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easily equipped as a limited sport fi shing boat. A
trip to the Seattle Ocean Alexander dealership to
inspect one more Altus 48 convinced me that this
was the boat for me. I placed an order the following
day, and the new OA China factory went above
and beyond to help me make this my fi shing machine.
They even guaranteed it would be ready for
the 2005 Bisbeeʼs Marlin Tournament in Cabo.
The boat arrived in Oakland on July 4th,
2005. Roger Frizzelle immediately went to work
commissioning my new Altus 48. I took an off -
shore delivery on August 12th, 2005. After a
quick 150 mile shakedown trip in the Delta and
some fi nal equipment adjustments I felt we were
ready for our three leg trip to Puerto Vallarta,
Mexico. For a new boat and new factory, I was
amazed to fi nd so few things needed attention!
I think we counted on one hand the things that
needed correction!
On September 1st we were under the Golden
Gate bridge and ready for the downhill ride to
Ensenada, Mexico. John Kassis & Jim Loen from
my sailing days accompanied me on the fi rst leg
to Ensenada. The fi rst day we found ourselves
in following 14 to 18 foot down sea swells. The
Koulakina, (Hawaiian name for my daughter
Courtney) would climb up the backside of each
swell and slide down the face hitting 12, 14, 16,
18 and at times 21 knots! Great fun and down sea
speed – all at an economical 1600 RPM!
There is nothing like a 185
boat shotgun start on each
of the three-day Bisbee
event... Boats range from
20 foot pangas to 120 foot
mega yachts!
We made stops in Monterey, Morro Bay,
Channel Islands, Newport Beach, San Diego
then on to Ensenadaʼs excellent Coral Marina
& Hotel. This leg was uneventful in terms of
equipment problems. In fact, the reason I divided
the trip was to insure I could put enough
hours on the boat before the Ensenada to
Cabo run – we wanted to be able to return to
the Southern California dealer for any possible
repairs. As it turned out, nothing other
than an oil & fi lter change was needed. The
fi rst leg was done in approximately 62 hours.
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