Offshore powerboat racing is coming to Falmouth this weekend – and the winner will receive a trophy not presented since the 1960s.
Today (Saturday) is race day for the UKOPRA Offshore Powerboat Race Championship.
It is the second consecutive offshore powerboat race event organised and managed by the Eastwood Racing team, owned and piloted by Gary Aldington from Eastwood Garage in Penryn.
Their boat, Vintage Torque, is a class-1 boat that can exceed 100mph on a good day.
Last September saw the first race brought to Falmouth thanks to Gary’s hard work and, despite being the last race of the calendar, the 2022 event was described as a “great triumph” with 15 boats from class 1 to class 3 turning up in Falmouth and successfully racing their respective classes.
The organisers say this year looks set to be even bigger, with more boats competing and more onshore participation.
They said: “This year we have managed to acquire the ‘Cornish 100’ Trophy dating back to 1964. The Cornish 100 was an offshore race held between 1964 – 1968 from Falmouth and Plymouth; in 1966 only four of the 18 boats finished this prestigious race.
“The race originally started at Black Rock just off Pendennis Point and went up to Plymouth, a 100 mile race! Notable winners include Tommy Sopwith in 1965 and Fiona Gore in 1968.”
The race will be run under World Powerboat Events, sanctioned by UKOPRA, both of which are racer owned.
Friday saw the boats starting to arrive at their wet pits behind the Maritime Museum, where they can be viewed by the public this morning before the race begins.
Race day details
Saturday, July 29 – Race Day
The boats will leave the wet pits behind the Maritime Museum at 12 noon and slowly parade past Falmouth docks, Pendennis Point and along the seafront before reaching their muster point just off Stack Point.
The race will start at 12.30pm, when the boats will speed off and go offshore before returning back to the bay around an hour and a half later.
The best places to view the boats are Pendennis Point, all along the seafront, Boscawen Fields and Swanpool Beach.
There is a free app called TackTracker available on AppStore and Google play store where you can track the offshore race as it happens.
Sunday is the layover day for racing, should the weather be too bad today, but with the forecast showing a mix of sunshine and clouds, and west-southwesterly winds, hopes are high that the racing will go ahead as planned.
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