As the Dutch found dominance in sea power during the 17th century, the initial yacht became 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, coming out of private challenges. English yachting began 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 presented him with a 20-metre (66-foot) pleasure boat with a beam (maximum width) of 5.6 m (18 feet), which he then named Mary. Charles and his brother James, the duke of York (James II, sovereign 1685–88), ordered for more yachts and in 1662 raced two of them from the Thames, from Greenwich, to Gravesend, and back, on a £100 bet. Yachting was found to be fashionable among the rich and nobility, but after that point the habit 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 a race was the “chase,” in which the “fleet” pursued an imagined enemy. The club persisted, mostly as a social club, until 1765, and in 1828, after merging 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 funded the Cumberland Fleet for Thames racing in 1775. When George IV came to the throne in 1820, it was called the Fleet to His Majesty’s Coronation Sailing Society. The Thames Yacht Club seceded following a racing fight, to become the Royal Thames Yacht Club in 1830. The first English yacht group had been formed 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 continued site of British racing. The organisation at Cowes became the Royal Yachting Club, again at the ascension of George IV. Every member was required to own boats of at least 20 tons (20,321 kg). Sailing matches for high bids were held, and the club life was superlative. Ultimately Royal Yachting Club boats were raised in size to over 350 tons.
In North America, yachting started with the Dutch in New York in the 17th century and continued when the English gained control. Sailing was mostly for pleasure and found its apogee in George Crowinshield’s Cleopatra’s Barge (1815), which traveled on the Mediterranean Sea and established a minimum of luxury and elegance for the later yachts in that area from the late 19th century. The first continuing American yacht society, the Detroit Boat Club, was started in 1839. In 1844, John C. Stevens instigated the New York Yacht Club aboard his schooner Gimcrack.
Kinds of sailboats
Early sailing yachts were within the design of such naval craft as brigantines, schooners, and cutters from the 17th century through the latter half of the 19th century. The craft of sizeable yachts was first greatly put upon by the success of America, which was created by George Steers for a group led 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. The first yachts were not designed and crafted in the modern sense, with just a model used. Not until the second 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 structure of sails and rigging what it had already done for hulls.
Because nearly all sailboats had been individually custom-built, there came a desire for handicapping boats as this was before the one-design class boats were built. Thus, a rating rule was written, which ended up in the International Rule, accepted in 1906 and revised in 1919. In modern times, one of the fastest blossoming areas in the sailing industry is that of one-design class boats. All boats in a one-design class are created to the same 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 had on an even basis with no handicapping required. A prime example is the uniform International America’s Cup Class taken on board for participants in the 1992 America’s Cup race.
So long as yachting was done largely for the royal and the rich, cost was no object, and the size of boats developed, in both length and weight. The rise and popularity of smaller boats occurred in the second half of the 19th century in the sailing of the Englishmen R.T. McMullen, a stockbroker, and E.F. Knight, a barrister and journalist. A voyage around the world (1895–98) led single-handedly by the naturalized American captain Joshua Slocum in the 11.3-metre Spray proved the hardiness of small craft. Later in the 20th century, notably after World War II, smaller racing and leisure craft became more popular, down to the dinghy, a popular training boat, of 3.7 m. In the late 20th century, yachts of less than 3 m were setting sail single-handedly across the Atlantic Ocean.
Kinds of power yachts
Post the decade 1840–50, at which point steam started to emulate sail power in commercial craft, the steam engine, and later the internal-combustion engine, were employed increasingly in pleasure boats. Large power yachts were progressed to a high element, and long-distance travel turned into a favoured pastime of the wealthy. The earliest power yachts were paddle-wheel boats; those then gave rise to boats powered by the completely submerged screw or propeller type of propulsion. As in the case of naval and merchant boats, auxiliaries with both sail and power were the yacht archetype for many years. By the latter half of the 20th century, many yachts were still auxiliaries, but the majority were solely power yachts containing gasoline or diesel engines.
From the last decade of the 19th century there was a rise in the manufacture of more sizeable steam yachts. Notably among these was the Mayflower (1897) of 2,690 tons, with 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 was used in active service during World War II.
As more sizeable and more reliable internal-combustion engines were produced, many bigger boats started using them for power. The creation of the diesel engine, employing heavy oil for fuel, advanced for World War I. From the decade following, large power-yacht manufacture grew, 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 manufacture of bigger power boats declined in 1932, and the fashion from then was in preference of smaller, less costly craft. Following World War II, many small naval boats were sold to private owners for conversion to yachts. At the late 20th century, yachting has become a widespread popular competition enjoyed by thousands of yachtsmen who are actually sailing and maintaining their own small leisure yachts. The amount of yachts and sailors has increased steadily, not only in the traditional areas along the sea but also on inland waterways and lakes.
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