8 Things you might not know about Cowes Week!

Cowes week is always in early August, but the actual date stems from an early tradition of when the great and good came to Cowes between Glorious Goodwood and the Glorious Twelfth (the 12th August, commonly known as day one of the grouse shooting season).
Cowes week is one of the UK’s longest running sporting events – it has been run almost every year since 1826 apart from during the two world wars.
The event regularly attracts up to 1,000 competing boats, with around 8,500 competitors and at least 100,000 visitors.
Cowes Radio is the longest running station of its kind and this year is its 29th Annual broadcast live from Cowes Week and features daily highlights and racing commentary.
UKSA, a youth charity offering transformational opportunities to young people through sailing and watersports, is the official charity this year for Cowes Week and their aim is to raise enough money to offer every Year Six primary school child on the Island the opportunity to experience some water-based sports with UKSA.
Cowes Week is almost 190 years old! In recent history it used to be a series of races run by a different yacht clubs from Cowes or the mainland. It was only in 1964 that, on the suggestion of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, that the CCC (Cowes Combined Clubs) was formed to run and organise the whole regatta, with the official start line becoming the Royal Yacht Squadron line. The CCC celebrates its 50th Anniversary this year of coordinated race management!
If you were to put the total sail area of all the boats racing in the regatta together, the area would cover around 24 football pitches!
In the very first regatta in 1826, there were only 7 boats competing!