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Serious racing

Racing for centuries

Great sailing conditions

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When:

2025-08-02T00:00:00+01:00

Where:

Cowes Week

It’s a big summer of sailing on the Solent, and the 199th edition of the world’s biggest annual keelboat regatta kicks off on 2nd August.  Super Early Bird entries are available until Sunday 16th February. Competitors can then make an Early Bird entry until Sunday 4th May or a Standard Entry until Sunday 20 July, and last-minute entries can still be made right up to the eve of the Regatta. Both regatta and daily entries are available. Full details are in the Notice of Race which is available online. 

Over the last few years, the format has evolved with more starts off the legendary Royal Yacht Squadron line. The rolling five-minute start sequence will continue in 2025 giving as many sailors as possible the challenge of probably the world’s most famous yacht racing start line. It may not be 88.5 degrees to the wind like an Olympic event but it’s a formidable and very memorable place to start a boat race!The annual Cowes Week stages up to 40 daily races for around 500 boats and is the largest sailing regatta of its kind in the world.

The event offers a great mix of competitive sailing and social activities. The 5,000 competitors range from Olympic and world class professionals to weekend sailors. In excess of 60,000 spectators come to watch the sailing, enjoy the parties and live entertainment, and to experience the unique atmosphere. It is genuinely a one-of-a-kind event.

Although the regatta is over 200 years old, it is only in recent times that the Week has become an integrated series of races organised by a single body.

Event ratings

  • Fun ♥♥♥
  • Race ♥♥♥♥
  • Venue(s) ♥♥♥
  • Adventure ♥

Contact information

Representative: Cowes Week Limited

Address: Regatta House, 18 Bath Road, Cowes,
Isle of Wight, PO31 7QN, United Kingdom

Phone: +44 1983 295 744

Website: Visit website

Email: admin@cowesweek.co.uk

Location:  50.764985, -1.299465

Event highlights

The team are looking forward to welcoming everyone to take part in, or spectate at, another successful Cowes Week Regatta in 2025.

The regatta has evolved enormously since 1826, and now over 500 boats in up to forty different handicap, one-design and multihull classes race every day for seven days. It is this complete mixture of classic and ultra-modern designs that gives the regatta its uniqueness. Several classes that raced more than 50 years ago are still racing today; Dragons, Flying Fifteens, Redwings, Sea View Mermaids, Solent Sunbeams, Swallows, Victories and X-one-designs. New classes are also introduced as they increase in popularity.

Around 5,000 competitors now participate, ranging from Olympic and world class yachtsmen to weekend sailors. The spectacle that the racing provides, together with the vibrant festival atmosphere attracts over 60,000 visitors to Cowes during the event.

Participating Yachts

If you have ever wondered what it would be like to race in a 500 boat fleet, starting under cannon fire off the historic Royal Yacht Squadron, but don’t have access to a boat of your own, chartering is an increasingly cost-effective way of getting involved.

Official Charter Supplier

Prometheus Sailing

Mail: events@prometheus-sailing.co.uk

Official Charter Supplier

Solent Events

Mail: simon@solent-events.co.uk

Official Charter Supplier

LV Yachting

Mail: info@lvyachting.com

Official Charter Supplier

Fairview

Mail: info@fairviewsailing.co.uk

Social Program

One of the great things about Cowes Week is that spectators can watch much of the racing from the shore. The Green and The Parade are great places to view the action and spectators also now have a number of fantastic opportunities to go afloat.

Watch ashore
One of the best locations to watch the starts ashore each morning is undoubtedly the area between the Castle of the Royal Yacht Squadron and the cannons – as long as you don’t mind the loud bangs! Racing is scheduled to start at approximately 10 am every day.

Here you can get right on the line and see who got the best start and which boats were over the line. You can also hear the race officers giving their countdowns and calling the starts from the Royal Yacht Squadron battlements. In the afternoon, head along the Green towards Egypt Point to watch the fleet as they finish.

Spectator Boats
For those wanting to watch from the water, there are a number of spectator boat options, offering trips to watch the racing action up close. Trips are an hour-long and depart 10.30am, 12.00pm and 1.30pm from Trinity Landing on Cowes Parade.

Background

During the post-war era, each day of racing was run by a different Cowes or Solent mainland club. Every club printed their own sailing instructions and ran their own programme for the day. By 1964 however, the clubs had realised that there were significant benefits in having one central body to coordinate the racing. They agreed to combine resources and establish Cowes Combined Clubs (CCC) to run the racing as a single organisation. CCC has 9 members: 8 yacht clubs and the Cowes Town Regatta committee. On each day of the regatta, one or two clubs present their own trophies. CCC members work as a team to organise and provide the race management for the week.”

In 1995 Cowes Week Sponsorship Ltd. was formed to manage the sponsorship and shore-side aspects of the event. This operated in parallel with the activities of CCC.

In November 2007, Cowes Week Ltd (wholly owned by CCC) was formed to provide a single management board for the event with overall responsibility for policy decisions and determining strategic direction. This ensures that the business operation of both the shore-side and racing elements are managed in a more streamlined way. CWL is serviced on a day to day basis by the Management Team, with input from the committee structure.

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