Smokin’ Aces breaks through as Poole Bay 100 delivers drama on every front

The 2026 UKOPRA Championship’s Round 2 had everything the sport asks of itself: a rough weather course, machinery pushed past its limits, a historic hull on the seabed, and a first-ever class win for a crew who had been waiting their turn. The Poole Bay 100, held on Saturday 13 June at Poole Quay Boat Haven, was that kind of race.

Racing was confirmed on the rough weather course for all classes at the 9am drivers’ briefing. The previous day had left a choppy, disgruntled sea state. It wasn’t going to be nice racing. As our offshore drivers back in New Zealand say often, it is backbreaking stuff. The full course for Classes 1, 1L and 2 would have run to 88.6 nautical miles; the course was considerably shortened due to the weather conditions. I’d say this left the crews pleased that they weren’t bumping away for quite so long. The UK offshore series has quite a following, and the Bournemouth seafront is filled with spectators. Poole on England’s south coast has a great outlook, and the course ran close inshore on every lap, giving the crowd repeated close passes throughout the afternoon.

Class 1: Smokin’ Aces finally gets its win

James Dodge and Chris Dodge in Smokin’ Aces, the red Skater hull running 1800hp Mercury power, crossed the line first in a little over one hour, covering the 68.8 nautical miles at an average of 63.56 mph. It was the team’s first ever class win, but it came the hard way.

Powerboat News
/ Race report extract

Class 1 — Smokin’ Aces & Bullett Offshore Racing

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1990 Ganley Pacemaker

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1990 | 1990 Ganley Pacemaker 'Iron Maiden' — 40ft steel bluewater cruiser designed by Denis Ganley. Kubota diesel new 2020, B&G Zeus3, windvane, furling sails. Seriously capable offshore passagemaker. Whangarei. NZD $150,000.

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On the first lap, a support boat obscured the western mark from view and Smokin’ Aces overshot it by around two miles. They found it, went round it, and chased the field back down. After that, the boat was on song. The conditions off the back straight were testing throughout, with four-to-five-foot swells giving no warning, running comfortably for a stretch then catching the boat out again. The only respite was underneath Bournemouth Pier. The pair were also managing a new engine fitted before Poole, conscious of it on every lap. It held.

Smokin’ Aces and both crew were each issued two yellow cards for a COLREGS incident during the race; the penalty did not alter the result.

 

Drew Langdon and Miles Jennings in the grey-and-red Outerlimits hull never got a clean run at it. A pre-race warm-up revealed a displaced oil pipe on one engine, and by the time it was refitted and the oil topped up, the rest of their start group had gone. They were sent off with the second fleet, already behind on elapsed time, and then the bilge oil that had accumulated did its damage: it coated the belts, the supercharger belt went first, and the oil pump and water pump belts followed it. One engine was done. Langdon nursed the boat around on the survivor at 12 knots until the sea state off Christchurch Ledge changed the equation, the chop providing enough lift to surf up to 45 knots and bring them home in second place in Class 1, finishing in a little over one-and-a-half hours. Two laps, one engine, and they still finished.

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SWAN 44

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1974 Swan 44 'Nanea' — hull #74 of 76 built by legendary Nautor yard. 13.4m, Yanmar 54HP (2017, 380hrs), new teak decks, full sail wardrobe. Race-proven and ocean-capable. Auckland. NZD $150,000.

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Poole Bay 100  •  Round 2, 2026 UKOPRA Championship  •  13 June 2026 
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Round 1 winner Good Boy Vodka did not start in Poole. Notareal / Team 25, Rob Lockyer and Adrian de Ferrenti in the white-and-blue Cougar Catamaran, retired with what appeared to be a fuel system fault common to both engines, an issue Lockyer attributed to the original Australian-spec fuel system that had not been updated during the hull’s otherwise comprehensive rebuild. Team 07 Racing also retired.

Class 1L: Sixty9 leads, Black Ball Racing close behind

Sixty9, the Dragon hull running Ilmor power with Alex Welham and Neil Raven, took first in Class 1L and second overall, completing the 51.6-nautical-mile course in a little over 1 hour and 10 minutes at an average of 57.37 knots. Black Ball Racing, the Formula hull crewed by Rod Hawkins, Martin McLaughlin and Barry Culver, followed just 20 seconds to take second in class and third overall. Double 2 Shirts, the Bentley family entry crewed by Dan Bentley, Shaun Bentley, Dave Flewin and Tom Yaldren in their white-and-yellow Planatec hull, rounded out the Class 1L podium in third, finishing fourth overall after completing two laps in 1 hour 5 minutes.

