Cowes Week after its new sponsor, Lendy - The Property Platform. The festival originates from the Prince Regent's interest in yachting which continued after he became George IV in 1820. The first race started at 09:30 on Thursday 10 August 1826 with the prize of a "Gold Cup of the value of £100" and was held under the flag of the Royal Yacht Club, which later became the Royal Yacht Squadron. Another race was held the next day for prize money only (£30 for first place, £20 for second). Until World War I, big cutters and raters were raced by gentlemen amateurs
Cowes known as Cowes Regatta and it soon grew into a four-day event that always ended with a fireworks display. The opium clippers "Nina" (1852), "Eamont" (1853) and "Wild Dayrell" (1854) were built in Cowes. In Cowes the 18th-century house of Westbourne was home to a collector of customs whose son, born there in 1795, lived to become Dr Thomas Arnold, headmaster of Rugby School. Northwood House was the home of the Ward family. It was donated under trust to the town in 1929, the grounds becoming Northwood Park. William George Ward was a close friend of the poet Tennyson and