Story by DinaRella / Photos from Patriotic Duty, Ocean Cup, Erick Bryner- Fast Loud Photography, Tomas Velazquez & Dustin Fedak
Part Two:
Records are made to be broken. And thanks to the Ocean Cup and its commitment and passion putting the “offshore and endurance” back in powerboat racing… long-standing records are being broken. Just ask Patriotic Duty Offshore Racing! Credentialed in power and performance, in just ten months Tony Adams (owner/driver), Steve Seaton (throttleman) and Allen Bellinghausen (navigator) have been on the run in their 47 GTX Outerlimits recording new records like rock stars.
Cutting off more than one hour from the historic register (5:57), for their first of three records Patriotic Duty moved the San Francisco to Marina del Rey goal post to 4 hours 55 minutes. Set by Bob Nordskog and Bob and Norm Teague in 1988 says all you need to know about the difficulty of the challenge and decades of not-so-favorable tries.
Pushing it to the limit 36 miles further, the team backed that run up establishing a second San Francisco to Long Beach APBA/UIM record in 5 hours 18 minutes. Making the accomplishment last September all the more memorable, Bob Nordskog’s grandson Erik presented the checkered flag to the new record-holders. Earlier this month, the California trio’s success continued on the East Coast at the 2024 Gateway Marathon from Palm Beach to the Bahamas and back.
Looking back to the 2023 Ocean Cup Gateway Marathon, luck was not on its side as the team recalls, “About 40 miles before hitting the Bahamas, the boat was flying out of the water at 97 mph and suddenly a warning came flashing across the screen. The engine management system automatically pulled them back. That had never happened. It was bizarre. Popping the hatch, we found a sea strainer full of seaweed and a bilge full of water from the failed intake hose. The port engine was heating up, but it was a blessing because we didn’t know we had a broken water line. Monitoring the water to make sure it was pumping out, we got back on plane, bumped it up to 60 mph and luckily returned under our own power.”
This year, standing on the Sailfish Marina dock on Saturday June 8 when Allen, Steve and Tony returned, RDP was first to hear the good news. Averaging 87 mph, for a time of 1 hour 27 minutes, the #F-18 Outerlimits smashed the Class B V-bottom >45 record (1:37) by ten minutes. Coincidentally, rolls reversed for its competitor and previous record holder Apache Powerboats which lost a crank box off the center drive on approach to the Bahamas.
And while Patriotic Duty didn’t have to contend with any low water pressure guardian mode gremlins this year, the boat did blow past the finish line with a blown port side outdrive. Steve shared, “It was wild. The boat ran flawless. Waves were crashing hard and holding around 85 to 90 mph. When it started to smooth out the last ten miles, we picked it up to 100 mph.” (Note: This is the first race since the change in safety rules removing the 100-mph open-cockpit speed cap.)
“Turning left coming into the channel, we had to slow down to get through all the traffic between the dredging machinery, buoys and big boats, and when powering back up, we knew something was wrong. Going back to an idle probably cost us three minutes coming off plane. Knowing where the timing mark was to finish, we shut the left motor down, put the right one in gear and powered through the time zone as fast as possible.”
This year’s Gateway Marathon was one for the books! Patriotic Duty shared the seas with other V-bottom competitors including Race Winning Bands under the command of Bill McComb and Ed Wendt and Heatwave featuring Brian Creech and Matt Field in the cockpit. Unfortunately, Copelands Raymarine suffered a major hit from debris and the twin turbine-powered Super Fountain began taking on water forcing them out early on.
Local media promotions were handled by Neil London of Supercar Week, which meant that, off the water there was just as much action over the three-day affair starting with free-flowing Muscle Vodka at the Ben opening block party, up to the closing ceremony with the U.S. Naval Sea Cadets, singer Sunni Bezi and DJ Jacob Kranz.
For the Patriotic Duty Offshore Racing team, its biggest takeaway was “being able to re-set the record bar (or bars) in a boat built by Mike Fiore 20 years ago. It feels like a tribute to him and for this, we are honored to continue the winning Outerlimits legacy.”
