As the Dutch came to dominance in sea power during the 17th century, the initial yacht became a leisure craft used mostly by royalty and then by the burghers on the canals and then in the protected and unprotected waters of the Low Countries. Racing was incidental, borne from private challenges. English yachting originated with King Charles II of England during his exile in the Low Countries. On his restoration to the English monarchy in 1660, the city of Amsterdam presented him with a 20-metre (66-foot) leisure boat with a beam (maximum width) of 5.6 m (18 feet), which he named Mary. Charles and his brother James, the duke of York (James II, reigned 1685–88), made more yachts and in 1662 raced two of them from the Thames, from Greenwich, to Gravesend, and returning, on a £100 wager. Yachting rose as classy among the rich and aristocracy, but after that point the fashion did not last.

The first yacht association in the British Isles, the Water Club, was instigated in about 1720 at Cork, Ire., as a cruising and unofficial coast guard organization, and had much naval panoply and rigour. The closest thing to racing was the “chase,” in which the “fleet” pursued a fictional enemy. The club endured, mostly as a social club, until 1765, and in 1828, by conglomerating with other groups, it became known as the Cork Yacht Club (later the Royal Cork Yacht Club).

Yacht racing was seen in some organized method on the Thames about the mid-18th century. The duke of Cumberland funded the Cumberland Fleet for Thames racing in 1775. When George IV came to the throne in 1820, it came to be called the Fleet to His Majesty’s Coronation Sailing Society. The Thames Yacht Club seceded with a racing dispute, to become the Royal Thames Yacht Club in 1830. The first English yacht society had been initiated at Cowes on the Isle of Wight in 1815, and royal sponsorship made the Solent - the strait between the mainland and the Isle of Wight - the perpetual location of British yacht racing. The association at Cowes became the Royal Yachting Club, likewise at the ascension of George IV. All members were required to possess boats of at least 20 tons (20,321 kg). Sailing matches for high bets were held, and the club life was splendid. Ultimately Royal Yachting Club boats increased in size to bigger than 350 tons.

In North America, yachting began with the Dutch in New York in the 17th century and persisted when the English took power. Sailing was mostly for fun and reached its apogee in George Crowinshield’s Cleopatra’s Barge (1815), which traveled on the Mediterranean Sea and set a benchmark of luxury and sophistication for the later yachts in that area from the late 19th century. The first continuing American yacht club, the Detroit Boat Club, was formed in 1839. In 1844, John C. Stevens founded the New York Yacht Club while aboard his schooner Gimcrack.

Kinds of sailboats
The Early sailing yachts followed the design of such naval craft as brigantines, schooners, and cutters from the 17th century through the second half of the 19th century. The design of bigger yachts was originally heavily impacted by the win of America, which was designed by George Steers for a association started by John C. Stevens, and it was the boat for which the America’s Cup (q.v.) had its namesake after its win at Cowes in 1851. Early yachts were not designed and built in the modern sense, with merely a model for an outline. Not until the later half of the 19th century did what was known as naval architecture come about. Not until the 1920s did the use of the science of aerodynamics do for the structure of sails and rigging what it had done earlier for hulls.

Because almost all sailboats had been individually manufactured, there arose a desire for handicapping boats as this was previous to the one-design class boats were made. Thus, a rating rule came into being, which resulted in the International Rule, accepted in 1906 and amended in 1919. In modern times, one of the rapidly growing areas in the sailing industry is that of one-design class boats. All boats in a one-design class are manufactured to standard specifications in length, beam, sail area, and other aspects (for an example of a two-person sailboat, see illustration). Racing for these boats can be done on an even keel with no handicapping required. A perfect example is the uniform International America’s Cup Class adopted for yachts in the 1992 America’s Cup race.

For the time that yachting belonged mostly for the aristocracy and the affluent, expense was no object, and the size of boats grew, in both length and weight. The ascendancy and desire of smaller craft occurred in the latter half of the 19th century out of the sailing of the Englishmen R.T. McMullen, a stockbroker, and E.F. Knight, a barrister and journalist. A journey around the world (1895–98) captained single-handedly by the naturalized American captain Joshua Slocum in the 11.3-metre Spray demonstrated the seaworthiness of less sizeable yachts. Later in the 20th century, for the larger part after World War II, smaller racing and pleasure yachts became more popular, down to the dinghy, a popular training boat, of 3.7 m. In the late 20th century, boats of less than 3 m were sailed single-handedly across the Atlantic Ocean.

Kinds of power yachts
Following the decade 1840–50, when steam started to emulate sail power in commercial craft, the steam engine, and later the internal-combustion engine, were increasingly employed in leisure vessels. Large power yachts were furthered to a high degree, and long-distance cruising was a preferred activity of the affluent. The earliest power yachts were paddle-wheel boats; these then made way to those powered by the completely submerged screw or propeller kind of propulsion. Like naval and merchant craft, auxiliaries possessing both sail and power were the yacht standard for a number of years. By the later half of the 20th century, many yachts were still auxiliaries, but the majority were solely power yachts containing gasoline or diesel engines.

In the last decade of the 19th century there was a rise in the design of large steam yachts. Notably of these was the Mayflower (1897) of 2,690 tons, containing triple-expansion engines, twin screws, and a compartmented iron hull, and was manned by a crew of over 150. The Mayflower, purchased by the United States Navy in 1898, was the official yacht of the president of the United States until 1929 and saw active service during World War II.

As more sizeable and better quality internal-combustion engines were created, many big craft started using them for power. The creation of the diesel engine, with heavy oil for fuel, advanced from World War I. During the decade following, large power-yacht building grew, reaching a climax in the Orion (1930) at 3,097 tons. In that time the best auxiliary yacht manufactured was the four-masted, steel, barque-rigged Sea Cloud (1931) of 2,323 tons.

The manufacture of large power boats declined from 1932, and the trend after that was for smaller, less pricey yachts. From World War II, lots of small naval vessels were bought by private owners for conversion to yachts. In the late 20th century, yachting has become a widespread loved sport enjoyed by thousands of yachtsmen personally manning and keeping their own small recreational craft. The number of boats and yachtsmen is increasing steadily, not only in the traditional areas by the sea but also on inland waterways and lakes.

Looking for yacht transport Sunshine Coast ? Talk to Elite Yacht Services. We do great work at competitive prices.

Sphere: Related Content