Yachting (competitive sailing)

Yachting can refer either to pleasure boating on a boat or to yacht racing. Yacht itself can have multiple meanings. As a pleasure boat, a yacht is a large craft that that moves over the water using sails, a motor, or both, but the motor must be mounted within the boat, and the ship cannot use oars or paddles. As a racing ship, a yacht must be sail-powered.

Yachts are large boats, generally seen as at least about twenty or so feet in length. Sailing yachts can be one of four types. Sloops, which have one mast, are the most common. Ketches and yawls both have two masts, with the after (rearward) mast shorter than the forward mast. On a ketch, the aft mast is positioned in front of the ship’s rudder. On a yawl, that mast is behind the rudder. The fourth type is the schooner, which has two or more masts, the most forward of which is shorter than the others. Personal sailing yachts tend to be in the range of twenty to forty feet long. Luxury yachts can near three hundred feet. Both of these types of yachts can include cabins, kitchens, rest rooms, and other facilities. Yachts can have one, two, or three hulls. The latter two types provide more stability.

Motor yachts vary in size, number of cabins, facilities, and the number, size, and power of their motors. Luxury yachts can surpass 200 feet in length and have accommodations for as many as a dozen people. The larger the yacht, the larger the number of crew.

The International Sailing Federation (ISAF), which oversees sailing, recognizes twelve different classes of racing yachts, from the 31-foot long Farr 30 class to the 62-foot Swan 60. It also lists nine different classes of Olympic racing boats, including both one- and two-person vessels.

Origins and History

The word yacht derives from the Dutch word jaght, which arose in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and was combined with schip to mean "a ship for chasing." Despite the name, the Dutch generally used yachts for pleasure craft rather than for racing. Charles II of England, living in exile in the Netherlands in the mid-1600s, became familiar with the ships, and when he was restored to the throne in 1660 returned with a 66-foot yacht given him by the city government of Amsterdam. His brother James came to own boats of his own, and the two siblings staged the first English yacht race in 1662 on the Thames River.

The first yacht club in the British Isles was formed in Ireland in 1720. The popularity of yachting picked up in the eighteenth century in Britain, and racing began in earnest by the middle of that century. A racing society was formed in 1775, and yacht clubs became established in the early nineteenth century. In 1830, the strait called the Solent, between Britain and the Isle of Wight, became the official site for British yacht racing, and races were still held there in the twenty-first century.

Dutch settlers in New Netherlands (now New York) brought yachting to North America, and pleasure sailing spread to other countries as well. George Crowninshield, part of a wealthy Massachusetts shipping family, launched a luxurious yacht in 1817 that he named Cleopatra’s Barge. The ship, more than 80 feet long, had a 20-foot by 19-foot cabin paneled in mahogany. When he cruised the Mediterranean, it was visited by thousands of people in each port where the owner stopped. Crowninshield died soon after returning home, and the yacht was eventually sold to King Kamehameha of Hawaii. The ship’s European voyage set off a flurry of luxury yacht building.

The first lasting American yacht club was formed in Detroit in 1839. Five years later, the New York Yacht Club was formed, and clubs in such cities as Boston, New Orleans, San Francisco, and Chicago were added. By 2000, the United States had about 1,500 active yacht clubs.

Yacht racing was formalized in Britain in 1875, when a racing association was formed. A similar group was not established in the United States until 1925. The International Yacht Racing Union (IYRU) was established in 1907; the name was changed to the International Sailing Federation in 1996.

Rules and Regulations

As there are so many different types of vessels, including both sailing and motorized ships, with such variation in size and purpose—from pleasure cruising to chartering to racing—it is impossible to summarize the rules and regulations of yachting. Certainly, any captain of a pleasure craft has to follow national rules for registering ships and for safety equipment. Charter vessels must meet national regulations regarding commercial vessels, since they are used for business purposes.

Oceangoing vessels must meet various international regulations, including the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS), the rules for Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), Marine Pollution (MARPOL) regulations, and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The COLREGS "apply to all vessels upon the high seas and waters connected to the high seas which are navigable by seagoing vessels" ("Pleasure Craft Regulations and Equipment" para. 7). The latter requirement means the rules would also apply to navigable rivers or other major waterways, such as the Great Lakes. The SOLAS rules govern such issues as danger messages, distress situations and signaling, lifesaving signals, navigating voyages to preserve safety, and radar.

Races follow the Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS), which are reviewed and revised by the ISAF every four years. Those rules are then in place for the next four years. The rules are divided into seven parts plus appendices. The first establishes general rules, which include the requirement of fairness and state the ISAF’s antidoping policy. This section also includes general safety rules, including the requirement that "each competitor is individually responsible for wearing a personal flotation device adequate for the conditions." The other sections address handling situations when boats are near each other, the conduct of a race, racing requirements, handling disputes or protests over races or their results, qualifications and entry requirements, and the organization of races. Various appendices provide additional information on specific issues, such as racing with radio-controlled ships, how clothing and equipment are weighed, and identification marks on sails.

