Yacht

A yacht () is a sail- or motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. The Commercial Yacht Code classifies yachts 79 ft (24 m) and over as large. Such yachts typically require a hired crew and have higher construction standards. Further classifications for large yachts are commercial: carrying no more than 12 passengers; private: solely for the pleasure of the owner and guests, or by flag, the country under which it is registered. A superyacht (sometimes megayacht) generally refers to any yacht (sail or power) longer than 131 ft (40 m). Racing yachts are designed to emphasize performance over comfort. Charter yachts are run as a business for profit. As of 2020, there were more than 15,000 yachts of sufficient size to require a professional crew.

Etymology

The term, yacht, originates from the Dutch word jacht (pl. jachten), which means "hunt", and originally referred to light, fast sailing vessels used by the Dutch Republic navy and the Dutch East India Company. Typically, a jacht would scout ahead of larger vessels in a fleet.

History The history of pleasure boats begins with rowed craft in Pharaonic Egyptian times, and other vessels in the waters of Myanmar, India, Mindanao and Japan. Anglo-Saxon royal pleg-scips (play ships) of the 8th-century featured ornamented bows and sterns and had the capability of cooking on board.

Sail

The history of sailing yachts begins in Europe in the beginning of the 1600s with the building of a pleasure vessel for the son of King James I of England. While other monarchs used naval ships for transportation and conquest, James I was the first English monarch to commission the construction of a yacht—for his son Henry, Prince of Wales in the early 1600s. Pleasure vessels acquired the name yacht after the time of Charles II, who spent time exiled in Europe and visited the Netherlands, where a variety of jachten were already well developed as pleasure boats for the elite classes since the beginning of the 17th century. Upon his restoration to the English crown, Charles was presented with a yacht and later commissioned a series of royal yachts, which included at least one experimental catamaran. The first recorded yacht race between two vessels occurred in 1661, followed by the first open sailing competition in 1663 in English waters. Starting in 1739, England found itself in a series of wars—a period that saw a decline in yachting. In Ireland, however, the gentry enjoyed yachting and founded the first yacht club in Cork as the Cork Harbour Water Club in 1720. English yacht racing continued among the English gentry who founded England's oldest yacht club, the Cumberland Fleet, in 1775. With maritime peace, starting in 1815, came a resurgence of interest in yachting. Boatbuilders, who had been making fast vessels both for smugglers and the government revenue cutters, turned their skills again to yachts. The fast yachts of the early 19th century were fore-and-aft luggers, schooners, and sloops. By the 1850s, yachts featured large sail areas, a narrow beam, and a deeper draft than was customary until then. Racing between yachts owned by wealthy patrons was common, with large wagers at stake. The America's Cup arose out of a contest between the yacht, America, and its English competitors. Both countries had rules by which to rate yachts, the English by tonnage and the American by length. In the late 19th century, yacht owners would base their choice of vessel upon preferred lifestyle and budget, which would determine the size and type of vessel, which would most likely be a fore-and aft, two-masted sailing vessel. A treatise on the subject, A Manual of Yacht and Boat Sailing, provided detailed information on selecting, equipping, sailing, seamanship, management of the paid crew, and racing such vessels. It included a brief section on steam yachts, the recirculating coil steam engine just having made such yachts efficient enough for leisure travel on the water.

Power

While sailing yachts continued to exist, the development of reliable power plants created a new category of pleasure craft. The power plants started with the steam engine and transitioned to the internal combustion engine. Whereas sailing yachts continued to be steered from the after portion of the vessel, power yachts adopted the bridge in a forward cabin structure that afforded better forward and sideways visibility.

Steam The history of steam yachts starts with large sailing yachts with a steam auxiliary engine. Early examples, driven with paddle wheels, had a railed platform from which the person conning the vessel could walk across the vessel above the main deck, the origin of the bridge. In the late 18th century, steam engines became more efficient, spars were removed and screw propellers became standard. Steam yachts evolved with the development of the steam engine. Ultimately, engines employed pistons driven by steam within cylinders, connected to a crank shaft, which drove a propeller. Near the end of the 19th century, compound engines came into widespread use. Compound engines exhausted steam into successively larger cylinders to accommodate the higher volumes at reduced pressures, giving improved efficiency. These stages were called expansions, with double- and triple-expansion engines being common, especially in shipping where efficiency was important to reduce the weight of coal carried. Steam engines remained the dominant source of power until the early 20th century, when advances in the design of the steam turbine, electric motors and internal combustion engines gradually resulted in the replacement of reciprocating (piston) steam engines. Large steam yachts were luxurious; their staff included a captain, engineer, and stewards, as well as deck hands.

Internal combustion Nicolaus Otto and Gottlieb Daimler developed practical four-stroke gasoline engines, starting in 1876. Beginning in 1898 engines increased in horsepower from 25 horsepower (19 kW) to 500 brake horsepower (370 kW) by 1906. Some were destined for speedboats, other for motor yachts. Diesel power plants for boats were demonstrated in 1903. Diesels became a more prevalent type of power plant in the 20th century thanks to their low cost of operation and reliability.

Classification

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