Yacht

For other uses, see Yacht (disambiguation).

Sailing Yacht "Zapata II"

The "Lazzara" 80' "Alchemist" runs at full speed up the California Coast

A yacht in Lorient, Brittany, France

Aerial view of a yacht club and marina - Yacht Harbour Residence "Hohe Düne" in Rostock, Germany.

A yacht /ˈjɒt/ is a recreational boat or ship. The term originates from the Dutch word jacht "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries. After its selection by Charles II of England as the vessel to carry him to England from the Netherlands for his restoration in 1660, it came to be used to mean a vessel used to convey important persons.

Modern use of the term designates two different classes of watercraft, sailing and power boats. Yachts differ from working ships mainly by their leisure purpose, and it was not until the rise of the steamboat and other types of powerboat that sailing vessels in general came to be perceived as luxury, or recreational vessels. Later the term came to encompass motor boats for primarily private pleasure purposes as well.

Yacht lengths generally range from 10 metres (33 ft) up to dozens of meters (hundreds of feet). A luxury craft smaller than 12 metres (39 ft) is more commonly called a cabin cruiser or simply a cruiser. A superyacht generally refers to any yacht (sail or power) above 24 m (79 ft) and a megayacht generally refers to any yacht over 50 metres (164 ft). This size is small in relation to typical cruise liners and oil tankers.

Yacht ensign

Belgian yacht ensign

See also: Ensign

A few countries have a special flag worn by recreational boats or ships, which indicates the nationality of the ship. Although inspired by the national flag, the yacht ensign does not always correspond with the civil or merchant ensign of the state in question.

The US yacht ensign for example, has a circle of 13 stars and a fouled anchor in the canton instead of the 50 stars, being quite different from the ensign of the United States, which is the flag of the United States.

Yacht ensigns differ from merchant ensigns in order to signal that the yacht is not carrying cargo that requires a customs declaration. Carrying commercial cargo on a boat with a yacht ensign is deemed to be smuggling in many jurisdictions.

Construction materials and techniques

Until the 1950s, almost all yachts were made of wood or steel, but a much wider range of materials is used today. Although wood hulls are still in production, the most common construction material is fibreglass, followed by aluminium, steel, carbon fibre, and ferrocement (rarer because of insurance difficulties). The use of wood has changed and is no longer limited to traditional board-based methods, but also include modern products such as plywood, veneers, skinned balsa and epoxy resins. Wood is mostly used by hobbyists or wooden boat purists when building an individual boat. Apart from materials like carbon fibre and aramid fibre, spruce veneers laminated with epoxy resins have the best weight-to-strength ratios of all boatbuilding materials.

Sailing yachts

Main article: Sailing yacht

A small sailing yacht

Sailing yachts can range in overall length (Length Over All—LOA) from about 6 metres (20 ft) to well over 30 metres (98 ft), where the distinction between a yacht and a ship becomes blurred. Most privately owned yachts fall in the range of about 7 metres (23 ft)-14 metres (46 ft); the cost of building and keeping a yacht rises quickly as length increases. In the United States, sailors tend to refer to smaller yachts as sailboats, while referring to the general sport of sailing as yachting. Within the limited context of sailboat racing, a yacht is any sailing vessel taking part in a race, regardless of size.

Many modern racing sail yachts have efficient sail-plans, most notably the Bermuda rig, that allow them to sail close to the wind. This capability is the result of a sail-plan and hull design oriented towards this capability.

Types

Day sailing yachts

Day sailing yachts are usually small, at under 6 metres (20 ft) in length. Sometimes called sailing dinghies, they often have a retractable keel, centreboard, or daggerboard. Most day sailing yachts do not have a cabin, as they are designed for hourly or daily use and not for overnight journeys. They may have a 'cuddy' cabin, where the front part of the hull has a raised solid roof to provide a place to store equipment or to offer shelter from wind or spray.

Weekender yachts

Weekender yachts are slightly larger, at under 9.5 metres (31 ft) in length. They may have twin keels or lifting keels such as in trailer sailers. This allows them to operate in shallow waters, and if needed "dry out"—become beached as the tide falls.This is important in UK waters where many moorings are in tidal creeks. The hull shape (or twin-keel layout) allows the boat to sit upright when there is no water. Such boats are designed to undertake short journeys, rarely lasting more than 2 or 3 days. In coastal areas, long trips may be undertaken in a series of short hops. Weekenders usually have only a simple cabin, often consisting of a single "saloon" with bedspace for two to four people. Clever use of ergonomics allows space in the saloon for a galley (kitchen), seating, and navigation equipment. There is limited space for stores of water and food. Most are single-masted "Bermuda sloops", with a single foresail of the jib or genoa type and a single mainsail. Some are gaff rigged. The smallest of this type, generally called pocket yachts or pocket cruisers, and trailer sailers can be transported on special trailers.

