Prepping For A Record Attempt—Patriotic Duty Gets Serious With Safety – Speed on the Water
A trio of longtime friends from Discovery Bay, Calif., Tony Adams, Allen Bellinghausen and Steve Seaton—a marine industry veteran of note—have decades of combined high-performance powerboating experience. They’ve all owned and operated an array of high-performance powerboats, and at one time all were involved with the Big Cat Poker Run, the Golden State’s longest continuous poker run.
But none of them has logged 400-plus miles of open Pacific Ocean between San Francisco and Long Beach, which come mid-September is what they plan to do in Patriotic Duty, a 47-foot Outerlimits Offshore Powerboats V-bottom equipped with Mercury Racing 1350 engines. Their goal is to break two records: San Francisco to Marina del Rey and—in a continuation of the run down the Southern California coast—San Francisco to Long Beach.
Come September, Patriotic Duty will attempt to break two records off the California coast. Photo from the 2023 Ocean Cup Gateway Marathon courtesy/copyright Leonard Bryant
“No place is rough all the time and a lot depends on which way you are going,” said Bellinghausen, who is the team’s manager and navigator. “Northbound tends to be rougher—southbound smoother. We’ve chosen southbound.
“But nonetheless, we anticipate possible fog and a lot of challenging water, not to mention all the kelp beds ready to clog water pickups,” he continued. “The plan is to average more than 70 mph so that we can pick off both records.”
The record attempt is part of the Ocean Cup Series of offshore endurance races and—like all Ocean Cup events—is sanctioned by the Union Internationale Motonautique. To prepare for the record attempt from a safety perspective, Bellinghausen reached out to Captain Arnstein Mustad of Mustad Marine. The San Rafael, Calif., company specializes in yacht deliveries around the world and its founder is among the most respected captains in the business.
Captain Arnstein Mustad made several recommendations for safety upgrades and the Patriotic Duty team embraced them immediately.
Mustad spent four hours going over the 47-footer’s safety equipment and systems with Bellinghausen.
“Most of the items we were prepared for, but we found that we actually lacked a few and made adjustments to others,” Bellinghausen said. “Because of UIM rules, we already had most of the safety gear required such as life-rafts, a sea anchor, a towline and more.”
Among the items on Mustad’s safety punch-list was adding bilge pump activation indicators, a stainless-steel boarding ladder, an Automatic Identification System, a boat-hook and a life-sling for use in man-overboard emergencies. Per the inspection, the Patriotic Duty crew is recertifying and/or replacing its onboard fire extinguisher system.
Twin 1,350-hp turbocharged Mercury engines power the 47-footer.
“We also adjusted our route south to move further offshore in some areas,” Bellinghausen added. “Captain Mustad actually suggested building three routes down the coast.”
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