After a 14-year tenure as title sponsor of the Cowes Week regatta, savings group Skandia UK has announced it will not be renewing its sponsorship once the current contract expires after Cowes Week in August 2008.

Cowes Week has grown considerably since Skandia took on title sponsorship of the event in 1995, and the regatta now attracts over 1,000 boats, 8,500 sailors and around 50,000 visitors over the week.
Cowes Combined Clubs CEO Stuart Quarrie said that the regatta organisers would now market the event as an opportunity to alternative sponsors: ‘Skandia has been a fantastic partner for over a decade but the door is now open for another company to come on board and benefit from the opportunities presented from 2009 onwards. On the basis of an independent valuation, we have a good view of the value of Cowes Week to a potential sponsor.’

‘After such a long time as key sponsors of Cowes Week, it’s very sad that this great association will end after the 2008 Event but the time is right for us to focus our resources on alternative sailing-related initiatives,’ says Skandia’s sponsorship manager, Tim Sewell. ‘We are leaving the event in great shape and I have no doubt it will continue to go from strength to strength as the world’s premier sailing regatta.’