Cruising yachts

An offshore sailing yacht

Cruising yachts are by far the most common yacht in private use, making up most of the 7–14-metre (23–46 ft) range. These vessels can be quite complex in design, as they need a balance between docile handling qualities, interior space, good light-wind performance and on-board comfort. The huge range of such craft, from dozens of builders worldwide, makes it hard to give a single illustrative description. However, most favor a teardrop-planform hull, with a fine bow,a wide, flat bottom and deep single-fin keel with ample beam to give good stability. Most are single-masted Bermuda rigged sloops, with a single fore-sail of the jib or Genoa type and a single mainsail. Spinnaker sails, are often supplied for down-wind use. These types are often chosen as family vessels, especially those in the 8 to 12 m (26 to 39 ft) range. Such a vessel will usually have several cabins below deck. Typically there will be three double-berth cabins; a single large salon with galley, seating and navigation equipment; and a "head" consisting of a toilet and shower-room. The interior is often finished in wood paneling, with plenty of storage space. Cruisers are quite capable of taking on long-range passages of many thousands of miles. Such boats have a cruising speed upwards of 6 knots. This basic design is typical of the standard types produced by the major yacht-builders.

Aside from this fairly standard design, built in numbers and using methods approaching mass production by the large yacht-building firms of Europe and North America, there are some common variations to suit a yacht for a more particular role or to emphasize one aspect of performance rather than the wide range of abilities needed in a standard design. The classic "long keel" yacht, where the keel is integrated into the lower portion of the hull and extends for all or most of the hull's length, rather than being a single fin attached to the hull at the center, is still being built in small numbers. The long keel generally provides better directional stability, especially in rough weather, at the cost of greater weight, a narrower hull which decreases interior space, and poorer handling when under engine power or in tight conditions such as a marina.

The Twister is an example of a long-keeled yacht designed in the 1960s.

Whilst the cutter rig with twin foresails was once the standard rig for most cruising yachts until the 1960s (when it began to be replaced by the two-sail sloop rig) it is now only commonly found on larger cruising yachts (usually around 15 m (49 ft) and over). Other rig variations are found on many different sizes of yacht such as the yawl, ketch, schooner and even unusual sail plans such as the junk rig.

A yacht may also be a "cruiser-racer", which as the name implies is a blend between the cruiser and racing variants. This is often a builder's existing design with changes to the rigging, sails, keel and controls to provide better performance. Some of the interior appointments may be reduced or removed to save weight.

The fixed fin keel is most commonly found on modern cruising yachts worldwide but some are still built with twin 'bilge' keels or with lifting fin keels which retract into the yacht's hull. In both cases these allow the yacht to sit upright on the seabed in shallow water or on areas that dry at low tide.

Most large yachts, 16 m (52 ft) and up, are also cruisers, but their design varies greatly as they are often "one off" designs tailored to the specific needs of the buyer.

Luxury sailing yachts

These yachts are generally 25 metres (82 ft) or longer, although the largest sailing yacht available for charter is 90 metres (295 ft).

In recent years, these yachts have evolved from fairly simple vessels with basic accommodation into sophisticated and luxurious boats. This is largely due to reduced hull-building costs brought about by the introduction of fibreglass hulls, and increased automation and "production line" techniques for yacht building, especially in Europe.

On the biggest, 40 m (130 ft)-plus luxury yachts, every modern convenience, from air conditioning to television, is found. Sailing yachts of this size are often highly automated with, for example, computer-controlled electric winches controlling the sails. Such complexity requires dedicated power-generation systems. In recent years the amount of electric equipment used on yachts has increased greatly. Even 20 years ago, it was not common for a 7 m (23 ft) yacht to have electric lighting. Now all but the smallest, most basic yachts have electric lighting, radio, and navigation aids such as Global Positioning Systems. Yachts around 10 metres (33 ft) bring in comforts such as hot water, pressurised water systems, and refrigerators. Aids such as radar, echo-sounding and autopilot are common. This means that the auxiliary engine now also performs the vital function of powering an alternator to provide electrical power and to recharge the yacht's batteries. For yachts engaged on long-range cruising, wind-, water- and solar-powered generators can perform the same function.

