Yacht

A yacht was originally defined as a light, fast sailing vessel used to convey important persons. In later parlance, the definition came to mean any vessel, other than a dinghy, propelled by sail, power or both and used for pleasure cruising and/or yacht racing.

A sailing yacht can vary in overall length (LOA in yachting parlance) from about 6 m (20 feet) to well over 30 m (100 feet) or more. However, most privately owned yachts fall on the range of about 7 m to 14 m (about 23-46 ft) - cost of building and keeping a yacht raises skyhigh when the boat gets bigger.

Monohull yachts are typically fitted with a fixed or adjustable keel below the waterline to counterbalance the overturning force of wind on the vessel's sails. By contrast, Multihull yachts (a catamaran is an example of this type of vessel) use two or more hulls widely separated from each other to provide a stable base that resists overturning.

Until 1950s almost all yachts were made of boards of wood (steel was also used for bigger yachts) but nowadays there is a much wider range of materials. Most common is fibreglass, but also steel, aluminium and even ferrocement are used. Wood is still used (traditional board based methods as well as modern technologies based on plywood, veneers and epoxy-glues etc ), but wood is mostly used when building invidual boats, less often in industrial boat building.

Modern yachts have efficient sail-plans that allow them to sail into the wind. This capability is the result of a sail plan and hull design (typically a sloop rig) that utilizes Bernoulli's principle to generate lift.

The motive force being the wind, sailing is more economical and environmentally friendly than any other means of propulsion. Motor yachts depend upon mechanical means for propulsion, typically an internal combustion engine that burns fossil fuels. These are more expensive to operate than sailing vessels due to fuel costs and the large engines typically used. A more economical hybrid type of vessel is a motor sailing yacht that can use either sail or motor propulsion (or both) as conditions dictate.

Modern yachts are descendants of working vessels used for fishing and commerce. Famous examples of these types of vessels are fishing schooners such as Bluenose and square rigged tea clippers of the 19th century such as Flying Cloud. Tall ships are the modern descendants of the tradition of these commercial vessels.

Yachting for pleasure was formerly the province of the wealthy due to expense and the manpower required (because the boats were big), but today has become the pastime of many worldwide. King Charles II of England is mentioned as enjoying the sport in the diaries of Samuel Pepys.

Popular yachting spots:

• San Francisco Bay, California
• Newport Beach, California
• Newport, Rhode Island
• Cowes, Isle of Wight
• Fremantle, Western Australia
• Hamble, Hampshire, England
• Tollesbury, Essex, England
• West Coast of Scotland
• Auckland, New Zealand
• Hong Kong

See also

• catamaran
• dinghy sailing
• List of motor yachts by length
• marina
• sailing ship
• yacht racing
• yachting

See also: Yacht, 5.5 Metre (keelboat), Aluminium, Auckland, New Zealand, Barque, Barquentine