A fleet of 27 boats spread across seven classes gathered at Shamrock Quay in Southampton on Saturday, 16 May, for the opening round of the 2026 UKOPRA Offshore Powerboat Championship. The challenge set before them was a 51.8-nautical-mile circuit of the Isle of Wight, and the conditions made sure no one had an easy afternoon.
Rolling starts left East Lepe at 12:05 and 12:17, with the Solent and English Channel serving up waves of two metres and above. Reaching the finish line at all was a genuine achievement in those seas. The quickest crews were done in under 50 minutes, while others were still battling the chop nearly two hours later.
Rob Lockyer and Adrian de Ferranti set the early tone, guiding Good Boy Vodka to Class 1 victory in 49 minutes and 5 seconds at an average speed of 72.87mph. The Outerlimits hull was no stranger to success, having taken victory at last August's Cowes-Torquay-Cowes race, and the pair banked maximum championship points while signalling their intentions for the season ahead. The class had been expected to be more competitive, but Team 25 withdrew their Cougar Catamaran Notareal the day before racing due to engine trouble, and both Smokin' Aces and Bullet Offshore Racing retired before the finish. Good Boy Vodka's 400-point total therefore stands unchallenged at the head of the Class 1 standings. With last season's champion Double Trouble yet to appear on this year's entry list, the title picture remains wide open.
Class 1L offered a story of history and durability. Dry Martini, a Cigarette hull carrying a record of race wins in the United States and podium finishes at Cowes-Torquay-Cowes, showed nothing of its age as Tristan Ormiston and Adam Leal brought it across the line in 1 hour, 00 minutes and 30 seconds. Sixty9 Offshore Racing, with Alex Welham and Neil Raven aboard, finished second. Dan Bentley brought Double 2 Shirts home third, though a 20-minute penalty for passing the wrong side of Prince Consort buoy, the same infringement that caught out Unipart in Class 2, was attached to the result.
The drive that perhaps attracted the most attention across the combined leaderboard came from Dean Stoneman in Class 2. The highly accomplished British racing driver and marine entrepreneur steered Lightning Strikes around the island in 49 minutes and 30 seconds, a time bettered only by Good Boy Vodka across the entire fleet. Apache, crewed by Peter Bonham Christie and Bligh Julius, took second in class, with Great White third. Unipart completed the course in fourth after their penalty, while True Blue and 66 Racing 2 both retired.
Class 3E produced some of the most compelling racing of the day. Richard Watson and Elliott Holman were at the wheel of UFO, the Eastlands Offshore Racing entry, for the very first time on race day, yet they delivered a commanding class win in 1 hour, 7 minutes and 59 seconds. Licence to Thrill crossed the line second and Rush Racing UK third. Thunderstreak, running the H-400 Bertram hull, came home fourth, Oblivion placed fifth, and Mermaid/Wight Offshore Racing rounded out the class finishers in sixth. 66 Racing retired.
James Winkworth and Harry Winkworth were the sole starters in Class 3D, taking Carpe Diem around the course in 1 hour, 14 minutes and 53 seconds to collect maximum points unopposed.
Class 3C went convincingly to Anton Modin for Frode Racing. Modin, the reigning Class 3C World Champion, completed the course in 1 hour, 45 minutes and 2 seconds, and the conditions clearly left a mark. "This was something else," he said afterwards. "I have never understood the meaning of offshore racing because this is nothing like in the Nordic countries. This was for real."
The longest run of the day belonged to John Bunyan and Luke Cloudsdale in Team JB-R, a 21-foot Adam Younger-designed hull that spent 1 hour, 48 minutes and 31 seconds fighting two-metre seas before claiming Class 3B honours. UKOPRA paid tribute after the race, describing it as a bone-crushing effort in conditions that genuinely deserved the offshore label.
Championship standings after Round 1
Good Boy Vodka leads Class 1 with 400 points. Dry Martini heads Class 1L, ahead of Sixty9 Offshore Racing on 300 points and Double 2 Shirts on 225. Lightning Strikes sits at the top of Class 2, with Apache second and Great White third. UFO/Eastlands leads Class 3E, Licence to Thrill second and Rush Racing UK third. Carpe Diem leads Class 3D, Frode Racing heads Class 3C, and Team JB-R sits top of Class 3B.
Round 2, the Poole Bay 100, takes place at Poole Quay on Saturday, 13 June.
