This year’s Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week promises to be one of the most exciting in the event’s 187-year history.

Entries have been flooding in from all over the world for the Isle of Wight’s annual sailing extravaganza, which takes place from August 3-10.

Up to 8,000 sailors are set to compete, with a host of thrilling new races and spectacles on the agenda.

Tens of thousands will line the shore to watch the action and soak up the atmosphere.

Stuart Quarrie, the chief executive of Cowes Week, said: “I’m really looking forward to it. Entries are in really good shape. “The fleet size looks like it’s going to be good.

“It’s nice to see so many boats coming from abroad too. At the moment we have 20 per cent foreign entries, which is much higher than our norm. “So it looks like there’s a real international flavour, which is great.”

Double Olympic champion Shirley Robertson, who lives in Cowes, added: “A lot of sailing events happen around the planet, but nothing for me is quite as special and unique as the week that we have, and I think we should be proud of that.”

Adding to the anticipation are a number of new on-the-water highlights that have been arranged for this year.

It was announced this week that Cowes Week has been selected as a qualifying event for the 2014 EFG Pan American Sport Boat Championship, in Miami.

Previously, sailors wishing to earn a place in the fleet would have to travel to either North or South America for the qualification races.

Yarmouth’s Glyn Locke, who skippered British team Fer De Lance to victory in last year’s Pan American Trophy, said: “It is great that Cowes Week have offered to host an EFG qualifying event. I hope it encourages more British crews to come to Miami next year.”

Cowes Week will also play host to a new SB20 Grand Slam event, with boats competing in two races a day for the first four days of the regatta. Robertson said: “This year there’s quite a big push on the sport boats, small dynamic boats, and that’s kind of my background, so I’m looking forward to that.”

With 2013 being a Rolex Fastnet Race year, Cowes will also welcome some of the world’s biggest and fastest yachts.

The special three-day Big Boat Series will run from the Tuesday to the Thursday.

“It’s really nice to see as many big boats as are coming this year, because the last few years it’s been quite hard to persuade some of the really big glamour boats to come to Cowes,” said Quarrie.

“We’re back up at the sort of numbers we were in the really big boats about ten years ago.”

The Week, which is returning to its normal dates after being pushed back by two weeks last year to avoid a clash with the Olympics, will be capped by the traditional spectacular fireworks display on Friday night.

The Saturday will feature a single day of relaxed racing to enable less experienced sailors to take to the water in a simple race format.

Quarrie believes the addition of a third finish line this year will make course-setting far easier and be of great benefit to the sailors.

He points out that Cowes Week also offers plenty of entertainment for those who may prefer the feel of dry land underfoot.

“From a spectator point of view, there’s all sorts going on,” he said. “The backdrop of the yacht racing, hundreds of yachts either starting or finishing, or both, close to the shore. Watching the racing is great.

“The town is abuzz, there’s a festival and friendly atmosphere. There’s lots of good places to eat and drink and chill out. It’s a festival, it’s great fun. The atmosphere is just fantastic.”

Robertson added: “I like this event especially because it involves the local community and it involves the spectators.

“It’s not just about the sailors, and I think that’s quite rare in our sport.

“It is an incredible spectacle and there’s nowhere else in the world that gets so many boats of so many ages and varieties and sizes, and that’s unique.”

For more information on Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week, visit aamcowesweek.co.uk