The first yacht group in the British Isles, the Water Club, was formed around about 1720 at Cork, Ire., as a cruising and unofficial coast guard organization, and had large naval panoply and rigour. The closest thing to racing was the “chase,” when the “fleet” pursued an imaginary enemy. The club endured, largely as a social club, until 1765, and in 1828, after conglomerating with other societies, it became known as the Cork Yacht Club (later the Royal Cork Yacht Club).

Yacht racing was seen in some ordered 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 called the Fleet to His Majesty’s Coronation Sailing Society. The Thames Yacht Club seceded with 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 site of British yacht racing. The club at Cowes became the Royal Yachting Club, also at the accession of George IV. Each member was required to own boats of at least 20 tons (20,321 kg). Sailing races for large stakes were held, and the society life was wonderful. Eventually Royal Yachting Club boats increased in size to more than 350 tons.

In North America, yachting started with the Dutch in New York in the 17th century and persisted when the English took power. Sailing was largely for leisure and found its epitome in George Crowinshield’s Cleopatra’s Barge (1815), which sailed on the Mediterranean Sea and set a standard of luxury and elegance for the later yachts in that area from the late 19th century. The first enduring 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
The first sailing yachts took the style of such naval craft as brigantines, schooners, and cutters from the 17th century through the later half of the 19th century. The style of large yachts was initially greatly put upon by the win of America, which was created by George Steers for a association started by John C. Stevens, and it was the boat for which the America’s Cup (q.v.) was named after its success at Cowes in 1851. The first yachts were not designed and built in today’s sense, with only a model used. Not until the second half of the 19th century did what was known as 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 it had already done for hulls.

Because most of all sailboats were individually built, there came a need for handicapping boats previous to the one-design class boats were made. Thus, a rating rule came into being, which resulted in the International Rule, taken on in 1906 and revised in 1919. In the present day, one of the most rapidly growing areas in the sailing industry is that of one-design class boats. All boats in a one-design class are built to standard specifications in length, beam, sail area, and other elements (for an example of a two-person sailboat, see illustration). Racing for those boats can be done on an even par with no handicapping required. A great example is the generic International America’s Cup Class taken on for racers in the 1992 America’s Cup race.

So long as yachting belonged mostly for the royal and the wealthy, cost was no issue, and the size of boats developed, in both length and weight. The rise and preference 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 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 less sizeable boats. Later in the 20th century, particularly after World War II, smaller racing and leisure boats became more common, down to the dinghy, a favoured training boat, of 3.7 m. In the late 20th century, yachts of less than 3 m were sailed single-handedly across the Atlantic Ocean.

Kinds of power yachts
Following the decade 1840–50, at which point steam began to emulate sail power in market vessels, the steam engine, and later the internal-combustion engine, were increasingly employed in leisure craft. Sizeable power yachts were progressed to a high standard, and long-distance travel was a preferred occupation of the well off. The first power yachts were paddle-wheel boats; these then gave way to those powered by the wholly submerged screw or propeller sort of propulsion. Like naval and merchant yachts, auxiliaries with both sail and power were the yacht standard for a number of years. By the second half of the 20th century, several yachts were still auxiliaries, but the larger part were only power yachts that had gasoline or diesel engines.

During the last decade of the 19th century there was a push in the manufacture of bigger steam yachts. Conspicuous of these was the Mayflower (1897) of 2,690 tons, containing triple-expansion engines, twin screws, and a compartmented iron hull, and was sailed by a crew of over 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 was used in active service in World War II.

As larger and better quality internal-combustion engines were created, many large craft began using them for power. The development of the diesel engine, with heavy oil for fuel, progressed in World War I. From the decade after, large power-yacht manufacture blossomed, reaching a climax in the Orion (1930) at 3,097 tons. In that period the largest auxiliary yacht constructed was the four-masted, steel, barque-rigged Sea Cloud (1931) of 2,323 tons.

The construction of larger power boats fell away after 1932, and the fashion thereafter was in preference of smaller, less expensive boats. After World War II, a lot of small naval craft were traded by private owners for conversion to yachts. At the late 20th century, yachting is a widespread loved sport enjoyed by thousands of yachtsmen personally manning and keeping their own small recreational boats. The number of yachts and owners is increasing steadily, not only in the traditional places by the sea but also on inland waterways and lakes.

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