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.
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