Yachting Monthly readers may or may not be among those taking part in Cowes Week, which runs from 31 July to 7 August, but those on the Isle of Wight may be interested in a series of fundraising RNLI demos and activities over the regatta.

The RNLI is Cowes Week’s charity of the year. Last year volunteer RNLI crew at Cowes launched six times to help competitors, while other RNLI lifeboats around the Solent launched 10 times.

Monday 2 August is Cowes Week charity day. To celebrate it, the volunteers from Cowes and Calshot RNLI lifeboat stations will be putting on a display of their life saving skills. Their demonstration will take place on the water just off The Green, Cowes, at 6.30pm.

After the demonstration, also on Monday night, there will be beach-themed team games at Shepards Wharf in aid of the charity. Have a bash at boules, limber up for limbo or rustle up some luck on the raffle and raise money for the RNLI – it’s free to enter and the games kick off at 7pm.

There’s another opportunity to support the charity at the Cowes Week Crew Ball on the evening of Thursday 5 August.

The ball will be held at the Events Centre in the Yacht Haven. A donation of £1 from every ticket goes to the RNLI and there will be prizes up for grabs in the raffle.

Celebrities, including Harry Potter actors Oliver and James Phelps and GMTV’s Emma Crosby, will be racing for glory – and the RNLI – in the Artemis Challenge on Tuesday 3 August. The celebrities, teamed up with professional skipper and Vendée Globe finisher Steve White, will compete with other Open 60 racing yachts to win a £10,000 charity prize fund.

RNLI Cowes Week Ambassadors, Olympic gold-medallist Shirley Robertson and trans-Atlantic sailor Hannah White, will be on hand throughout the week to promote the charity and talk about their own exploits on the water.

Elsewhere, look out for the RNLI’s ‘get your kit on’ challenge around Cowes and find out what it’s like to stand in the shoes (or yellow wellies) of the charity’s volunteer crews. See if you can get changed into crew kit in record time.

The charity adds: ‘Throughout the week visitors can also do some life saving shopping at the RNLI shop on Cowes High Street, or talk to the charity’s fundraisers and find out how to make regular donations to the charity that saves lives at sea.’

For a full racing programme, see www.cowesweek.co.uk