Amy Gray The prestigious Round Britain Powerboat Race will be heading for Lowestoft for the first time on Sunday afternoon.Forty boats of all shapes and sizes are expected to descend on the port in the penultimate stop of the race that covers the coastline of Britain in 10 action packed days.

Amy Gray

The prestigious Round Britain Powerboat Race will be heading for Lowestoft for the first time on Sunday afternoon.

Forty boats of all shapes and sizes are expected to descend on the port in the penultimate stop of the race that covers the coastline of Britain in 10 action packed days.

The boats are divided into eight divisions based on horsepower and have already made the journey from Portsmouth up to Oban in Scotland.

Taking part is the Lowestoft based Ocean Pirate in the classic division, nearly 40 years after her first attempt in 1969. Unfortunately the crew had some trouble and broke down but will be rejoining the fleet in Inverness ready to greet the home crowd on Sunday.

Spectators can expect the first boats to arrive at about 1pm and the rest over the next two hours. The fleet heads off again on Monday morning at 7.30am.

It is the first time Lowestoft has hosted the event, having previously stopped at Great Yarmouth, and the town will be hosting a fun day on Royal Green from midday until 6pm.

Ray Bulman, press officer for the event, said: “It's a wide cross section of boats taking part and if the boats that have broken down manage to get repaired in time and rejoin the race, there will be 40 boats coming to Lowestoft.”

“On Monday morning they all set off at once in a great huge crescendo. It's an early start because the boats have to get to Portsmouth and then on to the reception.”

The race started in Portsmouth and calls at Milford Haven, Bangor, Oban, Inverness, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Lowestoft and back to Portsmouth. Today is a lay day, when the boats are taken across land to Inverness to resume the face tomorrow.

“Hopefully some of the big contenders that have fallen out of the race will be back after joining us in Inverness. They will no longer be in contention but they are an impressive looking and powerful fleet with over 3000 horse power and capable of going at 100mph,” said Mr Bulman.

“In the lead is the Lionhead from Norway - about 25pc of our competitors are from overseas, it's a truly international competition.”