As the Dutch found preeminence in sea power during the 17th century, the initial yacht became a leisure craft used mostly by royalty and then by the burghers for the canals and the protected and unprotected waters of the Low Countries. Racing yachts was incidental, coming out of private challenges. English yachting originated with King Charles II of England during his exile in the Low Countries. On his restoration to the English royalty in 1660, the city of Amsterdam sent him 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), ordered for additional yachts and in 1662 raced two of them from the Thames, from Greenwich, to Gravesend, and back, on a £100 wager. Yachting was found to be classy among the rich and aristocracy, but after that period the fashion did not last.
The first yacht group in the British Isles, the Water Club, was started at about 1720 at Cork, Ire., as a cruising and unofficial coast guard association, and had great naval panoply and formality. The closest thing to a race was the “chase,” in which the “fleet” pursued an imagined enemy. The club endured, mostly as a social club, until 1765, and in 1828, by merging with other clubs, it became known as the Cork Yacht Club (later the Royal Cork Yacht Club).
Yacht racing was first seen in some ordered fashion on the Thames about the mid-18th century. The duke of Cumberland funded the Cumberland Fleet for Thames racing in 1775. When George IV ascended to the throne in 1820, it was known as the Fleet to His Majesty’s Coronation Sailing Society. The Thames Yacht Club seceded following a racing argument, to become the Royal Thames Yacht Club in 1830. The first English yacht society had been started 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 site of British yachting. The organisation at Cowes became the Royal Yachting Club, likewise at the ascension of George IV. Each member was required to possess boats of at least 20 tons (20,321 kg). Sailing matches for great bets were held, and the social life was wonderful. Eventually Royal Yachting Club boats increased in size to bigger than 350 tons.
In North America, yachting was first accomplished with the Dutch in New York in the 17th century and continued when the English had control. Sailing was for the most part for leisure and rose to its high point in George Crowinshield’s Cleopatra’s Barge (1815), which traveled on the Mediterranean Sea and created a benchmark of luxury and sophistication for the later yachts in the area from the late 19th century. The first persisting American yacht club, the Detroit Boat Club, was formed in 1839. In 1844, John C. Stevens instigated the New York Yacht Club aboard his schooner Gimcrack.
Kinds of sailboats
The first sailing yachts were within the design of such naval craft as brigantines, schooners, and cutters from the 17th century through to the second half of the 19th century. The craft of sizeable yachts was first largely impacted by the win of America, which was designed by George Steers for a syndicate headed by John C. Stevens, and it was the boat for which the America’s Cup (q.v.) had its namesake after its victory at Cowes in 1851. The first yachts were not designed and crafted in a contemporary sense, with just a model used. Not until the later half of the 19th century did what was known as naval architecture come into action. Not until the 1920s did the application of the science of aerodynamics do for the structure of sails and rigging what such study had done earlier for hulls.
Because nearly all sailboats were individually manufactured, there was a desire for handicapping boats as this was previous to the one-design class boats were designed. Thus, a rating rule was created, which resulted in the International Rule, accepted in 1906 and edited in 1919. In modern times, one of the fastest 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 dimensions in length, beam, sail area, and other aspects (for an example of a two-person sailboat, see illustration). Racing between such boats can be done on an even par with no handicapping at all. A prime example is the uniform International America’s Cup Class adopted for participants in the 1992 America’s Cup race.
For the time that yachting was an activity largely for the aristocracy and the rich, money was no object, and the size of boats increased, in both length and weight. The rise and popularity of smaller craft occurred in the latter half of the 19th century from the sailing of the Englishmen R.T. McMullen, a stockbroker, and E.F. Knight, a barrister and journalist. A trip around the world (1895–98) sailed single-handedly by the naturalized American captain Joshua Slocum in the 11.3-metre Spray made plain the hardiness of small boats. Following this in the 20th century, for the larger part after World War II, smaller racing and recreational boats became more common, down to the dinghy, a preferred 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
Post the decade 1840–50, in which steam was set to emulate sail power in public vessels, the steam engine, and later the internal-combustion engine, were employed increasingly in pleasure vessels. Bigger power yachts were furthered to a high element, and long-distance sailing was a favoured occupation of the rich. The early power yachts were paddle-wheel boats; these then made way to yachts powered by the wholly submerged screw or propeller type of propulsion. Like naval and merchant vessels, auxiliaries possessing both sail and power were the yacht standard for several years. By the second half of the 20th century, many yachts were still auxiliaries, but the large part were exclusively power yachts containing gasoline or diesel engines.
During the last decade of the 19th century there was a rise in the manufacture of large steam yachts. In particular among these was the Mayflower (1897) of 2,690 tons, that had triple-expansion engines, twin screws, and a compartmented iron hull, and was manned by a crew of at least 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 saw active service for World War II.
As larger and more dependable internal-combustion engines were developed, many bigger craft started using them for power. The development of the diesel engine, using heavy oil for fuel, progressed from World War I. From the decade after, large power-yacht building grew, hitting a climax in the Orion (1930) at 3,097 tons. From that time the biggest auxiliary yacht constructed was the four-masted, steel, barque-rigged Sea Cloud (1931) of 2,323 tons.
The manufacture of larger power craft declined from 1932, and the style from then was in preference of smaller, less pricey boats. From World War II, many small naval vessels were bought by private owners for conversion to yachts. In the late 20th century, yachting has become a widespread beloved sport enjoyed by thousands of yachtsmen individually sailing and keeping their own small leisure boats. The amount of craft and owners has increased steadily, not only in the traditional locations by the beach but also on inland waterways and lakes.
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