Yachting and Yacht Clubs
As the Dutch found preeminence in sea power during the 17th century, the initial yacht had been a pleasure craft used initially by royalty and later by the burghers on the canals as well as the protected and unprotected waters of the Low Countries. Racing yachts was incidental, arising as private games. English yachting began with King Charles II of England during his exile in the Low Countries. On his reaffirmation to the English monarchy in 1660, the city of Amsterdam gave him a 20-metre (66-foot) pleasure 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, sovereign 1685–88), made additional yachts and in 1662 raced two of them from the Thames, from Greenwich, to Gravesend, and back, on a £100 wager. Yachting rose as popular with the wealthy and nobility, but after that point the fashion did not last.
The first yacht group in the British Isles, the Water Club, was formed around about 1720 at Cork, Ire., as a cruising and unofficial coast guard association, with much naval panoply and rigour. The closest thing to racing was the “chase,” in which the “fleet” pursued a fictional enemy. The club endured, largely as a social club, until 1765, and in 1828, when joining with other clubs, it was known as the Cork Yacht Club (later the Royal Cork Yacht Club).
Yacht racing was seen in some ordered method on the Thames in the mid-18th century. The duke of Cumberland founded the Cumberland Fleet for Thames racing in 1775. When George IV came to monarchy in 1820, it was called the Fleet to His Majesty’s Coronation Sailing Society. The Thames Yacht Club seceded with a racing fight, 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 continuing setting of British racing. The organisation at Cowes became the Royal Yachting Club, likewise at the rise of George IV. All members were required to possess boats of at least 20 tons (20,321 kg). Sailing tests for great bids were held, and the society life was lovely. Ultimately Royal Yachting Club boats increased in size to over 350 tons.
In North America, yachting was first accomplished with the Dutch in New York in the 17th century and continued when the English held dominance. Sailing was largely for pleasure and found its epitome in George Crowinshield’s Cleopatra’s Barge (1815), which cruised on the Mediterranean Sea and set a minimum of luxury and elegance 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 instigated the New York Yacht Club while on board his schooner Gimcrack.
Kinds of sailboats
Early sailing yachts took the design of such naval craft as brigantines, schooners, and cutters from the 17th century through to the later half of the 19th century. The style of bigger yachts was initially largely affected by the success of America, which was created by George Steers for a association headed by John C. Stevens, and it was the boat for which the America’s Cup (q.v.) was named after its victory at Cowes in 1851. The first yachts were not designed and built in a contemporary sense, with only a model being used. Not until the latter half of the 19th century did what was called naval architecture come into being. Not until the 1920s did the use of the research of aerodynamics do for the craft of sails and rigging what such study had previously done for hulls.
Because most of all sailboats had to be individually custom-built, there came a requirement for handicapping boats previous to the one-design class boats were built. Therefore, a rating rule was created, which is found in the International Rule, taken on in 1906 and revised in 1919. In modern times, one of the most rapidly growing areas in the sailing industry is that of one-design class boats. All boats in a one-design class are created to standard requirements in length, beam, sail area, and other aspects (for an example of a two-person sailboat, see illustration). Racing between those boats can be done on an even playing field with no handicapping required. A great example is the uniform International America’s Cup Class taken on board for participants in the 1992 America’s Cup race.
For the time that yachting belonged largely for the royal and the wealthy, expense was no object, and the size of boats increased, in both length and weight. The rise and desire of smaller craft 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) sailed single-handedly by the naturalized American captain Joshua Slocum in the 11.3-metre Spray proved the value of less sizeable yachts. Following this in the 20th century, particularly after World War II, smaller racing and recreational boats became commonplace, down to the dinghy, a favoured training boat, of 3.7 m. In the late 20th century, craft of less than 3 m were traveled in single-handedly across the Atlantic Ocean.
Kinds of power yachts
Following the decade 1840–50, at which point steam was set to emulate sail power in market vessels, the steam engine, and later the internal-combustion engine, were employed more and more in pleasure yachts. Sizeable power yachts were developed to a high element, and long-distance cruising was a preferred activity of the affluent. The early power yachts were paddle-wheel boats; those then gave way to those powered by the wholly submerged screw or propeller kind of propulsion. Like naval and merchant yachts, auxiliaries with both sail and power were the yacht standard for several years. By the later half of the 20th century, many yachts were still auxiliaries, but the larger part were exclusively power yachts that had gasoline or diesel engines.
During the last decade of the 19th century there was a boom in the manufacture of bigger steam yachts. Notably among 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, bought 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 better quality internal-combustion engines were created, many large yachts were using them for power. The creation of the diesel engine, using heavy oil for fuel, progressed during World War I. From the decade that followed, big power-yacht building flourished, hitting a climax in the Orion (1930) at 3,097 tons. From that time the largest auxiliary yacht built was the four-masted, steel, barque-rigged Sea Cloud (1931) of 2,323 tons.
The building of big power boats fell away after 1932, and the trend thereafter was for smaller, less costly boats. From World War II, lots of small naval vessels were bought by private owners for conversion to yachts. By the late 20th century, yachting is a globally beloved competition enjoyed by thousands of yachtsmen who are actually sailing and keeping their own small leisure craft. The amount of yachts and sailors increased steadily, not only in the traditional places along the sea but also on inland waterways and lakes.
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