Spirit of the Sea

UKOPRA 'Spirit of the Sea' Offshore Powerboat Race Falmouth 2022

Falmouth will host the final round of the 2022 UKOPRA Offshore Powerboat Race Championship over the weekend of the 30th September - 2nd October!

This event is organised and managed by the Eastwood Racing team alongside Falmouth Harbour Commissioners. The Eastwood Racing team are a local racing team, owned and piloted by Gary Aldington from Eastwood Garage in Penryn. Their boat, Vintage Torque is a class-1 boat which can exceed 100mph on a good day! Gary is a true ambassador of the sport and in discussions with Falmouth Harbour Commissioners has gained agreement to a pre cursor event in 2022 for a big festival next year.

The race will be run under World Powerboat Events sanctioned by UKOPRA both of which are racer owned. Below is a timetable of what will be happening in Falmouth around the race, racers and organisers will be available for interviews throughout Friday and Saturday (apart from race times).

Spectators will be able to watch the start of the race in Falmouth as they speed through Carrick Roads between Black Rock and Pendennis Point and watch them go offshore. There will also be Zapcat/Thundercat racing on the Saturday which will be closer to shore – see details below.

EVENT TIMIMGS

Friday 30th September

AM- There will be a couple of boats on display just in front the Maritime Museum with a couple of racers there to answer any questions from the general public.

PM - All the boats will be launching across Falmouth and docking at Port Pendennis Marina opposite Events Square where the public can view them

Saturday 1st October – RACE DAY

09.30am - the first Thunder Cat race is scheduled to start off the right side of the point (Castle Beach side)

11am – larger boats will start to leave Port Pendennis to muster just off from the Falmouth docks

11.30am - class 1-2-3 races will start off Pendennis Point. The boats will run out towards the centre of the bay and then offshore heading up to the Eddystone Light house off Plymouth and back to Falmouth (weather dependent, a shorter course may be run if the sea state is deemed too severe). This is the closest start line to the shore in the whole offshore race calendar, so the spectators will be in for a treat! V8 noise, speed and rooster tails of spray are guaranteed! All being well the boats should be finishing in the bay approximately 60-90 minutes later. The best place to view this will be from the Pendennis Point car park.

Saturday 1st October- PM

The boats will head back into the marina after their respective races where they can be viewed again from Events Square.

There is a free app called TackTracker available on AppStore and Google play store where you can track the offshore race as it happens.

There will be a prizegiving and awards ceremony held at Events Square from around 4.30pm where racers will be awarded trophies for 1st, 2nd and 3rd in their respective classes.

SUNDAY 2nd OCTOBER IS HELD AS A LAYOVER DAY FOR RACING SHOULD THE WEATHER BE TOO BAD ON THE SATURDAY.