Cowes Week is still the number one regatta in the world, the man at its helm has said as the clock counts down to the world famous event.

With just three weeks remaining until the first starting gun kickstarts the week-long regatta, CEO Stuart Quarrie said the event – now in its 177th edition – was a world beater.

This year’s event will see more than 7,000 racers from around the world compete on 800 boats across 37 classes in a festival of sailing.

Quarrie has steered the regatta through good times and bad over the past 16 years – and insists the event has still got the X factor.

He said: “One of the great things about Cowes Week is that it is a great festival. I honestly think Cowes Week is the best regatta in the world.

“Whether you’re a competitor enjoying the world class racing, or a spectator lapping up the shoreside entertainment and party atmosphere, Cowes Week has it all.”

This year’s event sees the return of the Artemis Challenge, a 55-mile charity sprint around the Isle of Wight featuring some of the world’s most famous sailors.

It will also debut a special ‘big boat series’ for luxury race boats that will provide a spectacle for the 100,000 visitors expected to pack the Isle of Wight town.

Quarrie added: “This year there will be more ‘big boats’ competing than we have seen in the last ten years, which is in part thanks to the fact that the Fastnet Race is on straight after Cowes Week.

“There will be seven boats racing which are just shy of being superyachts, and below them is a whole tier of top class TP52 race boats.

“Not only does this mean a great spectacle for competitors and spectators alike, it goes to show Cowes Week still attracts the best of the best.”

Shoreside, a raft of entertainments will be laid on, culminating in the famous Friday night fireworks display.

This year’s show will see a return to the ‘counting fireworks’ whereby the audience take part in a countdown. Cowes Week runs from August 3 to 10.