Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2011 | Page 59

YOUR GUIDE TO ON THE WATER Rocking off to Fastnet Up to 300 yachts will be setting off from Cowes on Sunday, August 14 for the bi-annual Rolex Fastnet Race. The event was first staged in 1925, and some critics refused to acknowledge it as a true ocean race as racing did not cover long distances across an ocean or sea. However, the race quickly evolved due to the popularity of the new sport of ocean racing in England, and has grown in stature over the years to become one of ocean racing's most testing and spectacular races. Setting off from Cowes, competitors will head west down the Solent and out past the Needles. They will then travel to Lands End before rounding the famous Fastnet rock and returning via the Scilly Isles before finishing at Plymouth. Powering out of Cowes The British Powerboat Festival will roar into action off Cowes on the weekend of August 27 and 28. It promises to be a high-octane Festival that will begin on the Saturday with the Aqua X off Egypt Point with 15 entries. Then on the Sunday morning at 10.0am more than 20 powerboats will be on the start line for the ever-popular Cowes-Torquay-Cowes race, which was first introduced to the waters off the Island by Sir Max Aitken in 1961. Half an hour after the C-T-C race gets underway, 16 Powerboat P1 boats will rev up for the Cowes-Poole-Cowes race. The British Powerboat Racing Club was formed in 2001 to celebrate the 40th running of the Cowes-Torquay-Cowes offshore powerboat race, and has continued to grow in stature ever since, giving powerboat enthusiasts a series of races to relish. www.visitislandlife.com 59