They cherish the privilege like guardians of the free spirit; cavaliers riding against the winds of change. Miles Jennings puts it like this: “There aren’t many things you can do in public any more, and to race 2,000hp boats on public water is criminally insane, but we are, thank God, still allowed to do it.”

Intrepid adventurers and high-speed water-going projectiles are flaunting their precious liberty in the Powerboat P1 World Championship at Cowes today. Race two of the British grand prix will be contested around a tight, challenging course on the Solent.

Britain’s Jennings drives the Wettpunkt Evolution class boat, partnering Austrian owner and throttle man Hannes Bohinc and another Briton, Ed Williams-Hawkes, the navigator. They need a victory this afternoon to revive their prospects of catching the championship leaders, British pair James Sheppard and Craig Wilson, in King of Shaves.

Jennings looks and talks the part of a boy racer, even if he is 46. The black Lamborghini with personalised plates, the blond tresses (“sun-kissed, honest”, he insists, unconvincingly) and shades enhance an image he palpably relishes. He could be a latterday James Hunt. “I get stick about my hair and clothes and everything all the time,” he says. “Some people look disappointed when I tell them I’m not a rock star or something. It’s just fun, and you’ve got to have a bit of fun, haven’t you?”

It’s difficult to tell whether or not Jennings is having a bit of fun when he turns to the subject of women racers. It is a relevant topic in P1 because the current champion of the SuperSport (production) class is Britain’s Jackie Hunt. The 38-year-old is navigated by her husband, Mike Shelton.

Jennings competes in the senior class, Evolution. The boats are five- or six-tonne prototypes. This, he contends, is the serious racing. “Powerboating is about speed, bumps from the waves, the noise of engines, things mechanical, dials and all the kind of stuff that has tended to be in the male domain. I just think men are better at it,” he says. “Yes, I am a male chauvinist pig. I love women, but . . .

“Jackie is good, but I think she’s got a few male hormones. She’s not a typical woman. I’d like to see her in Evolution. That’s the big boys’ league and that’s where you find out who is capable and who isn’t.”

Jennings’s track record is testament to his capability. He and his Wettpunkt colleagues won the P1 world championship two years ago. Jennings has two other world titles, six national titles and a string of speed records to his credit. Racing is in his genes. His father, Peter, rode the iconic Norton motorbike. He was killed in a road race when Miles was two. The family moved from Stratford-upon-Avon to Devon and the young Jennings was drawn to the sea. He had his first boat at the age of eight and was competing at 16.

“I wasn’t old enough to drive a car, so my mother had to take me and the boat to races,” he says. “I’ve raced karts and cars, but I always wanted to race boats. I was hooked. I found I was pretty good at it and moved up through the classes. Boat racing is like car racing – either you’ve got it or you’ve not. You can only improve and hone it.”

As co-founder of Stovax, a group of companies producing ceramics, stoves, cookers and more, turning over £36m a year, he can afford the time to indulge his obsession. P1 bills itself as the affordable, competitor- and spectator-friendly world championship. Boat owners tend to be the merely wealthy, self-made men, rather than billionaires.

Bohinc made his money through his Wettpunkt online betting business. His boat cost more than £500,000 and running the team for a season will set him back perhaps £1m. SuperSport boats can cost as much as £250,000 or as little as £50,000 secondhand. Sponsorship, engine deals and factory support can ease the financial burden. Jennings is unpaid but has advertising space on the boat for his business. “It’s still cheap compared with other forms of racing,” he says. “Class 1 racing would cost two or three times as much. There was a time when you could run a lower grid Formula One racing team for that sort of budget, but now we’re a million miles from that.

“The championships are expanding and the standard is getting better all the time. There were one or two shabby outfits, but they’ve fallen by the wayside. Even some of the SuperSport teams and weekend warriors are good.”

This is no sport for the shabby or ill-prepared. Jennings has seen fellow pilots killed in races. He was in the Needles Trophy when Frenchman Didier Pironi, the former F1 driver, and his two teammates were killed when their boat barrel-rolled 20 years ago. Safety measures and equipment have been improved over the years, but crews remain vulnerable. Some are lucky. Bohinc was rescued by divers from his cockpit on the bed of the River Plate estuary after the boat overturned in a Class 1 race a decade ago. Starved of oxygen, he was “clinically dead” until resuscitated.

Sheppard and Chris Parsonage, his partner at the time, survived a 130mph barrel roll in a Class 1 race at Plymouth last year. Some are not so fortunate. Sergio Carpentieri, an Italian pilot, died when he collided with another boat and was thrown into the sea during the P1 grand prix in Germany in June.

“We are in a dangerous sport, we all know and accept that,” says Jennings, a father of two. “I’ve had accidents, but never anything really serious. When you have a boat with this power travelling on water at 100mph in changing and unpredictable conditions with any number of potential hazards, you have all the ingredients for disaster.

“It can never be safe, but it can be safer. And we are working to make it safer. Safety cells, oxygen, correct harness and life jackets all reduce the risk. Our wind-screen is the type used by the US military. Their spec test includes firing a frozen chicken at it at 200mph. But the speed and sense of danger are what give us the buzz. We’ve lost some of the classic races, such as the Cowes-Torquay race, because of the safety requirements.

“ I’m proud I won the last race in 2003. It is important we protect our heritage and links with the sea. You only have to be here at Cowes to feel the history. This is the hub. I love the Yacht Squadron and listening to the old boys who were once my heroes. We have something special here. We’re all fiercely competitive, and, as they say, there are losers and there are cheats. But there’s still great camaraderie, and after the race or practice, we’ll go out together for dinner and a few drinks.

“Teamwork is vital and the three of us at Wettpunkt have a terrific understanding. We’re all very different characters, but each knows his job and we work together. Hopefully, we’ll be good enough to win here and go on to win the championship.”

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