Spectators descended on the coast for the 61st Cowes-Torquay-Cowes powerboat race at the weekend, which was closely followed by the Cowes-Poole-Cowes race.
There was plenty of action on The Solent on Sunday as the powerboats took part in Round 4 of the 2022 UKOPRA Championship, sponsored by Fortitudo.
The 183 nautical mile race was won by Silverline – crewed by Drew Langdon and Miles Jennings – in a time of 3 hours, 7 minutes and 30 seconds. Their average speed was a staggering 68mph.
Silverline crossed the finish line a whole 31 minutes and 2 seconds ahead of 2nd-placed Robert Lockyer and Scott Younger in Team 25 Dragon. In 3rd was Dry Martini, crewed by Nigel Hopcroft and Mike Bontoft, despite receiving a 10-minute penalty for going the wrong side of MV Emstrom.
Just 7 boats finished the race, with 6 retirements.
In the smaller 65 nautical mile Cowes-Poole-Cowes race, line honours went to Top Banana – crewed by Richard Jackson and Colin Gibson – in a time of 1 hour, 19 minutes and 21 seconds ahead of Andy Foster and Charles Morris in Renegade 2, who were just 3 minutes and 16 seconds behind. 3rd place went to Thunderstreak, crewed by Hugo Peel and Andrian de Ferranti.
A total of 8 boats finished, 2 retired and 3 did not start. Just Bubblin received a 10-minute time penalty for going the wrong side of East Leep.
Separately, during the Cowes Classics event, the 32ft catamaran Unipart Lambs took on water and sunk off Newtown – but was salvaged before it could go completely under.
Long race, however round the island in May Silverline and Tommy one finished within a second of each other with an average speed of 103 mph.
Withvery good conditions, however Lyme bay and sea areas very rough hence the lower speeds for CTC. Last race of season Falmouth 01/10/22!