Yachting and Yacht Clubs
As the Dutch rose to dominance in sea power during the 17th century, the first yacht became a leisure craft used initially by royalty and later by the burghers on the canals and then in the protected and unprotected waters of the Low Countries. Racing was incidental, arising as private matches. 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 presented him with a 20-metre (66-foot) leisure 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, sovereign 1685–88), made other 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 affluent and aristocracy, but after that point the trend 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 association, and had large naval panoply and formality. The closest thing to racing was the “chase,” when the “fleet” pursued an imaginary enemy. The club persisted, largely as a social club, until 1765, and in 1828, when conglomerating with other clubs, it was known as the Cork Yacht Club (later the Royal Cork Yacht Club).
Yacht racing began in some ordered manner on the Thames about the mid-18th century. The duke of Cumberland instigated 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 following a racing fight, 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 sponsorship made the Solent - the strait between the mainland and the Isle of Wight - the continuing setting of British yachting. The association at Cowes became the Royal Yachting Club, again at the ascension of George IV. Each member was required to own boats of at least 20 tons (20,321 kg). Sailing tests for large stakes were held, and the social life was lovely. Ultimately Royal Yachting Club boats were raised in size to bigger than 350 tons.
In North America, yachting began with the Dutch in New York in the 17th century and continued when the English took control. Sailing was mostly for leisure and rose to its high point in George Crowinshield’s Cleopatra’s Barge (1815), which traveled on the Mediterranean Sea and established a standard of luxury and elegance for the later yachts in the 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 founded the New York Yacht Club while aboard his schooner Gimcrack.
Kinds of sailboats
Early sailing yachts followed the style of such naval craft as brigantines, schooners, and cutters from the 17th century until the second half of the 19th century. The design of sizeable yachts was originally greatly put upon by the win of America, which was designed by George Steers for a club started 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 only a model used. Not until the latter 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 craft of sails and rigging what science had already done for hulls.
Because nearly all sailboats had been individually built, there was a need for handicapping boats previous to the one-design class boats were built. Hence, a rating rule was decreed, which resulted in the International Rule, accepted in 1906 and edited in 1919. In modern times, one of the most rapidly blossoming areas in sailing is that of one-design class boats. All boats in a one-design class are manufactured to single requirements in length, beam, sail area, and other elements (for an example of a two-person sailboat, see illustration). Racing for those boats can be had on an even par with no handicapping necessary. A prime example is the standard International America’s Cup Class taken on board for racers in the 1992 America’s Cup race.
For the time that yachting belonged largely for the aristocracy and the rich, expense was no issue, and the size of boats developed, in both length and weight. The ascendancy and popularity of smaller yachts happened in the later 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 demonstrated the value of small yachts. Following this in the 20th century, particularly after World War II, smaller racing and pleasure boats became commonplace, 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
After the decade 1840–50, in which steam started to take the place of sail power in market craft, the steam engine, and later the internal-combustion engine, were increasingly employed in personal craft. Bigger power yachts were furthered to a high standard, and long-distance travel turned into a preferred activity of the rich. The early power yachts were paddle-wheel boats; these then gave way to boats powered by the completely submerged screw or propeller sort of propulsion. As well as naval and merchant boats, auxiliaries carrying 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 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 construction of more sizeable steam yachts. Conspicuous within these was the Mayflower (1897) of 2,690 tons, with 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 was used in active service in World War II.
As larger and better quality internal-combustion engines were developed, many big boats began using them for power. The establishment of the diesel engine, using heavy oil for fuel, progressed for World War I. In the decade after, bigger power-yacht creation flourished, climaxing in the Orion (1930) at 3,097 tons. From that period the largest auxiliary yacht constructed was the four-masted, steel, barque-rigged Sea Cloud (1931) of 2,323 tons.
The building of larger power craft lessened in 1932, and the fashion thereafter was in preference of smaller, less pricey craft. From World War II, a lot of small naval craft were sold to private owners for conversion to yachts. In the late 20th century, yachting has become a globally loved competition enjoyed by thousands of yachtsmen individually owning and keeping their own small recreational craft. The amount of craft and sailors is increasing steadily, not only in the traditional areas by the seacoasts but also on inland waterways and lakes.
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