Racing yachts

Main article: Yacht racing

Cabo San Lucas Race Start 2013

Inshore yacht racing in Sydney Harbour, Australia

Racing yachts try to reduce the wetted surface area, which creates drag, by keeping the hull light whilst having a deep and heavy bulb keel, allowing them to support a tall mast with a great sail area. Modern designs tend to have a very wide beam and a flat bottom aft, to provide buoyancy preventing an excessive heel angle and to promote surfing and planning. Speeds of up to 35 knots can be attained in extreme conditions. Dedicated offshore racing yachts sacrifice crew comfort for speed, having basic accommodation to reduce weight. Modern racing yachts may have twin rudders because of the wide stern. Since about 2000 water ballast transfer pumps have become more common as have transversely swinging keels. Both these stiffen the yacht and allow more sail to be carried in stronger winds. Depending on the type of race, such a yacht may have a crew of 15 or more. Very large inshore racing yachts may have a crew of 30. At the other extreme are "single handed" races, where one person alone must control the yacht.

Yacht races may be over a simple course of only a few miles, as in the harbour racing of the International One Design; long-distance, open-ocean races, like the Bermuda Race; or epic trans-global contests such as the Global Challenge, Volvo Ocean Race, Clipper Round the World Race and Mini Transat 6.50.

Propulsion

Sailing is more economical and environmentally friendly than any other means of propulsion. A hybrid type of vessel is a motor sailing yacht that can use either sail or propulsion (or both) as conditions dictate.

Many "pure" sailing yachts are also equipped with a low-power internal-combustion engine for use in conditions of calm and when entering or leaving difficult anchorages. Vessels less than 7 metres (23 ft) in length generally carry a petrol outboard-motor of between 3.5 and 30 kilowatts (5 and 40 hp). Larger vessels have in-board diesel engines of between 15 and 75 kilowatts (20 and 101 hp) depending on size. In the common 7–14-metre (23–46 ft) class, engines of 15 to 30 kilowatts (20 to 40 hp) are the most common. Modern sailing yachts can be equipped with electric inboard motors in order to reduce consumption of fossil fuel. The latest technology are outboard electric pod drives that can also regenerate electricity (motogens). These motogens can be made retractable to increase the efficiency of the yacht. Some of these yachts are extremely efficient and do not need additional diesel generators. This technology is called Green Motion. Tests can be seen and read in the following magazines: Yachting Monthly, November 2010; the German magazine Yacht, January 2011; the Waterkampioen from the Netherlands, May 2011 and in Voile magazine in December 2011 in France. The Mansura Trophy was awarded for this new propulsion system in May 2011. Both catamarans and monohulled yachts are using this system now and are almost fossil fuel free. Slowly more yacht builders are installing the Green Motion system.

Hull types

Monohull yachts are typically fitted with a fixed keel or a centreboard (adjustable keel) below the waterline to counterbalance the overturning force of wind on the vessel's sails. Multihull yachts use two (catamarans) or three (trimarans) hulls widely separated from each other to provide a stable base that resists overturning.

Motor yachts

Newport Beach California March 2014

Motor yacht at Gdańsk Bay in Poland

Classification

Motor yachts generally fit into the following categories:

• Day cruiser yacht (no cabin, sparse amenities)
• Weekender yacht (one or two basic cabins, basic galley appliances and plumbing)
• Cruising yacht (sufficient amenities to allow for living aboard for extended periods)
• Sport fishing yacht (yacht with living amenities and sporting fishing equipment)
• Luxury yacht (similar to the last three types of yachts, with more luxurious finishings/amenities)

Propulsion

Motor yachts typically have one or two internal combustion engines that burn diesel fuel or gasoline. Depending on engine size, fuel costs may make motor yachts more expensive to operate than sailing yachts.

Hull types

The shape of a motor yacht's hull may be based on displacement, planing, or in between. Although monohulls have long been the standard in motor yachts, multihulls are gaining in popularity.

Relevance of global weather

Yacht travel depends on suitable weather conditions, and this requires the yacht user to follow a specific travel calendar in order to avoid bad sailing weather.

See also

• International Sailing Federation
• List of Classic dinghy classes
• List of Classic keelboat classes
• List of large sailing yachts
• List of motor yachts by length
• List of sailboat designers and manufacturers
• Luxury yacht
• Luxury yacht tender
• Model yachting
• Sailing yacht
• Olympic sailing classes
• Yacht broker
• Yacht charter
• Yacht transport
• Yachting

References

• Origin of the yacht
  • Fraser, Antonia, Royal Charles. A number of editions exist.
  • Gardiner, R & Lavery, B, The Line of Battle: The Sailing Warship 1650–1840, 1992 (2004 edition), Conway, ISBN 0-85177-954-9
  • Partridge, Eric, Origins, A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, Greenwich House, 1983, ISBN 0-517-41425-2