North Sails Cowes Week: Racing, teamwork and celebrating 200 years
This August North Sails Cowes Week gave our Britannia guests a fantastic setting for bringing colleagues, clients and partners together, with the added occasion of the regatta’s 200th anniversary. Across the week, we welcomed businesses for everything from one-day racing events to three-day racing packages and relaxed hospitality days. Each had their own plans, but all came to enjoy being part of one of the biggest weeks in the sailing calendar.
Britannia guests on the race course
Across the week, we welcomed businesses for one-day racing through to three-day racing packages, with colleagues, clients and partners getting stuck into the competition. With 642 boats and around 5,000 competitors taking part, Cowes Week attracted its biggest turnout in recent years, and there was a brilliant atmosphere both on the water and ashore. Sunshine and sea breezes made for some fantastic racing, with a mix of lighter winds and more demanding conditions keeping our crews on their toes. A special year to be part of it, as the regatta celebrated its 200th anniversary.
The perfect way to watch the action- spectating the racing from your own yacht!
Alongside the racing, some of our guests enjoyed a more relaxed way to experience North Sails Cowes Week, onboard their own skippered yacht. With the racing unfolding around them, a day aboard offered time to catch up with clients and partners, enjoy lunch, either aboard or ashore and take in the atmosphere of the regatta from the heart of the action! Being aboard a spectator yacht gives people the chance to be in the middle of action but to the time and space to actually talk and share an experience beyond the usual meeting or business lunch.
Our hospitality days ranged from smaller groups of 5 to larger groups of 12 aboard each yacht, with each event shaped around the business and the people joining them.
Good food and time ashore
The sailing was only part of the week.
Days began with bacon rolls and coffee before heading out onto the Solent. Depending on the programme, lunch meant racing lunches aboard, sharing platters or heading ashore to enjoy Cowes’ restaurants and yacht clubs.
Across the week, guests visited Cowes venues including the Royal Ocean Racing Club, the Island Sailing Club, Coast and The Smoking Lobster, with evenings bringing more opportunities to get together and enjoy the Cowes Week atmosphere.
Those moments ashore after a day on the water are where the day’s stories gets shared!
A special year to be part of Noth Sails Cowes Week
Celebrating Cowes Week’s bicentary made this year’s regatta particularly memorable. The buzz was certainly back, with hundreds of boats on the water Solent, and a fantastic atmosphere ashore, with Cowes Week clocking it’s highets number of entries since 2018! With a new title sponsor with North Sails, Friday evening saw the welcome return of the legendary Cowes Week fireworks, bringing people to the waterfront and onto the water for a fitting end to the bicentenary celebrations.
Bring your team to North Sails Cowes Week 2027
Thank you to everyone who joined Britannia for Cowes Week 2026. It was a pleasure to see so many colleagues, clients and partners enjoying time together, getting involved in the racing and making the most of everything Cowes Week has to offer.
Cowes Week returns from Saturday 31st July – Friday 6th August 2027.
Whether you’re planning a team day, rewarding colleagues or hosting clients, we can build a programme around your guests, objectives and budget. Join the racing for a day or longer, or enjoy the action with a hospitality day on the water.
Get in touch with the Britannia team to start planning your participation in North Sails Cowes Week 2027!
