Cowes
Cowes is an English port town as well as civil parish on the Island of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the tidewater of the River Medina, dealing with the smaller town of East Cowes on the eastern bank. The two towns are connected by the Cowes Floating Bridge, a chain ferry. The population was 9,663 in the 2001 census, which increased during the regatta in very early August. The population at the 2011 census was 10,405. Charles Godfrey Leland's 19th century verses define the communities poetically as "Both wonderful Cowes that in loud rumbling roar/This on the eastern, that the western shore". Cowes has actually been seen as a home for worldwide yacht racing since the founding of the Royal Yacht Squadron in 1815. It offers its name to the world's earliest regular regatta, Cowes Week, which happens yearly in the very first week of August. Later, powerboat races are held. Much of the town's style is still greatly affected by the design of luxuriant structure that Prince Albert popularised.
