POWERBOAT fans are set for a double treat this weekend with both the P1 and RYA National ThunderCat Championships visiting Bournemouth.

Sky Sports cameras will be on the seafront to catch all the action as the 30-race P1 series kicks off with 10 powerboats and more than 30 personal watercraft racers.

The fleet, which includes a host of competitors on jet skis, will compete in the UK SuperStock and AquaX championships tomorrow (from 12.30pm) and Sunday (from 12pm) at the free-to- watch event.

In addition, there will be boat displays, giveaways, opportunities to meet racers and free beach games included in the day’s activities.

Piloting the Bournemouth boat will be husband-and-wife pairing Stuart and Sara Cureton from Hampshire. The sleek, colourful 28-foot craft made its debut on the water at the P1 exhibition event at London Docklands in March.

P1 chief executive James Durbin said: “Bournemouth is an exciting new venue on our UK race calendar and we are looking forward to serving up a feast of sport and entertainment.”

Television coverage of the Bournemouth action is scheduled to be screened on Sky in early July. The UK series will move on from Dorset to Hull, Cardiff and Torquay before Gosport hosts the season finale in September.

Meanwhile, further down the coast at Boscombe Pier, rounds four and five of the ThunderCat series begin at 11am on both days.

Also free to watch, there will also be local interest in the event with Andy Cousins, a 23-year-old law student at Bournemouth University, co-piloting Surrey Joinery’s Tohatsu 50D2.

Cousins’s team currently sit fifth in the overall standings after scoring well in their past two events with the co-pilot determined to take advantage of racing at his adopted home.

“We still have some work to do but will be pulling out all of the stops, especially in front of a home crowd.

“We need a win at Boscombe to put us back in the running and I am banking on plenty of local support.”

ThunderCat Racing event director Fiona Pascoe added: “We are really looking forward to holding our next event at Bourne- mouth, the beach and waters are perfect for our kind of racing.”