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Class 2: Stoneman wins on one effective engine

The Class 2 win belongs to Dean Stoneman and Harry Thomas, but Lightning Strikes crossed the line in worse shape than it started. The Donzi, running 998hp Mercury engines, covered the full 69-nautical-mile course in just over 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Great White, the white Sunseeker crewed by Ian McCulloch, Ben Metcalfe and Chris Doran, and 66 Racing 2, the white Berserk entry with TP Spink, Malc Dopson, Louis Spink and Robert Hingston, each completed one lap for third and fourth. Apache retired mid-race, for reasons that would only become clear later in the afternoon.

Class 3: Rush Racing takes overall honours

Gary Gooden and Abigail Gooden won Class 3E and the overall Class 3 result in Rush Racing, the purple-and-white Mannerfelt hull running 350hp Volvo power, covering 50.2 nautical miles in a touch under 49 minutes averaging 61.66 knots. It was the fastest Class 3 time of the afternoon by some margin.

Licence to Thrill, crewed by Lee Ornsby and Ross Macgregor in the Spectre running 600hp Yamaha power, finished second in Class 3E and second overall in the class, four minutes back. Carpe Diem, James Winkworth and Harry Winkworth in their Pascoe hull, took Class 3D honours and third overall, finishing in a little over 55 minutes at 54.21 knots. Winkworth described the course as a race of two distinct halves: flat inshore running along the beaches where speeds built freely, then a couple of feet of chop out to the Magnum mark.

Joker, crewed by Richard Dean and Michael Barnes, won Class 3C for fourth overall. 66 Racing, Ben Brown and Perry Murphy in the yellow-and-black Misscat, and Just Add Water, Murray MacGregor and James Dodds in the Phantom, each completed one lap for fifth and sixth. Mermaid / Wight Offshore Racing was disqualified after missing a mark three times; the crew of Richard Jackson and Baylan Blanks also received a yellow card under UKOPRA rule 7.3 for transferring fuel in the wet pits. Thunderstreak, Eastlands Offshore Racing UFO, JB Racing, Team Interceptor and Team JB-R all retired.

Apache 555: the incident that will be talked about longest

Apache 555 is one of the oldest racing hulls still active in UK offshore competition. Don Shead designed her in 1969; Souter’s of Cowes built her in cold-moulded cedar and mahogany. She won the London to Monte Carlo race in 1972 and the World Class II Championship in Venice seven years later, then spent the better part of three decades in a museum.

Nick Wilkinson restored her and brought her back to the racecourse. Peter Bonham Christie took over as custodian in February 2026 and entered her for the full UKOPRA season. Check out her website.

Powerboat News
/ Race report extract

APACHE 555

Saturday did not go to plan. Apache, running 600hp Perkins engines and crewed by Christie, Bligh Julius, Dan Lee and Dan Howe, was well offshore and reportedly making up ground on the Class 2 field when the boat’s behaviour changed. Power dropped. Water was already aboard by the time the hatches came open, coming in faster than the crew could respond.

An electrician had fitted a float switch and dashboard warning light before the season; both worked exactly as intended, but the ingress was too fast to contain.

The UKOPRA safety boats got a line on her quickly and towed her towards shallow water off Sandbanks, where she was grounded rather than allowed to sink in deeper water. The coastguard lifeboat stood by and was later stood down. Neighbouring race boats brought fenders.

 

Poole Bay 100  •  Round 2, 2026 UKOPRA Championship  •  13 June 2026 
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Recovery came via the Jenkins Marine workbarge Stour, which lifted Apache by crane. The hull damage, once visible, pointed to a strike: a puncture through the planking wide enough to fit a hand. The working theory is a submerged log, hit at race speed. Dan Lee, who had spent months analysing and rebuilding the wooden planing surface, described the damage as repairable and confirmed the team’s intention to return for the remaining rounds.

The wooden construction almost certainly helped. A fibreglass hull taking the same strike might not have stayed afloat long enough for the tow. Once ashore at Port of Poole, the Perkins engines were flushed with diesel to protect against salt water corrosion. The crew made the after-party.

Championship picture after Round 2

In Class 1, Smokin’ Aces and Good Boy Vodka sit deadlocked at the top of the standings, ahead of Bullett Offshore Racing. Sixty9 comfortably heads Class 1L on 700 points, followed by Double 2 Shirts in second and Dry Martini in third. Lightning Strikes holds a perfect 800-point maximum in Class 2. Rush Racing moves into the Class 3E lead with Licence to Thrill second, while Carpe Diem maintains a commanding hold on Class 3D. Joker leads Class 3C.

Round 3 takes place on 4 July 2026 at Ocean Village, Southampton, for the MDL Marinas Ocean Village Cup.