3 minute read
Event Feature: Cowes Week
31 JULY - 6 AUGUST 2021
Image: Paul Wyeth
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Cowes Week is one of the UK’s longest running and most successful sporting events and is a key highlight of the British sporting summer. It has been held in early August every year since 1826, except during the two world wars.
Traditionally, Cowes Week takes place after Glorious Goodwood and before the Glorious Twelfth (the first day of the grouse shooting season). Over the years the event has attracted British and foreign royalty, and many famous faces.
The regatta has evolved enormously since its early beginnings, and now over 700 boats in up to 40 different classes race over seven days. It is this mixture of classic and ultra-modern designs that gives the regatta its unique flavour. Several classes that raced 50 years ago are still racing today and new classes are included as they increase in popularity.
2021 sees the return of the Triple Crown series where maxi yachts, some of whom will be in Cowes to take part in the Rolex Fastnet Race (8th August), compete for some of yachting’s most prestigious trophies. The three day series will include an Around the Island Race with the yachts battling to beat previous around the Island records. This year, all Cowes Week racing will complete on Friday 6th August with the overall prize giving taking place on The Parade in the evening.
Cowes Week has a number of themes running throughout the week that involve both competitors and visitors.
Image: Paul Wyeth
Sustainability Day on the first Saturday will start the week off by raising awareness of sustainability and what we can do to help reduce the amount of non-biodegradable waste that ends up in landfill or the oceans.
Family Day on Sunday 1st August will see a host of family-friendly activities taking place on The Parade, Cowes Yacht Haven and Northwood House. Families can also get out on the water on one of the spectator boats for a special discounted rate.
Monday 2nd August is Charity Day and the official event charity for 2021 is the Greig City Academy’s Scaramouche Sailing Trust. This seven year old school sailing club, which became a charity in 2019, is an amazing initiative which gets young people from North London into the sport. They will be providing various activities throughout the week and further plans will be announced nearer to the regatta.
Ladies Day, on Tuesday 3rd August is a celebration of women in sailing.
Around 7,000 competitors now participate, ranging from Olympic and world-class yachtsmen to occasional weekend sailors. The spectacle that the racing provides, together with the vibrant shoreside atmosphere, attracts over 100,000 visitors to Cowes during the event and makes it one of the largest regattas of its kind in the world.
Image: Paul Wyeth
Cowes Week Shoreside
As announced in January this year, Cowes Week, in partnership with aql and the 1851 Trust, is proud to have launched the Connected Cowes 5G Project which is being supported by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
The project will include high definition 360° cameras fitted to 50 boats at this year’s regatta, each of those cameras beaming back real-time, high definition pictures to the Cowes Live TV presentation, which will be shown on big screens around the town. There will be a virtual reality lounge on the Parade in Cowes which will enable spectators to don headsets and be transported out to one of the 50 boats, literally seeing exactly what’s going on right across the Solent.
A new Spectator App is currently being developed which will bring all of this technology directly to spectators both here in the UK and around the world. Visitors to Cowes can also get up close to the racing action by going out on a Spectator Boat – trips can be booked online and head out daily from Trinity Landing, just off The Parade Village.
To add to the on-the-water action, the lively apres-sail atmosphere at Cowes Week means there are plenty of social and exciting onshore activities for sailors and the thousands of spectators who visit Cowes each year.
Cowes has a fantastic range of pubs, cafes, restaurants and yacht clubs, all welcoming competitors and visitors to the town. Combined with the pop-up venues, bars, retailers at Cowes Yacht Haven, the bars and entertainment at Shepards Marina, Northwood Park Lawn Lounge and the busy Cowes Parade with its Crew Bar and familyfriendly entertainment, there really is something for everyone.
