Power boating at its best came to Cowes over the August Bank
Holiday weekend with The Cowes Powerboat Festival which included the Powerboat P1 Championship. With Cowes Yacht Haven transformed into a “pits” area the powerboats and their teams made this their base for the weekend.
Along the Parade the P1 Village proved popular with stands and bars to suit all tastes. Youngsters queued up for rides in the Honda Racing car and the mini racing and simulator were also popular. On display was a special version of a Sunseeker Challenger which will feature in the soon to be released James Bond 007 film “Casino Royale”. It was here to support the other Sunseeker boats that were racing and formed the backdrop for Sunseeker’s invited guests.
On all three days the Parade, Green and beach towards Gurnard were full of spectators. The queue for ice-creams and refreshments at the café near Mornington Road was one of the longest ever seen and everyone seemed to be enjoying the thrills and spills of the racing especially when the boats “roostered”.
This year, a lack of volunteers to man the necessary safety boats left the organisers with no alternative but to remove the Round the Island Race from the event. Instead, there were 11 entries for the Isle of Wight Challenge, raced over 59.16 n.miles.
Husband and wife Islanders, Adam and Sarah Younger from Newport were placed third aboard “Saffron”. “Matahari”, the smallest boat in contention and with Islander Gary Payne on board was in fifth place. In his first race of the season Gary was raising money for the Wessex Wight Appeal. As part of the Appeal there had been a prize draw for a trip on “Matahari”. Michael O’Mahoney, who works at St. Mary’s Hospital was the winner of the draw.
At Cowes the main action centred around the P1 British Grand Prix featuring racing machines producing up to 2000hp. There were two heats- one on Saturday & one on Sunday- which count towards the Powerboat P1 Championship. Two categories- Evolution Class and Supersport Class- race together in each round.
Evolution craft are the stars of the sport. On Saturday, the two main contenders in the World Championship led the field, at speeds approaching 100m.p.h. After “OSG- Donzi” and “Kerakoll” (ex “Sony”) were feted for finishing 1-2 both were subsequently disqualified for exceeding the 90m.p.h. maximum speed. “Fainplast” and “Kiton” were promoted.
On Sunday, the status quo was maintained when “OSG -Donzi” came home ahead of “Kerakoll” “Kiton” and “Fainplast”.
Events were more clear cut in the Supersport division. Prior to the race in Cowes Exmouth- based “Ocean Dragon” led the championship from Hampshire husband and wife pairing Mike Shelton and Jackie Hunt in “Arpro”.
In both races “Ocean Dragon” was placed third whereas “Arpro” outscored them with a runners-up slot on Saturday and a very popular win on Sunday. With the Portuguese Grand Prix set to seal the championship “Arpro” is just 30 points adrift of the leaders.
Sunseeker entered the fray at Cowes by introducing the “Sunseeker Challenger XS 2000”, powered by a Yanmar engine, as a competitor in the Supersport category. Sunseekers like this with speeds of over 80m.p.h. are displayed at Southampton Boat Show.
Tony Hamilton landlord of “The Union” pub at Cowes was racing his boat “Dog Gone Again” alongside the big boys but failed to finish on either day..
Certainly the Cowes Power Boat Festival brought the crowds to Cowes and the P1 Championship hopes to return in 2007.