As the Dutch came to dominance in sea power during the 17th century, the early yacht became a leisure craft used initially 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 matches. English yachting originated with King Charles II of England during his exile in the Low Countries. On his restoration to the English throne 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 named Mary. Charles and his brother James, the duke of York (James II, reigned 1685–88), ordered for more yachts and in 1662 raced two of them from the Thames, from Greenwich, to Gravesend, and the same way back, on a £100 bet. Yachting was found to be popular with the affluent and aristocracy, but after that point the fashion did not last.
The first yacht club in the British Isles, the Water Club, was formed around about 1720 at Cork, Ire., as a cruising and unofficial coast guard group, and had large naval panoply and rigour. The closest thing to racing was the “chase,” when the “fleet” pursued an imaginary enemy. The club went on, largely as a social club, until 1765, and in 1828, when conglomerating with other clubs, it became known as the Cork Yacht Club (later the Royal Cork Yacht Club).
Yacht racing began in some stipulated fashion on the Thames in the mid-18th century. The duke of Cumberland instigated the Cumberland Fleet for Thames racing in 1775. When George IV ascended to monarchy in 1820, it was then known as 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 organisation 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 continuing site of British racing. The club at Cowes became the Royal Yachting Club, likewise at the ascension of George IV. Every member was required to have boats of at least 20 tons (20,321 kg). Sailing races for high bets were held, and the club life was superlative. Eventually 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 went on when the English gained control. Sailing was largely for leisure and found its epitome in George Crowinshield’s Cleopatra’s Barge (1815), which cruised 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 group, the Detroit Boat Club, was formed in 1839. In 1844, John C. Stevens began the New York Yacht Club aboard his schooner Gimcrack.
Kinds of sailboats
Early sailing yachts took the style of such naval craft as brigantines, schooners, and cutters from the 17th century until the latter half of the 19th century. The craft of sizeable yachts was initially largely affected by the win of America, which was drawn by George Steers for a group headed by John C. Stevens, and it was the boat for which the America’s Cup (q.v.) had its namesake after its success at Cowes in 1851. Early yachts were not designed and crafted in the modern sense, with merely a model being used. Not until the later half of the 19th century did what was labeled naval architecture come into action. Not until the 1920s did the application of the research of aerodynamics do for the craft of sails and rigging what science had already done for hulls.
Because nearly all sailboats had been individually built, there arose a requirement for handicapping boats as this was previous to the one-design class boats were built. Thus, a rating rule was created, which resulted in the International Rule, adopted in 1906 and edited in 1919. In modern times, 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 created to single 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 held on an even par with no handicapping at all. A perfect 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 an activity primarily for the aristocracy and the wealthy, expense was no object, and the size of boats increased, in both length and weight. The ascendancy and popularity of smaller craft happened in the later 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 trip around the world (1895–98) sailed single-handedly by the naturalized American captain Joshua Slocum in the 11.3-metre Spray demonstrated the value of less sizeable yachts. Following this in the 20th century, particularly 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, yachts of less than 3 m were sailed single-handedly across the Atlantic Ocean.
Kinds of power yachts
Post the decade 1840–50, at which point steam started to take the place of sail power in market boats, the steam engine, and later the internal-combustion engine, were increasingly employed in leisure craft. Large power yachts were furthered to a high degree, and long-distance cruising turned into a favoured pastime of the wealthy. The early power yachts were paddle-wheel boats; those then gave way to yachts powered by the fully submerged screw or propeller sort of propulsion. As well as naval and merchant craft, auxiliaries possessing both sail and power were the yacht fashion for a number of years. By the later half of the 20th century, many yachts were still auxiliaries, but the large part were solely power yachts with gasoline or diesel engines.
In the last decade of the 19th century there was a boom in the manufacture of large steam yachts. Notably of these was the Mayflower (1897) of 2,690 tons, with triple-expansion engines, twin screws, and a compartmented iron hull, and was sailed 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 during World War II.
As larger and more reliable internal-combustion engines were created, many large yachts started using them for power. The creation of the diesel engine, using heavy oil for fuel, advanced in World War I. From the decade after, large power-yacht building blossomed, reaching a climax in the Orion (1930) at 3,097 tons. During that time the best auxiliary yacht manufactured was the four-masted, steel, barque-rigged Sea Cloud (1931) of 2,323 tons.
The manufacture of bigger power yachts fell away in 1932, and the style from then was for smaller, less costly boats. After World War II, many small naval craft were bought by private owners for conversion to yachts. In the late 20th century, yachting is a internationally beloved activity enjoyed by thousands of yachtsmen who are actually owning and upkeeping their own small leisure boats. The number of boats and owners is increasing steadily, not only in the traditional locations on the beach but also on inland waterways and lakes.
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