Strategy and Tactics

Races can be one of three types—fleet races, matches, or team races. In a fleet race, many ships—possibly hundreds—race the same course at the same time. Match races involve only two ships that are comparable in size and equipment, such as the America’s Cup race. Team races involve up to four boats racing at the same time, but in these events the winning side is determined by the overall scores of all ships designated as being part of the same team. Some races, again like the America’s Cup, are regattas, meaning the competing boats race multiple times, and the winner is determined from cumulative results.

Generally, races follow a similar format. Courses are triangle-shaped expanses of water that race officials mark by buoys called marks. The course calls for all competitors to sail with the wind, against the wind, and across the wind, which ensures that every contestant faces the same conditions.

Racing boats use triangular fore-and-aft sails, meaning they are oriented along the length of the ship. Single-masted boats may carry both a headsail, positioned in front of the mast, and a mainsail. The headsail is attached to the mast on the long side and then tied to the bow of the boat by a rope called a headstay or forestay. The mainsail is attached to the mast on the long side and to a boom, a horizontal bar, on the short side. The boom is used to maneuver the sail to the starboard (the right side, when looking forward) or port (left) sides of the boat. Strategy does not always involve putting as much wind on the sail as possible. Wind speed is an important factor in deciding how to trim, or shape, the sails. In light to moderate winds, sailors want more curve in the sail to get as much momentum from the wind as possible. In stronger winds—15 or more knots—sailors want to keep the sail flatter. They do so by reefing, or rolling or folding part of the sail so that less surface area is exposed to the wind. Another key strategic point is when the boat turns around a mark. It is important not to round a mark too sharply to avoid losing the ship’s headway and thus its speed.

Professional Leagues and Series

Yacht racing has been part of the Olympics since 1900. Over the years, boats have gotten smaller, in part due to the difficulty of moving vessels to the site of the games. The ISAF has more than one hundred member associations around the world, meaning that there can be at least that many world championship events. The ISAF stages several events, most notably the ISAF Sailing World Championship, ISAF Sailing World Cup, ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship, and Team Racing World Championship, Match Racing World Championship, Women’s Match Racing World Championship, and ISAF Nations Cup.

Perhaps the most famous yachting race is the America’s Cup, which began in 1851 in Britain. That race was won by a New York-based yacht named America. Six years later, the winners gave the trophy to the New York Yacht Club and asked it to sponsor a regular race. In 1920, the race became a two-boat challenge, with both a defending ship and a challenging ship winning the opportunity to compete based on winning a series of qualifying races. The defending ship is not actually the previous winner, but a ship from the same country of origin as that winner. The competition, a regatta, was a best-of-seven contest until 1995, when it became a best of seven event. It later changed to a best of seventeen format.

US boats have won the great majority of the titles, in part because into the 1950s, challengers were required to sail their ship to the United States for the competition. This rule forced challengers to have somewhat heavier boats, giving the US ship a distinct advantage since speed is important to winning the race. That rule was changed in 1956, but it was nearly three decades before a non-American ship—Australia II—broke the string of twenty-five consecutive American victories. A New Zealand ship, Black Magic, won the race in consecutive contests in 1995 and 2000, which was followed by a double win for Switzerland’s Alinghi in 2003 and 2007. New Zealander Ben Coutts captained the Black Magic to both its victories and the Alinghi to its first trophy. The 2013 race saw a historic comeback by the USA-17, which trailed the New Zealand challenger by eight races to one going into the tenth and potentially eliminating, race. The USA-17 then won each of the next eight races to capture the cup.

Popularity

An estimated 2.5 million Americans took part in sailing in 2010, but that number is thought to have been a substantial drop from about 12.5 million in the 1970s. An estimated 600,000 people sail in the United Kingdom. Yachting is associated with wealth and luxury, and indeed custom-built yachts can carry price tags upwards of $10 million. Most yacht owners are not wealthy business tycoons, entertainment stars, or members of the shrinking aristocracy, however. They are ordinary people who love to sail or cruise in a motorboat, many of whom gained that love as children. While purchasing a yacht of any size or condition is not inexpensive, and berthing one in a marina adds to the cost, the maze of masts pointing skyward at any yacht club or bobbing in the waters of a lake or harbor show that the expense is within reach. Enthusiasts who do not own a boat also have the possibility of chartering one from time to time for a day, a weekend, or a short cruise to satisfy their need to be on the water.

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