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GoGPS Cowes International Powerboat Festival 2026: Everything You Need to Know
The GoGPS Cowes International Powerboat Festival brings the Cowes Torquay Cowes and Cowes Poole Cowes races together over a Bank Holiday weekend at Cowes Yacht Haven on the Isle of Wight.
Entry is free for spectators. Both races have been shortened for Sunday, with organisers citing a storm warning for the sea areas White and Portland and a Force 8 gale warning at Plymouth. Read the full course change announcement.
The Two Races
The Cowes Torquay Cowes is normally a 181-nautical-mile round trip to Torbay and back. For Sunday it has been amended to a course out through the Solent and around the Poole 100 marks off Bournemouth and Boscombe, run twice, before returning through the Solent to finish: 56.74 nautical miles (approximately 65.3 statute miles) in total. It remains open to Classes 120, 100, 80 and 60, and the winner still takes the Beaverbrook Trophy. Race start is at 10:00.The Cowes Poole Cowes, normally a run to Bournemouth Bay and back, has instead been amended to stay within the Solent: a 32.31-nautical-mile course (37.18 statute miles, 59.84km), open to Classes 75, Historic, 65 and 55. Competitors have 1.5 hours to complete the course to qualify as finishers. Race start is at 10:15.
Cowes Torquay Cowes (amended course): 56.74 nautical miles, out through the Solent to the Poole 100 marks and back. Classes 120, 100, 80, 60. Start: 10:00
Cowes Poole Cowes (amended course): 32.31 nautical miles, within the Solent. Classes 75, Historic, 65, 55. Start: 10:15
Both courses shortened due to a storm warning for sea areas White and Portland and a Force 8 gale warning at Plymouth.
GoGPS Cowes International Powerboat Festival 2026
Cowes Torquay Cowes and Cowes Poole Cowes race Sunday 30 August 2026, both courses shortened for a storm warning. Free to watch, Solent shore.
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