On the water
Rough waters for Cowes race
The 2016 Cowes Torquay Cowes race will surely go down as the roughest ever run . Only 3 boats made it to Torquay within the time limit and only 2 made it back to Cowes .
With a calm ride through the Solent , the 14 starters were then faced with Force 7 westerly winds which made the trip to Torquay more of an endurance than a race . Early front runners Vector Martini Rosso ( Peter Dredge / Simon Powell / Malcolm Crease / Jason McVicar ) encountered technical problems at Portland and then Silverline ( Drew Langdon / Giancarlo Cangiano ) dropped out of the running with transmission failure . To make matters worse for Langdon and Cangiano , their stricken boat was then swamped by a huge wave and the Mercury powered Outerlimits sunk with only the bow buoyancy keeping it afloat . The crew were swiftly rescued and a line was attached to the UIM Marathon Class A boat . With the retirements of Italian entrant Tommy Racing ( Maurizio Schepici / Gabriele Giambattista ) and Hendricks 55 ( Miles Jennings
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/ Markus and Vincent Hendricks ) the way was left clear for Cougar 46 throttled by 8 times UIM Class 1 World Champion , Steve Curtis MBE with Richard Carr and Paul Sinclair to push the Mercury powered aluminium mono hull to Torquay at an average speed of 58.42 mph . Blastoff Racing ( Dorian Griffith / Shelley Jory-Leigh / Will Stevens ) was second , a full 47 minutes behind with Belgium Buzzi RIB , Biretta Due , ( Jean-Pierre Neels / Thomas Vandamme / Marijke D ’ Hondt / Dmitry Schiller ) taking an impressive third , 33 minutes in arrears of the Yanmar powered Fountain . Incredibly , the 53 year old hull
Thunderstreak ( Robin Ward / Jeff Hall ) finished fourth but sadly didn ’ t complete the course within the stated 3 hour 51 minute time limit . The depleted fleet meant just 4 boats would start the Torquay Cowes race and then almost immediately after the start Biretta Due experienced oil pressure loss which left just Cougar 46 and Blastoff Racing in with a shout of winning the Beaverbrook Trophy . Curtis carefully throttled the Cougar through the huge seas and crossed the finish line for an emotional win . The British racer has won nearly everything in the sport but this race had eluded him . Driver / Owner Richard Carr has followed the race since a child and has dreamt of Cowes Glory . A battered and beaten Co-Driver , Paul Sinclair summed up the punishing 190 mile race with , ‘ I quit ’! ‘ I bet Steve 20 quid that he would get me wet - That ’ s when we lost the trim ! Steve is buying the drinks ! Dorian Griffith has strived for a Cowes Torquay Cowes finish since 2008 , with his team , he not only accomplished that but stood on the second step of the podium . It was an incredible day to add to the 56 year powerboat racing history at Cowes .
Photographs by : Chris Davies