KEY WEST --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.

"We raced for 10 years here and it's a place that my father loved," Copeland said of Key West. "He loves the fact that people come in from all over the world to race at this race, so I chose to unveil it here."

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.

"Arguably we are going for something outside the powerboat speed record, which is something like 196 or 197, according to John Carbonell," said Copeland, who has never previously reached the 200 mph mark on a boat, topping out at 191 mph. "They call them kilo-runs and when you do kilo-runs, you plan them when the weather is right for those type of events, in a place that's right for that type of event."

The boat could possibly reach speeds over 250 or 260 mph during the run -- something that makes his wife, Liz, cringe every time it is mentioned -- but with Burnhardt in the cockpit with him, Copeland says he feels confident that record can be achieved.

"Scott had really rigged and prepared the boat for this record run, "said Copeland. "He worked with the entire team. Structural engineers, mechanical engineers, naval architects and everything that is involved in this project. My father always taught me, whoever built it needs to be in the boat, and taking that same amount of risk we are. But I wouldn't have it any other way and Scott is the right man to be riding along side me."

Despite the boat being assembled and the optimism from Copeland that it can break the record, he still remains realistic that the ideal situation must be in place in order to make the run as safe as possible.

"With the latest and greatest technology, I'm hoping everything falls in line and it happens just like it's supposed to happen," said Copeland. "But that hasn't worked so far, as what was supposed to be a six-month project turned into a 20-months project. I was three times off that, so if I'm three times off my prediction then it will be happening sometime at the end of 2010. This is 100 percent total experimental so there is always nerves when it comes to something like that."

Even with the record at heart, Copeland said he always wanted to keep safety in mind, which is the reasons for many of the innovative design of the Phenomenon.

"I hope it's safe and it's fast," said Copeland. "The reason it weighs as much as it weighs is because it's a safe boat. It is truly designed to go over 240 miles per hour and I'm supposed to live. That's the plan and I continually went at this project and said what's the weakest link, what's the weakest link. Going trough time after time after time again to try to determine how to make it safer, but at the same time how do we make it faster."

Some of those elements that were added for speed and safety were the Canard wing, which is often used on airplanes, and a carved out hull to help shift the air based on the condition and how the boat is riding on the water in order for stabilization.

Until the record is broken, there is no thoughts on what is next for his prototypical vessel.

"Sky's the limit after that," Copeland said about the future of his father's designs. "Not even thinking about anything else at this point. There really is just so much focus that need to go into doing what we are doing here, we don't want to clutter our minds with anything else."

The one place Copeland said he allows his mind to drift during this time is to finding a cure for the cancer that took his fathers' life. Through The Al Copeland Foundation, an organization that puts on events based on what the elder Copeland loved to do, his son said he is always looking for ways to raise money for the study of the disease.

"As aggressively excited as we are about the unveiling of this project we want to find a cure," said Copeland. "We had an Al Copeland memorial race, a 'Heaven on Earth' Christmas party and in New Orleans this year we will be doing a Copeland light display, all to help The Al Copeland Foundation. I'd like to invite anyone that would like to help our cause to do so by looking us up at alcopelandfoundation.org to look at what we are doing and keep in touch with what we are doing."

Copeland said he understands that the projects are not related between each other, but is also hopeful that it will all come together in the end and his father's goals will both be completed.

"They are two separate paths and I believe they will cross back again," said Copeland. "We had to go two separate ways and I know we had to do that, but I know it can come back together one day."

So now the legacy of the Copelands, who were the first to put four motors in a superboat in 1984, continues on as 25 years later the four turbine engine Phenomenon. Copeland said he knows his father would be proud of the boat they unveiled on Saturday night and his dream coming true.

"It's a big day for us and we are very very excited," said Copeland. "I don't know of any that are bigger. I don't know of any that have more power. Hopefully there aren't any that are faster, because that's the goal to try to break that record. I can't even mimic the level of excitement he would have right now. I know he would be more proud than words could say and I would just love to see him right now unveiling that boat."

jwcooke@keysnews.com