After two seasons centred on Solent race venues, the United Kingdom Offshore Powerboat Racing Association has unveiled what Danielle Strawford, Event Operations Manager at World Powerboat Events Ltd, describes as UKOPRA’s biggest and most exciting year yet.
“We’re taking offshore racing to a fantastic range of venues, including some truly renowned in the racing world. UKOPRA is always seeking exciting new locations, and we’ve found two with huge potential. We’re also returning to two venues introduced in 2026 that proved hugely successful.”
As in 2025, the championship will open with a race around the Isle of Wight. This year teams will be based in Yarmouth, at the entrance to the western Solent. Its harbour is popular with visiting seafarers yet remains something of a hidden gem, while nearby Fort Victoria Country Park, a Victorian gun battery, offers spectators an ideal vantage point. Direct mainland access via the Lymington ferry should also help.
Round two moves to Torquay, in the heart of the English Riviera. The Devon resort is familiar ground for the powerboat racing community, which regularly competes in Tor Bay, and with several teams based in the West Country the venue should ease logistics too.
At the start of July, teams travel to another venue with deep roots in UK powerboat racing: the Bailiwick of Guernsey. Drew Langdon and his Bullet Offshore Racing team, who claimed overall honours when the championship last raced there in July 2019, have fond memories of that weekend.
“As soon as we arrived in Guernsey, the locals involved in staging the race made us feel extremely welcome,” said Langdon. “We knew we had a fight on our hands, as Italian racer Maurizio Schepici led the Class 1 Championship standings after winning the opening race in Poole.”
“That Guernsey round featured a high-speed course across the Little Russel, Big Russel and east of Sark. On one lap, we exceeded 100mph through the Gouliot Passage, pure pleasure.”
Beaucette Marina, on Guernsey’s northeast tip, will host the round. The marina was created in the late 1960s when the British Royal Engineers blasted through a granite quarry wall to let in seawater, and it has been extensively upgraded since Steve Haines took ownership in 2005, with more than £1 million invested in improvements.
The championship then returns to the UK mainland for the penultimate round at Southampton’s Ocean Village, which proved popular when it hosted round three of the 2026 calendar. Teams will again compete for the MDL Marinas Ocean Village Cup.
The 2027 season concludes in mid-September at Gunwharf Marina, at the mouth of Portsmouth Harbour beneath the Spinnaker Tower. The Gunwharf Quays Offshore Grand Prix will again close out Britain’s offshore powerboat championship with a weekend of racing and waterfront entertainment.
“None of this has happened overnight,” Strawford said. “It is the result of years of hard work and commitment from many people, past and present. We have a fantastic UK fleet, and more international teams are looking to race offshore with us, which is hugely exciting for the sport’s future. I genuinely believe 2027 will be a very special year.”
UKOPRA 2027 Calendar
- Round 1: Yarmouth, Isle of Wight (Round the Island), 14-16 May
- Round 2: Torquay, Devon, 11-13 June
- Round 3: Beaucette, Guernsey, 8-11 July
- Round 4: Southampton Ocean Village, Hampshire, 6-8 August
- Round 5: Gunwharf Marina, Hampshire, 17-19 September
If it happened in powerboat racing during the last forty years the chances are that Chris Davies was there either photographing it or writing about it.
During that time, he has travelled the globe covering both offshore and circuit racing for series promotors, race teams, PR companies, and a whole raft of publications.
