FOR competitors and visitors alike, it represents a spectacular, extravagant and fitting end to the world’s oldest and largest sailing event.

This evening more than 50,000 people on both sides of the Solent will tilt their heads to the sky to watch the annual Cowes Week firework display.

The 30-minute display, fired from a barge moored in the Solent, is one of the highlights of the eight-day-long regatta, and at a cost of more than £50,000 it promises to be as breathtaking as ever.

As previously reported in the Daily Echo, more than £45,000 was raised by businesses and members of the public after regatta bosses said that it should not be funded by competitors’ entry fees.

The display is due to start at 9.30pm, and will be preceded by a display by the Red Arrows at 7.30pm.