Part One looks into re-rigging the original poker run boat.
https://www.riverdavesplace.com/forums/articles/tony-adam’s-patriotic-duty-47-gsx-outerlimits-re-rigged-and-on-the-run.1206/
Part Two:
Records are made to be broken. And thanks to the Ocean Cup and its commitment and passion putting the “offshore and endurance” back in powerboat racing… long-standing records are being broken. Just ask Patriotic Duty Offshore Racing! Credentialed in power and performance, in just ten months Tony Adams (owner/driver), Steve Seaton (throttleman) and Allen Bellinghausen (navigator) have been on the run in their 47 GTX Outerlimits recording new records like rock stars.
Cutting off more than one hour from the historic register (5:57), for their first of three records Patriotic Duty moved the San Francisco to Marina del Rey goal post to 4 hours 55 minutes. Set by Bob Nordskog and Bob and Norm Teague in 1988 says all you need to know about the difficulty of the challenge and decades of not-so-favorable tries.
Pushing it to the limit 36 miles further, the team backed that run up establishing a second San Francisco to Long Beach APBA/UIM record in 5 hours 18 minutes. Making the accomplishment last September all the more memorable, Bob Nordskog’s grandson Erik presented the checkered flag to the new record-holders. Earlier this month, the California trio’s success continued on the East Coast at the 2024 Gateway Marathon from Palm Beach to the Bahamas and back.
Patriotic Duty Makes History in 1:27:25
Looking back to the 2023 Ocean Cup Gateway Marathon, luck was not on its side as the team recalls, “About 40 miles before hitting the Bahamas, the boat was flying out of the water at 97 mph and suddenly a warning came flashing across the screen. The engine management system automatically pulled them back. That had never happened. It was bizarre. Popping the hatch, we found a sea strainer full of seaweed and a bilge full of water from the failed intake hose. The port engine was heating up, but it was a blessing because we didn’t know we had a broken water line. Monitoring the water to make sure it was pumping out, we got back on plane, bumped it up to 60 mph and luckily returned under our own power.”
This year, standing on the Sailfish Marina dock on Saturday June 8 when Allen, Steve and Tony returned, RDP was first to hear the good news. Averaging 87 mph, for a time of 1 hour 27 minutes, the #F-18 Outerlimits smashed the Class B V-bottom >45 record (1:37) by ten minutes. Coincidentally, rolls reversed for its competitor and previous record holder Apache Powerboats which lost a crank box off the center drive on approach to the Bahamas.
And while Patriotic Duty didn’t have to contend with any low water pressure guardian mode gremlins this year, the boat did blow past the finish line with a blown port side outdrive. Steve shared, “It was wild. The boat ran flawless. Waves were crashing hard and holding around 85 to 90 mph. When it started to smooth out the last ten miles, we picked it up to 100 mph.” (Note: This is the first race since the change in safety rules removing the 100-mph open-cockpit speed cap.)
“Turning left coming into the channel, we had to slow down to get through all the traffic between the dredging machinery, buoys and big boats, and when powering back up, we knew something was wrong. Going back to an idle probably cost us three minutes coming off plane. Knowing where the timing mark was to finish, we shut the left motor down, put the right one in gear and powered through the time zone as fast as possible.”
2024 Gateway Marathon: One for the Books
This year’s Gateway Marathon was one for the books! Patriotic Duty shared the seas with other V-bottom competitors including Race Winning Bands under the command of Bill McComb and Ed Wendt and Heatwave featuring Brian Creech and Matt Field in the cockpit. Unfortunately, Copelands Raymarine suffered a major hit from debris and the twin turbine-powered Super Fountain began taking on water forcing them out early on.
Local media promotions were handled by Neil London of Supercar Week, which meant that, off the water there was just as much action over the three-day affair starting with free-flowing Muscle Vodka at the Ben opening block party, up to the closing ceremony with the U.S. Naval Sea Cadets, singer Sunni Bezi and DJ Jacob Kranz.
For the Patriotic Duty Offshore Racing team, its biggest takeaway was “being able to re-set the record bar (or bars) in a boat built by Mike Fiore 20 years ago. It feels like a tribute to him and for this, we are honored to continue the winning Outerlimits legacy.”
Part One looks into re-rigging the original poker run boat.
https://www.riverdavesplace.com/forums/articles/tony-adam’s-patriotic-duty-47-gsx-outerlimits-re-rigged-and-on-the-run.1206/
