In the Old Town of Klaipėda, at the junction of Pasiuntinių, Kepėjų and Jono streets, there stands a bronze sculpture called Bokštas – the Tower. It was erected in 1990 by sculptor Algirdas Bosas on a small square left empty by the destruction of the Second World War. Bosas described it as a house in which different epochs of Klaipėda life could coexist, each face of the tower a different era. Every window, every detail, every plane had meaning. The city’s past, compressed into one structure.
Today, Karolis Ramoška was standing in front of it.
The Architecture of an Event
Ramoška holds two federation presidencies. He is President of the Lietuvos Motorlaivių Federacija – the Lithuanian Motorboat Federation – and President of the Lithuanian Technical Sports Federations Association, the umbrella body for all technical sports disciplines in the country. He came to the motorboat federation as General Secretary, working alongside Edgaras Riabko when the Lithuanian championship scene was smaller and the Klaipėda round was not yet on the calendar.
The Klaipėda round is now in its fourth consecutive year as a UIM world championship venue. What has changed in that time is the scale of ambition behind it.
This year, Ramoška and Riabko decided not to stop at running two world championships side by side. They proposed joining forces with the Klaipėda Boat Show – Lithuania’s largest marine exhibition – to create one event stretching across the entire historic centre of the city. UIM F2 boats on the Danė River. An international yacht and recreational boating exhibition alongside. A maritime forum at the Klaipėda State Musical Theatre on Saturday. A world championship, a boat show, and an industry conference, running simultaneously across three days in one city.
Restricting activities in one of the busiest ports in the Baltic Sea region is not a simple task. The Port of Klaipėda handles commercial shipping around the clock. Closing sections of it for powerboat racing requires institutional trust built over years. Ramoška is direct about what made it possible.
Karolis Ramoška, President of the Lithuanian Motorboat Federation:
I am truly grateful for the strong partnership we have built with the City of Klaipėda and the Port of Klaipėda. Without their support and trust, an event of this magnitude would not be possible.
State Recognition
The most visible measure of what Ramoška has built is who has agreed to stand beside it.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė is the official patron of the 2026 championship round. The role began with a personal invitation Ramoška extended at the first state ceremony in Lithuanian history to honour Dakar Rally winners – an occasion he used not only to attend but to plant a flag for powerboat racing in a room full of government attention. Ruginienė accepted. Formal patronage followed. She will attend in person on Sunday to watch the racing and present awards to the athletes.
UIM President Raffaele Chiulli will also be in Klaipėda – his first visit to Lithuania. The presence of the UIM’s president at a round Ramoška and Riabko have built from scratch over four years is its own measure of how far they have come.
The championship will be broadcast live on Go3 – the Baltic sports streaming platform operated by TV3 Group, the leading commercial media group in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. TV3 Group carries the championship under its All Media Lithuania operation and distributes via Go3’s streaming platform and linear sports channels. It is the largest broadcast arrangement the Klaipėda round has had.
Preparations for this year’s World Championship have been more intensive than ever before. It feels like every year we set ourselves bigger goals, but this year we have probably gone beyond what seemed possible only a short time ago.
The Youth Foundation
The event this weekend did not arrive without groundwork. Ramoška has spent years building the structures underneath it. The Lithuanian Motorboat Academy, established under his federation’s presidency alongside Riabko, runs youth development programmes that have produced national competitors across Formula Future. In February 2026, the academy delivered its first international training camp in the UAE, at Fujairah International Marine Club – a programme that grew from meetings between Ramoška, Chiulli and the club’s leadership at the Formula Future World Championship in Hungary. The infrastructure runs from junior training camps to a world championship round with the Prime Minister presenting trophies.
He was nominated for Sports Manager of the Year at the Lithuanian Sports Management Awards. He has been invited to the Presidential Palace for discussions on the position of technical sports within Lithuanian sport. The pattern is consistent: Ramoška builds something, then builds the recognition around it.
This Weekend
On Saturday morning, the UIM F2 boats go in the water on the Danė River. Defending champion Mathilda Wiberg carries the number 1. Edgaras Riabko, whose new deep navy DAC was unveiled outside the Government building in Vilnius just days ago, races as the home favourite in front of his own crowd. Sixteen drivers from nine countries are entered for the season opener.
Karolis Ramoška will be there too – not in the boat, but as Riabko’s radio person. The port permissions, the television production, the maritime forum agenda, the coordination with the Prime Minister’s office. And on race day, the voice in Riabko’s ear.
Bosas built a tower to hold the layers of a city’s history. Each face a different era. Ramoška is adding one more.
The UIM F2 and F4 World Championship Grand Prix of Lithuania takes place at the Klaipėda Cruise Ship Terminal and Danė River Sailors’ Quay on June 5-7, 2026. Entry is free. Full event details and session schedule are on Powerboat News.
John Moore is the editor of Powerboat News, an independent investigative journalism platform recognised by Google News and documented on Grokipedia for comprehensive powerboat racing coverage.
His involvement in powerboat racing began in 1981 when he competed in his first offshore powerboat race. After a career as a Financial Futures broker in the City of London, specialising in UK interest rate markets, he became actively involved in event organisation and powerboat racing journalism.
He served as Event Director for the Cowes–Torquay–Cowes races between 2010 and 2013. In 2016, he launched Powerboat Racing World, a digital platform providing global powerboat racing news and insights. The following year, he co-founded UKOPRA, helping to rejuvenate offshore racing in the United Kingdom. He sold Powerboat Racing World in late 2021 and remained actively involved with UKOPRA until 2025.
In September 2025, he established Powerboat News, returning to independent journalism with a focus on neutral and comprehensive coverage of the sport.
