The highlight of The British Powerboat Festival is the Cowes - Torquay - Cowes course:
The Cowes-Torquay-Cowes is an open event, organised in association with the British Powerboat Racing Club (BPRC) with around 80 craft expected to participate. The boats start and finish in Cowes and the front-runners are expected to complete the course in less than four hours - weather permitting. The Cowes-Torquay-Cowes was the very first offshore race in Europe and is recognised as one of the toughest challenges in world power boating, comparable with the Indy 500 and 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Other races during the weekend include:
Cowes 100: UIM/RYA International Ordinary Race
Cowes- Poole - Cowes: Club (Basic) Race for Class III B & C, RIBs, OCR, P1 Superstock & Sports boats.
Also making a special appearance is the 25 foot Bruce Campbell built Christina “THUNDERBOLT”, which will recreate her 1961 epic journey from Cowes to Torquay on 25th August. The Thunderbolt will then return to Cowes on 27th August to join the Powerboat celebrations.