Thousands of spectators lined the South Coast for the 62nd Cowes-Torquay-Cowes powerboat race at the weekend, which was closely followed by the popular Cowes-Poole-Cowes race.
There was plenty of action on the Solent on Sunday as the 29 powerboats took part in Round 5 of the 2023 UKOPRA Championship. The 180 nautical mile Cowes Torquay Cowes race was won by Silverline for the 5th year in a row – crewed by Drew Langdon and Miles Jennings – in a time of 3 hours, 2 minutes and 22 seconds. Their average speed of 68mph showed that there were some challenging seas over the 180-mile course.
Silverline crossed the finish line a whole 1 hour 12 minutes ahead of 2nd-placed Dorian Griffith, Dave Flewin and David De Kretser in the stunning Cougar Hull ‘Blastoff Racing’. They were the only 2 teams to finish, as early leader Team 25 Good Boy Vodka broke down across Lyme Bay and then eventually retired at Christchurch Bay.
Just 2 Class 1 boats finished the race, with 10 retirements. However, it was the biggest fleet of that Class to line up for a UK Championship race for many decades.
In the smaller but very popular 65 nautical mile Cowes-Poole-Cowes race, the 17 strong fleet saw line honours go to Class 3D favourites of Andy Foster and Charles Morris in Renegade 2; 2nd place went to a new Class 3C team Kohaku, crewed by Gary Aldington and Tom Gardener, who would normally be racing in Class 1. 3rd place went to Class 2 boat True Blue, which travelled all the way from Scotland.
A total of 9 boats finished, with 8 retiring over a very bumpy Poole Bay.
Separately, Renegade 2 (Class 3D) and TeamworX (Class3B) become UKOPRA Champions for their Class of 2023.
Locally to the Island, Thunderstreak and Mango Crazy came respectively 1st and 2nd in Class 3E, leaving only 250 points between them going into the last race of the Championship at Southampton with 400 points available. It will be all to play for both team principals – Hugo Peel and Peter Hall – on who will become UKOPRA 2023 Championship Class Champions around the Western Solent on September 23rd.
East Cowes-based Class 1 team ‘AT Racing’ with Andy Twemlow and Tristan Ormistan raced in the stunning Dragon Boat, which broke down near Yarmouth. Another Cowes team Atlas Mr Noisy – with the unstoppable Alan Goodwin on board – broke down in Christchurch Bay, with Colin Gibson and Richard Jackson in Top Banana also retiring early into the race.
Great write up thanks. The Mango Crazy racing team of Peter Hall and Terry Parsons and KTE electrical for keeping boat race worthy!