Yachting and Yacht Clubs
As the Dutch rose to dominance in sea power during the 17th century, the early yacht had been a pleasure craft used first by royalty and then by the burghers on the canals and then in the protected and unprotected waters of the Low Countries. Yacht racing was incidental, coming out of private matches. English yachting originated with King Charles II of England during his exile in the Low Countries. On his return to the English throne in 1660, the city of Amsterdam sent him a 20-metre (66-foot) pleasure boat with a beam (maximum width) of 5.6 m (18 feet), which he called Mary. Charles and his brother James, the duke of York (James II, reigned 1685–88), made other yachts and in 1662 raced two of them from the Thames, from Greenwich, to Gravesend, and returning, on a £100 bet. Yachting was found to be fashionable for the rich and royalty, but after that period the fashion did not last.
The first yacht association in the British Isles, the Water Club, was started in about 1720 at Cork, Ire., as a cruising and unofficial coast guard group, with large naval panoply and formality. The closest thing to racing boats was the “chase,” for which the “fleet” pursued a fictional enemy. The club went on, for the large part as a social club, until 1765, and in 1828, when joining with other organisations, it was known as the Cork Yacht Club (later the Royal Cork Yacht Club).
Yacht racing was first seen in some ordered manner on the Thames in the mid-18th century. The duke of Cumberland founded the Cumberland Fleet for Thames racing in 1775. When George IV rose to sovereignty in 1820, it was then known as the Fleet to His Majesty’s Coronation Sailing Society. The Thames Yacht Club seceded after a racing argument, to become the Royal Thames Yacht Club in 1830. The first English yacht organisation had been formed at Cowes on the Isle of Wight in 1815, and royal patronage made the Solent - the strait between the mainland and the Isle of Wight - the continuing location of British racing. The society at Cowes became the Royal Yachting Club, again at the accession of George IV. Every member was required to own boats of at least 20 tons (20,321 kg). Sailing races for large stakes were held, and the society life was superlative. Eventually Royal Yachting Club boats grew in size to bigger than 350 tons.
In North America, yachting started with the Dutch in New York in the 17th century and continued when the English had power. Sailing was mostly for pleasure and reached its epitome in George Crowinshield’s Cleopatra’s Barge (1815), which sailed on the Mediterranean Sea and created a standard of luxury and sophistication for the later yachts in those waters from the late 19th century. The first continuing American yacht association, the Detroit Boat Club, was instigated in 1839. In 1844, John C. Stevens began the New York Yacht Club while on board his schooner Gimcrack.
Kinds of sailboats
The Early sailing yachts followed the style of such naval craft as brigantines, schooners, and cutters from the 17th century until the latter half of the 19th century. The design of sizeable yachts was originally largely put upon by the win of America, which was created by George Steers for a syndicate started by John C. Stevens, and it was the boat for which the America’s Cup (q.v.) found its namesake after its success at Cowes in 1851. Earlier yachts were not designed and crafted in today’s sense, with only a model used. Not until the later half of the 19th century did what was labeled naval architecture come about. Not until the 1920s did the application of the science of aerodynamics do for the design of sails and rigging what it had already done for hulls.
Because most of all sailboats were individually manufactured, there was a need for handicapping boats before the one-design class boats were made. Therefore, a rating rule was written, which resulted in the International Rule, accepted in 1906 and edited in 1919. In the present day, one of the most rapidly growing areas in the field of sailing 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 areas (for an example of a two-person sailboat, see illustration). Racing for such boats can be done on an even par with no handicapping necessary. A great example is the generic International America’s Cup Class taken on board for yachts in the 1992 America’s Cup race.
As long as yachting belonged mostly for the royal and the affluent, cost was no issue, and the size of boats grew, in both length and weight. The rise and preference of smaller boats happened in the second 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 value of less sizeable boats. Later in the 20th century, for the larger part after World War II, smaller racing and recreational craft 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 setting sail single-handedly across the Atlantic Ocean.
Kinds of power yachts
Post the decade 1840–50, when steam began to take the place of sail power in public craft, the steam engine, and later the internal-combustion engine, were increasingly favoured in leisure yachts. Large power yachts were progressed to a high standard, and long-distance cruising turned into a preferred activity of the affluent. The first power yachts were paddle-wheel boats; those then gave way to yachts powered by the completely submerged screw or propeller type of propulsion. As in the case of naval and merchant boats, auxiliaries possessing both sail and power were the yacht fashion for a number of years. By the second half of the 20th century, a lot of yachts were still auxiliaries, but the majority were only power yachts that had gasoline or diesel engines.
In the last decade of the 19th century there was a boom in the manufacture of more sizeable steam yachts. Conspicuous within these was the Mayflower (1897) of 2,690 tons, that had triple-expansion engines, twin screws, and a compartmented iron hull, and was operated 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 gave active service in World War II.
As more sizeable and more dependable internal-combustion engines were created, many large yachts started using them for power. The establishment of the diesel engine, using heavy oil for fuel, progressed from World War I. From the decade following that, large power-yacht manufacture blossomed, reaching a climax in the Orion (1930) at 3,097 tons. During that point the biggest auxiliary yacht manufactured was the four-masted, steel, barque-rigged Sea Cloud (1931) of 2,323 tons.
The building of bigger power craft lessened after 1932, and the trend from then was in preference of smaller, less expensive boats. From World War II, a lot of small naval boats were bought by private owners for conversion to yachts. By the late 20th century, yachting has become a globally beloved sport enjoyed by thousands of yachtsmen individually manning and keeping their own small recreational boats. The number of yachts and yachtsmen increased steadily, not only in the traditional locations along the sea but also on inland waterways and lakes.
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