THREE Isle of Wight crews are poised to take part in a popular powerboat event at the weekend – in Cowes.
Half the fleet will race from Cowes to Poole and back, while the rest – made up of bigger boats with larger fuel tanks – will race all the way to Torquay and back; an eye-watering 211-mile course.
On Sunday, at 10am, racing kickstarts, with the best view of the start and finish line being oblique to the The Royal Yacht Squadron and stretching down the length of the beach.
Three teams competing this year are from the Isle of Wight.
The first is Peter Hall and Terry Parsons’ E-8 Mango Crazy – a Hunton powerboat powered by two Mercruisers, totalling 600hp.
The vessel was bought at the end of last year and had a refit ready for the 2023 season.
Both Peter and Terry are Islanders.
So far, they have taken a first place podium win in Poole, third place in the Round The Island Race, and a third place in Lymington.
The second Island crews is the E-28 Top Banana, helmed by Richard Jackson and Colin Gibson.
Neither Richard nor Colin are strangers to the podium, and will be hoping for a podium placing this year.
The final Island team is 1-69 Dragon 39, manned by Andy Twemlow and Tristan Ormiston.
Islander Andy Twemlow, a former V24 racer and owner at AT Aviation, took the opportunity to seize this 11.9m Dragon/Wright powerboat when she came up for sale at the start of the year.
Teaming up with another Island native in Tristan, a marine engineer based in East Cowes, they are hoping for a podium position in their own waters.
Dragon 39 raced home to a very respectable second place at the last event, beaten to the chequered flag by the former owner of the boat Rob Lockyer, now in Good Boy Vodka.
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