Cowes Week is one of the longest-running regular regattas in the world. With 40 daily sailing races, around 500 boats, and 2500 competitors ranging from Olympic and world-class professionals to weekend sailors, it is the largest sailing regatta of its kind in the world. Having started in 1826, the event is held in August each year on the Solent, and is run by Cowes Week Limited in the small town of Cowes on the Isle of Wight.
The Royal Yacht Squadron (RYS) is a British yacht club. Its clubhouse is Cowes Castle on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom. Member yachts are given the suffix RYS to their names, and are permitted to wear the White Ensign of the Royal Navy rather than the merchant Red Ensign worn by the majority of other UK registered vessels. The club's patron was Queen Elizabeth II.
Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other water-borne craft for as long as such watercraft have existed.
A yacht club is a boat club specifically related to yachting.
Vesta Rowing Club is a rowing club based on the Tideway of the River Thames in Putney, London, England. It was founded in 1870.
The Royal Perth Yacht Club (RPYC) is a yacht club in Perth, Western Australia. It is the third oldest yacht club in Australia after the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria and the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron. It is based at the Crawley Marina on Pelican Point and at the Fremantle Annexe in Challenger Harbour.
Larchmont Yacht Club is a private, members-only yacht club situated on Larchmont Harbor in the Village of Larchmont, in Westchester County, New York.
The Royal Cork Yacht Club is a yacht club located in Crosshaven, County Cork, Ireland. Founded in 1720, it is a claimant to the title of the world's oldest yacht club, although this is challenged by the Neva Yacht Club in Russia.
The Royal Thames Yacht Club (RTYC) is the oldest continuously operating yacht club in the world, and the oldest yacht club in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are located at 60 Knightsbridge, London, England, overlooking Hyde Park. The club's purpose is "to provide the members with outstanding yacht cruising, racing and social opportunities in the UK and internationally, building on the club's unique heritage, central London facilities and close reciprocal relationships with other leading yacht clubs around the world."
His Majesty's Yacht Britannia was a gaff-rigged cutter built in 1893 for RYS Commodore Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. She served both himself and his son King George V with a long racing career.
The Royal Ocean Racing Club is a club in London with a further clubhouse and office in Cowes, Isle of Wight. It was established in 1925 as the Ocean Racing Club, as a result of a race to the Fastnet Rock from Cowes, finishing in Plymouth. It received royal approval by King George V in November 1931 since when it has been known as the Royal Ocean Racing Club.
The Royal St. George Yacht Club is a yacht club housed in a Victorian clubhouse, located in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland. Each season the Club hosts a number of national and international sailing events.
Walbrook Rowing Club, colloquially sometimes named Teddington Rowing Club, is a rowing club, on the River Thames in England on the Middlesex bank 800 metres above Teddington Lock next to Trowlock Island, Teddington. It is the lowest club on the weir-controlled Thames and is the organising club for Teddington Head of the River Race held in November for all classes of racing shells.
The 100 Guineas Cup, also known as the Hundred Guinea Cup, or the Cup of One Hundred Sovereigns, was a regatta in 1851 which was the first competition for the trophy later named America's Cup. The trophy was valued at 100 pounds-sterling which led to its various names, all variations on 100 Pound Cup. The race was won by the yacht America, leading to the trophy being renamed "America's Cup". The official event known as "The America's Cup" was founded in 1857, when the deed of gift established the racing regattas. The 1851 competition was a fleet race, whereas modern America's Cups finals are match races.
The sport of sailing involves a variety of competitive sailing formats that are sanctioned through various sailing federations and yacht clubs. Racing disciplines include matches within a fleet of sailing craft, between a pair thereof or among teams. Additionally, there are specialized competitions that include setting speed records. Racing formats include both closed courses and point-to-point contests; they may be in sheltered waters, coast-wise or on the open ocean. Most competitions are held within defined classes or ratings that either entail one type of sailing craft to ensure a contest primarily of skill or rating the sailing craft to create classifications or handicaps.
The XOD Class Keelboat is a small 21 ft day racing yacht with fleets based on the south coast of England.
Greenwich Yacht Club is a sailing club based in Greenwich, London. It was founded in 1908, and caters for cruiser sailors, dinghy sailors, motor-boaters and rowers. Its officers include a commodore, vice-commodore, rear-commodore, secretary and treasurer. The club is affiliated to the Royal Yachting Association.
The Enchantress was a 19th-century racing yacht, winner of several national and international Cups including the Royal Yacht Squadron's 53-mile (85 km) regatta around the Le Havre to Southampton, and the New York Yacht Club's 140-mile (230 km) regatta from Owl's Head Point to Sandy Hook Lightship. She was designed by Robert Fish for George L. Lorillard.
The Royal Victoria Yacht Club was founded at Ryde, on the Isle of Wight and uniquely granted 'Royal' status immediately. In 1845 the club was granted a warrant to wear the Red Ensign of HM Fleet. From 1872 until 1898 the club held the warrant to wear the crown defaced Red Ensign. It currently holds the warrant for its defaced ensign. It is the second club of that name, succeeding a failed club on the Thames and preceding its namesake in Canada by nearly fifty years. It was once regarded as one of the premier yacht racing clubs of the world. In 1961, after two world wars and the decline in yacht racing as the preserve of the wealthy, the Royal Victoria amalgamated with two local dinghy sailing clubs and moved its base to Fishbourne on Wootton Creek, some five miles (8.0 km) west of Ryde where it remains.
