Yachting and Yacht Clubs

As the Dutch came to preeminence in sea power during the 17th century, the initial yacht was a pleasure craft used first by royalty and then by the burghers on the canals as well as the protected and unprotected waters of the Low Countries. Racing was incidental, coming out of private matches. English yachting started 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 called Mary. Charles and his brother James, the duke of York (James II, ruled 1685–88), built other yachts and in 1662 raced two of them from the Thames, from Greenwich, to Gravesend, and the same way back, on a Â£100 punt. Yachting became popular among the affluent and royalty, but after that period the fashion did not last.

The first yacht group in the British Isles, the Water Club, was instigated in about 1720 at Cork, Ire., as a cruising and unofficial coast guard group, and had much naval panoply and formality. The closest thing to a race was the “chase,” when the “fleet” pursued an imagined enemy. The club endured, largely as a social club, until 1765, and in 1828, when conglomerating with other organisations, it became known as the Cork Yacht Club (later the Royal Cork Yacht Club).

Yacht racing was first seen in some stipulated manner on the Thames around 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 then known as the Fleet to His Majesty’s Coronation Sailing Society. The Thames Yacht Club seceded after a racing dispute, to become the Royal Thames Yacht Club in 1830. The first English yacht group 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 location of British yacht racing. The association at Cowes became the Royal Yachting Club, also at the ascension of George IV. All members were required to have boats of at least 20 tons (20,321 kg). Sailing races for large bets were held, and the society life was wonderful. It came to be that the Royal Yachting Club boats grew 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 took dominance. Sailing was largely for pleasure and reached its high point in George Crowinshield’s Cleopatra’s Barge (1815), which cruised on the Mediterranean Sea and created 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 instigated 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 followed the style of such naval craft as brigantines, schooners, and cutters from the 17th century through to the later half of the 19th century. The design of sizeable yachts was initially heavily affected by the success of America, which was drawn by George Steers for a club headed 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. Early yachts were not designed and crafted in the modern sense, with merely a model used. Not until the later half of the 19th century did what was called naval architecture come about. Not until the 1920s did the employment of the science of aerodynamics do for the structure of sails and rigging what such study had already done for hulls.

Because most of all sailboats had been individually manufactured, there came a desire for handicapping boats as this was previous to the one-design class boats were designed. Therefore, a rating rule was decreed, which ended up in the International Rule, accepted in 1906 and amended in 1919. Today, one of the rapidly flourishing areas in the sailing industry is that of one-design class boats. All boats in a one-design class are manufactured to the same dimensions in length, beam, sail area, and other areas (for an example of a two-person sailboat, see illustration). Racing between those boats can be had on an even basis with no handicapping at all. A perfect example is the generic International America’s Cup Class taken on board for yachts in the 1992 America’s Cup race.

So long as yachting was done largely for the royal and the rich, expense was no issue, and the size of boats grew, in both length and weight. The rise and popularity of smaller boats happened in the later 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 journey around the world (1895–98) sailed single-handedly by the naturalized American captain Joshua Slocum in the 11.3-metre Spray proved the hardiness of less sizeable craft. Following this in the 20th century, particularly after World War II, smaller racing and pleasure yachts became commonplace, down to the dinghy, a preferred training boat, of 3.7 m. In the late 20th century, boats of less than 3 m were traveled in single-handedly across the Atlantic Ocean.

Kinds of power yachts
Post the decade 1840–50, when steam was set to take the place of sail power in commercial craft, the steam engine, and later the internal-combustion engine, were employed increasingly in pleasure boats. Sizeable power yachts were furthered to a high element, and long-distance travel became a preferred activity of the well off. The first power yachts were paddle-wheel boats; they then gave rise to those powered by the completely submerged screw or propeller type of propulsion. As well as naval and merchant vessels, auxiliaries possessing both sail and power were the yacht fashion for several years. By the latter half of the 20th century, a lot of yachts were still auxiliaries, but the larger part were exclusively power yachts containing gasoline or diesel engines.

From the last decade of the 19th century there was a rise in the construction of large steam yachts. Notably of these was the Mayflower (1897) of 2,690 tons, that had triple-expansion engines, twin screws, and a compartmented iron hull, and was sailed by a crew of more than 150. The Mayflower, commissioned by the United States Navy in 1898, was the official yacht of the president of the United States until 1929 and saw active service in World War II.

As bigger and more dependable internal-combustion engines were produced, many big boats started using them for power. The establishment of the diesel engine, employing heavy oil for fuel, advanced for World War I. During the decade following that, big power-yacht building grew, reaching a climax in the Orion (1930) at 3,097 tons. In that point the biggest auxiliary yacht constructed was the four-masted, steel, barque-rigged Sea Cloud (1931) of 2,323 tons.

The building of larger power craft fell away in 1932, and the style after that was in preference of smaller, less pricey yachts. After World War II, many small naval craft were sold to private owners for conversion to yachts. By the late 20th century, yachting had become a globally beloved sport enjoyed by thousands of yachtsmen who are actually sailing and upkeeping their own small recreational craft. The popularity of boats and owners increased steadily, not only in the traditional areas by the seacoasts but also on inland waterways and lakes.

Looking for boat transport Sunshine Coast ? Talk to Elite Yacht Services. We do great work at competitive prices.