The first yacht association in the British Isles, the Water Club, was formed in about 1720 at Cork, Ire., as a cruising and unofficial coast guard group, and had large naval panoply and formality. The closest thing to a race was the “chase,” for which the “fleet” pursued a fictional enemy. The club endured, largely as a social club, until 1765, and in 1828, by conglomerating with other societies, it was known as the Cork Yacht Club (later the Royal Cork Yacht Club).

Yacht racing was seen in some stipulated fashion on the Thames around the mid-18th century. The duke of Cumberland founded the Cumberland Fleet for Thames racing in 1775. When George IV rose to the throne in 1820, it was called the Fleet to His Majesty’s Coronation Sailing Society. The Thames Yacht Club seceded after a racing argument, 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 patronage made the Solent – the strait between the mainland and the Isle of Wight – the continuing setting of British racing. The association at Cowes became the Royal Yachting Club, again at the ascension of George IV. All members were required to own boats of at least 20 tons (20,321 kg). Sailing races for great bets were held, and the social life was superlative. It came to be that the Royal Yachting Club boats were raised in size to more than 350 tons.

In North America, yachting began with the Dutch in New York in the 17th century and went on when the English had power. Sailing was mostly for fun and found its apogee in George Crowinshield’s Cleopatra’s Barge (1815), which traveled on the Mediterranean Sea and created a benchmark of luxury and sophistication for the later yachts in those waters from the late 19th century. The first continuing American yacht society, the Detroit Boat Club, was instigated in 1839. In 1844, John C. Stevens began 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 until the later half of the 19th century. The craft of bigger yachts was initially heavily impacted by the win of America, which was designed by George Steers for a group started 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. Earlier yachts were not designed and crafted in a contemporary sense, with only a model being used. Not until the second half of the 19th century did what was known as naval architecture come into being. Not until the 1920s did the application of the science of aerodynamics do for the craft of sails and rigging what such science had done earlier for hulls.

Because almost all sailboats had been individually custom-built, there arose a requirement for handicapping boats as this was before the one-design class boats were designed. Thus, a rating rule was written, which is found in the International Rule, taken on in 1906 and revised in 1919. In modern times, one of the fastest growing areas in sailing is that of one-design class boats. All boats in a one-design class are built to single dimensions in length, beam, sail area, and other areas (for an example of a two-person sailboat, see illustration). Racing for such boats can be held on an even basis with no handicapping required. A great example is the uniform International America’s Cup Class taken on for participants in the 1992 America’s Cup race.

As long as yachting was done primarily for the aristocracy and the affluent, expense was no object, and the size of boats grew, in both length and weight. The promotion and preference of smaller boats occurred in the second half of the 19th century out of 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) led single-handedly by the naturalized American captain Joshua Slocum in the 11.3-metre Spray made plain the hardiness of less sizeable yachts. Following this in the 20th century, particularly after World War II, smaller racing and recreational boats became commonplace, down to the dinghy, a popular training boat, of 3.7 m. In the late 20th century, boats of less than 3 m were setting sail single-handedly across the Atlantic Ocean.

Kinds of power yachts
After the decade 1840–50, when steam began to take the place of sail power in commercial boats, the steam engine, and later the internal-combustion engine, were employed increasingly in leisure boats. Large power yachts were progressed to a high degree, and long-distance cruising became a preferred activity of the rich. The first power yachts were paddle-wheel boats; these then gave rise to boats powered by the fully submerged screw or propeller type of propulsion. Like naval and merchant craft, auxiliaries with both sail and power were the yacht archetype for many years. By the later half of the 20th century, several yachts were still auxiliaries, but the majority were solely power yachts that had gasoline or diesel engines.

During the last decade of the 19th century there was a boom in the construction of more sizeable steam yachts. Notably within these was the Mayflower (1897) of 2,690 tons, containing triple-expansion engines, twin screws, and a compartmented iron hull, and was manned by a crew of at least 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 gave active service for World War II.

As more sizeable and more reliable internal-combustion engines were developed, many large yachts began using them for power. The establishment of the diesel engine, with heavy oil for fuel, advanced during World War I. During the decade following that, bigger power-yacht building flourished, hitting a climax in the Orion (1930) at 3,097 tons. From that point the biggest auxiliary yacht constructed was the four-masted, steel, barque-rigged Sea Cloud (1931) of 2,323 tons.

The construction of larger power yachts declined after 1932, and the fashion thereafter was for smaller, less costly craft. After World War II, a lot of small naval craft were bought by private owners for conversion to yachts. At the late 20th century, yachting has become a globally popular activity enjoyed by thousands of yachtsmen personally manning and keeping their own small recreational boats. The number of yachts and sailors has increased steadily, not only in the traditional areas by the seacoasts but also on inland waterways and lakes.

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