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The British Powerboat Racing
Club was formed in 2001
following the gala dinner held
at the Royal Yacht Squadron in
Cowes celebrating the 40th
running of the
Cowes-Torquay-Cowes offshore
powerboat race. |
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1969 Race programme. |
BPRC lunches are
held in The
Prospect. |
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The Cowes-Torquay launched
offshore powerboat racing as a
sport in Britain in 1961.
Initially sponsored by the Daily
Express newspaper, its success
encouraged several countries in
Europe and the Middle East to
follow suit.
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Hence it can rightly claim to
have introduced offshore
powerboat racing to the rest of
the world outside the United
States where the modern sport
was launched with the first
Miami-Nassau Race in 1956. |
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BPRC Founders 2001 |
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When the Union Internationale
Motonautique, the world governing authority for powerboat racing, introduced the World Offshore Championship in 1967 as a memorial to Sam Griffith, the American founder of modern offshore racing, the course was found to be too short at 125miles to qualify as a championship heat. |
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The race format was therefore
changed and instead of finishing
at Torquay, the fleet returned
no-stop back to Cowes, a pattern
that remains to this day. |
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2009 BPRC Powerboat
Ball. |
2009 Cowes Torquay
Cowes start. |
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Membership of the
British Powerboat Racing
Club is open to anyone
interested in powerboat
competition, offshore
racing in particular.
Almost 100 like minded
enthusiasts, many
ex-competitors from the
early days of the sport,
regularly meet for lunch
and cocktail parties as
well as attending the
annual
Cowes-Torquay-Cowes
race: usually held over
the August Bank Holiday
weekend. |
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A smaller group of its
members form the Cowes
Organising Committee
whose aim is to ensure
this British classic
continues. The committee
provides a secretariat,
organisational help and
liaison with the Royal
Yachting Association,
the British National
Authority for all areas
of powerboat sport. |
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Benefits of membership
of the British Powerboat
Racing Club include
details of forthcoming
events, the annual
racing calendar together
with help and advice
securing accommodation
during the busy Cowes
race weekend. |
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