First Cowes Week Regatta

1826

The first organised regatta at Cowes was held in 1826, although yacht racing in the Solent had been taking place informally for years before that. The Royal Yacht Club, founded in 1815 and later renamed the Royal Yacht Squadron, made Cowes its home, and the annual regatta grew steadily in prestige and size. By the mid-nineteenth century, Cowes Week was the most important event in the British yachting calendar, attracting the finest racing yachts and the wealthiest owners. Queen Victoria's patronage of the island added royal glamour to the event. Cowes Week is now the oldest and largest annual sailing regatta in the world, held every August, with around 1,000 boats and over 100,000 spectators. It remains the defining event in the island's annual calendar.