A great post-racing social scene at Cowes Week Regatta

Cowes Week Regatta © Paul Wyeth

Cuvée 450 © Cuvée 450

With the government now confirming that that July 19 will see the easing of the lockdown regulations we can finally start to put the final pieces in place for Cowes Week, including a great post-racing social scene!

The event will kick off with the first ever Cowes Week Opening Party, sponsored by Cuvée 450. The party will feature free bubbly from our fabulous new sponsor, Cuvée 450. CWL Chairman, Peter Taylor and Regatta Director Laurence Mead will welcome you to Cowes Week and Paul Gidley, the founder and CEO of Cuvée 450, will officially open the party. It's sure to be a great night so we look forward to seeing you there.

There will be live music on the Parade at the Cowes Week Crew Bar every evening. The line-up is confirmed and we will release full details shortly.

Racing on the Saturday has been pushed back by 30 minutes to make the first day a little less hectic. First start is the J/70s at 1045.

Out on the racecourse there will be new starting arrangements with about three quarters of the fleet starting on the Royal Yacht Squadron line every day. The previously named Bramble Start Line will still exist, now as Committee Boat One, but will go to the most appropriate location on the day to deliver the best quality racing.

Tuesday will be Women's Day when we will celebrate the achievements of women throughout our fabulous sport. I am not sure there is a boat in Cowes Week without a female crew member and that is as it should be. We don't need to hype up female participation at Cowes Week, it's already ubiquitous across the fleet and that is something we should all be pleased about. Nonetheless, to celebrate the fact that our sport is incredibly diverse (the overall winner has ranged between 14 years old and 70 in just the last decade), Women's Day can still help us to do more on that front.

I am delighted to be able to say that for the first time in many years we will have a Royal Navy guard ship in attendance and Thursday has been named Royal Navy Day in recognition of that. The Royal Navy will also have a presence on the Parade and we look forward to welcoming them back to the regatta. Some of the Ship's company are keen to participate in the racing so if any of you can offer a slot please do get in touch with the Regatta Office at .

For competitors the new MUSTO morning briefing will be an important part of the daily routine and will be available on the Cowes Week App and on Cowes Live TV and radio as it happens. It will be the first news from the race team about plans for the day as well as giving wind and tide information. We hope to have some of the previous day's winners with us each day to talk through their strategies. Set your watches for 0900 every day.

To finish, we will have the overall prize-giving on the Friday night. Those of you who attended the hugely popular, but very overcrowded 2019 edition, will be pleased to know that this year our wet weather provision is to hold the event in the Event Centre on Cowes Yacht Haven which has considerably more capacity! Our bubbly sponsor Cuvée 450 will be providing magnums of their product for each class winner, along with bottles of Cuvée 450 for other random fun awards (anyone for Best Spinnaker Wrap of the week?).

2020 was a long slog for everybody, having to cancel the regatta last year has meant that this is something of a standing start but we are flat out to give you a great regatta and hope you will join us for Cowes Week 2021.

Best regards
The Cowes Week Regatta Team