.14-metre) beam was built in New Orleans by a team of boat builders ‘hand picked' by Al Snr. Engineers from Boeing, along with naval architects, were responsible for its design.

Al Jnr will drive the boat with crew chief Scott Barnhart on throttles and July 2, off Sarasota, Florida, on the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, has been set for the record attempt.

Phenomenon is constructed of high-tech fibreglass composites and boasts four Lycoming turbine engines developing a combined 12,000 horsepower! The incredible power is delivered to the water through Arneson ASD-11 surface drives.

Forged Elstrom propellers, 16 ¾' diameter with a 37' pitch and a 16-degree rake will lift this boat to the plane very quickly indeed.

Instrumentation aboard Phenomenon is really quite incredible. There's a Race Pack G2X 1149 with five monitors and displays for each engine. The crew will read engine power percentage, speed, fuel flow, lateral G-force, acceleration G-force and battery voltage. It is also equipped with a Motorola PM 1500 two-way radio, a unit which meets the highest US Military specifications.

Other electronic equipment includes a David Clark Series 9800 six-person marine intercom and a Garmin GPS MAP 4212 global positioning sensor. It also has three Livorsi analogue GPS speedometers – one reads 30mph to 200mph (48-321km/hr) for turning and two for speed, reading 130mph to 325mph (209-523km/hr). The engines are monitored by aircraft mechanical gauges.

So, it all happens on July 2.

Can Phenomenon set a new world mark?

Everything about the boat says yes, and if Al Junior is anything like Al Senior, then I'd rate it as an absolute ‘special'.