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Its the Veyron of the speed boat world. The fastest propelled boat of the world, Phenomenon is currently owned by Al Copeland and according to them it was made for one reason only – to break the record of the fastest propelled boat of the world at 220.5 miles per hour. Engineered to accelerate upto a top speed speed of more than 250 miles per hour and strength-wise sustain a speed of 300 miles per hour. Built by exceptionally talented engineers from NASA, US Naval Engineers, Boeing and professional speed boat builders no stone was left unturned in making the World’s Fastest Boat . Having an 4 engines each running at 15500 RPM and producing 3000 horsepower the boat reaches mind boggling speeds thanks to its cutting edge aerodynamics and 12000 horses worth of raw power.
keysnewsonline.com reports : It is a father’s dream completed by his son and history in the making. On the eve of the final day of racing at the 29th annual Key West World Championships, Al Copeland Jr. unveiled the Phenomenon — a 56-foot long boat, 13-and-a-half foot wide, with four turbine engines and 11,000 horsepower — that was built for one reason: To break the world’s propelled speedboat record. The prototypical vessel that was created by his father, Al Copeland Sr. — a former driver and owner of the Popeyes Offshores race team from 1980-90 — some five years ago finally came to fruition on Saturday night when the next generation of powerboat was revealed to the racing community. A mix between a boat and an airplane, with an aerodynamic Canard wing between the boats’ two pontoons, Copeland said his father truly would have been proud to have seen his blueprint come to life.
Unfortunately, about two years into the project the elder Copeland was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer known as Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), which is an aggressive type of skin cancer that forms on or just under the skin. Just eight months later he died of the disease. At the time of his death his son said he had but two goals he wanted to accomplish: One to find a cure for the rare cancer, and two to finish the boat in order to break the world record.
“That just shows how important it was to him,” Copeland said of completing the Phenomenon. “And we knew that as a family.” Despite not being able to obtain either goal, his son picked up where his father left off and took on the task of fulfilling his wishes 20 months ago, even though he knew little of what had been accomplished on the prototype powerboat. ”I’m the executor of the estate and the oldest child, so I took the project under my wing,” said Copeland, who is CEO of Al Copeland investments. “I was running the businesses and didn’t know anything about it. I had to learn all the names and all the associations and where we’d been with the project.”Out of the gate, Copeland said he believed it would take only three to six months to finish the boat. However, he said that every step they took there was a new complication that arose time after time. ”It’s a monumental task to complete it,” said Copeland. “The project was in shambles when I got my hand around it. We had to change some players and do some things to try and get it completed. Anybody that’s ever built a prototype, with all the newest technologies, can relate.”
But Copeland never gave up and continued to build the vessel, somewhat scaling back from his father’s original idea, until they created the Phenomenon they have today. ”I was always over optimistic,” said Copeland. “After every meeting I hoped everybody knew what they were going to do and were going to do what they needed to do and we were going to get the results we are supposed to get. But not so much and I had to pull back from some of the design where he wanted to take the boat.” Nevertheless, the boat was completed, designed from a strength point of view to run 300 mph. Weighing 26,000 pounds, the vessel has yet to enter the water, but on Saturday night, in front of the entire race family that has grown to appreciate the innovation of the Copeland family, the magnificent craft was the center piece for a celebration in Key West. The Phenomenon will now tentatively attempt to break the record, which stands at an average speed of 227 mph set by a hydroplane boat, in January off the Sarasota coast. With Copeland driving, along with throttle man Scott Burnhardt, the team hopes to average 240 mph across a pair of one-mile stretches.
posted by Chester Kalb at 2:04 PM
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