Racing at Cowes and in the Solent

Cowes is host to a large number of yacht clubs and an even greater number of yacht races, rallies and regattas (see the events calendar for more details). During the season, between Easter and October, there are yacht races starting, transiting or finishing at Cowes on most days. Often the start and/or finish lines for these races are laid across the harbour entrance or just to the west (the Royal Yacht Squadron start/finish line). Inside the harbour the Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club has a start/finish line that lies directly across the Fairway.

Be sure to keep a good lookout and where possible avoid yachts that are manoeuvring for their starts or those which have just started a race. You will often also have to avoid the Red Jet and car ferry as these often pass through the start/finish lines and are in close quarters with racing yachts. Yachts when racing habitually do not display a Union flag on their stern (and often display a class flag on their backstay) and so are usually readily identifiable.

Cowes start/finish lines are the Royal Yacht Squadron Line, which runs north from the Squadron flagstaff towards the West Bramble buoy, the Royal Corinthian and Royal London Yacht Club start lines, which run similarly from their flagstaffs towards the vicinity of the Price Consort buoy, the Island Sailing Club start line which runs from a flagstaff at the south end of The Parade to buoy ‘Trinity’ just to the east of the Fairway, and the Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club start line described above.

The Island Sailing Club start/finish line is particularly busy from 1830 to 1900 on Tuesday evenings during the season and the Royal Yacht Squadron start/finish line is extremely busy during Cowes Week, when 1000+ yachts are racing.