Cowes is an English seaport community and also civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is found on the west financial institution of the estuary of the River Medina, encountering the smaller community of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked by the Cowes Drifting Bridge, a chain ferryboat. The population was 9,663 in the 2001 census, which doubled during the regatta in very early August. The population at the 2011 census was 10,405. Charles Godfrey Leland's 19th century knowledgeables describe the communities poetically as "Both great Cowes that in loud rumbling roar/This on the eastern, that the western coast". Cowes has been seen as a home for international yacht racing given that the founding of the Royal Yacht Squadron in 1815. It gives its name to the globe's earliest routine regatta, Cowes Week, which takes place every year in the first week of August. Later, powerboat races are held. Much of the community's design is still heavily influenced by the design of luxuriant building that Prince Albert popularised.