The deep growl of a seriously-powered engine rumbled into earshot this morning in Ventnor, causing some confusion at OnTheWight towers – because despite the noise, there was nothing to be seen.
After looking out of the window at the sea (well as much as you could see through the fog), a P1-style powerboat eventually came into view pounding over the waves, heading West.
A word to the wise
Given the conditions and the speed of the thing, we wondered out loud (on Twitter and Facebook) what was going on.
A bit of searching later and some back and forth with Simon of Wave105, the answer materialised.
Venture Cup Prologue
The Venture Cup Prologue was underway. Effectively a ‘warm-up’ few days for the main race – 2,500 miles over two weeks – that bills itself as “The world’s longest, toughest & most prestigious powerboat race”.
Today’s leg, the final, left from Guernsey, raced up to the Nab Tower, took a left, hooked around the south of the Isle of Wight, bearing left at the Needles, crossing the finishing line just off Bournemouth Pier.
Today’s leg
Power + Speed
Some of these beasts are equipped with engines that output 1,400+BHP and averaged over 50 Knots over the course.
They’re currently at rest in Poole harbour and we suspect, probably having a pit of a party.
Live map
You can have a look at the route they took on the live tracking page of their site.
Image: Screengrabs from Venture Cup Prologue live
