Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
YACHTING
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: WIL-YAK
del.icio.us it!
|
YACHTING
, the See also:sport of racing in yachts 1 and boats with sails, and also the pastime of cruising for See also:pleasure in sailing See also:steam or motor vessels
.
Yacht racing See also:dates from the beginning of the loth See also:century; for, although there were sailing yachts See also:long before, they were but few, and belonged exclusively to princes and other illustrious personages
.
For instance, in the Anglo-Saxon See also:period See also:Athelstan had presented to him by the See also: See also:Maitland, in his History of See also:London (1739) mentions sailing and See also:rowing on the See also:Thames as among the amusements then indulged in; and See also:Strutt, in his See also:Sports and Pastimes (18o1), says that the See also:Cumberland Society, consisting of gentlemen partial to this pas-time, gave yearly a See also:silver See also:cup to be sailed for in the vicinity of London . The boats usually started from Blackfriars See also:Bridge, went up the Thames to Putney, and returned to See also:Vauxhall, being, no doubt, See also:mere sailing boats and not yachts or decked vessels . From the See also:middle to the end of the 18th century yachting See also:developed very slowly: although matches were sailed at Cowes as far back as 1780, very few yachts of any See also:size, say 35 tons, existed in 'Soo there or elsewhere . In 1812 the Royal Yacht See also:Squadron was established by fifty yacht-owners at Cowes and was called the Yacht Club, altered to the Royal Yacht Club in 1820; but no See also:regular regatta was held there until some years later . The yachts of the time were built of heavy materials, like the See also:revenue cutters, full in the fore See also:body and See also:fine aft; but it was soon discovered that their timbers and scantlings were unnecessarily strong, and they were made much lighter . It was also found that the single-masted cutter was more weatherly than the brigs and schooners of the time, and the former rig was adopted for racing, and, as there was no time See also:allowance for difference of size, they were all built of considerable dimensions . See also:Early English Yachts.—Among the earliest of which there is any record were the " See also:Pearl," 95 tons, built by Sainty at Wyvenhoe near See also:Colchester in 1820, for the See also:marquess of See also:Anglesey, and the " Arrow," 84 tons, originally 61 ft . 91 in. long and 18 ft . 5; in. See also:beam, built by See also:Joseph Weld in 1822, which for many years remained extant as a racing yacht, having been rebuilt and 1 The English word " yacht " is the Dutch jacht, jagt, from jachten, " to See also:hurry, " to See also:hunt." See also SHIP and See also:SHIPBUILDING . altered several times, and again entirely rebuilt in 1887-88 . The Thames soon followed the example of the See also:Solent and established the Royal Thames Yacht Club in 1823, the See also:Clyde See also:founding the Royal See also:Northern Yacht Club in 1824, and See also:Plymouth the Royal Western in 1827 . In this year the Royal Yacht Squadron passed a See also:resolution disqualifying any member who should apply steam to his yacht—the enactment being aimed at T .
Assheton See also: 3 in. beam, and measuring 50 tons . See also:Prejudice against the new type of yacht being as strong as against the introduction of steam, there were no vessels built like the " Mosquito," with the exception of the " Volante," 59 tons, by See also:Harvey of Wyvenhoe, until the eyes of English yachtsmen were opened by the Americans three years later . About this period yacht racing had been gradually coming into favour in the See also:United States, the first yacht club being founded at New York in 1844 by nine yacht-owners; and in 1846 the first match between yachts in the States was sailed, 25 M. to windward and back from Sandy See also:Hook lightship, between J . C . See also:Stevens's new centre-See also:board See also:sloop " Maria," 170 tons, too ft. water-line and 26 ft . 8 in. beam, with a See also:draught of 5 ft . 3 in. of water, and the " Coquette," See also:schooner, 14 tons, belonging to J . H . See also:Perkins, the latter winning; hut the See also:appearance of the " Maria," which had a clipper or schooner bow, something like that of the racing cutters of 1887-88, did much for yachting in See also:America . Stevens then commissioned George Steers of New York, builder of the crack See also:pilot schooners, to construct a racing schooner to visit England i11 the year of the See also:great See also:exhibition, and the result was the " America " of 170 tons . She crossed the See also:Atlantic in the summer of 1851, but failed to compete for the See also:Queen's cup at Cowes in See also:August, although the club for that occasion threw the See also:prize open to all the See also:world, as her owner declined to concede the usual time allowance for difference of size . The members of the Yacht Squadron, not wishing to See also:risk the reproach of denying the visitor a See also:fair See also:race, decided that their match for a cup given by the club, to be sailed See also:round the Isle of Wight later in the same See also:month, should be without any time allowance . The " America," thus exceptionally treated, entered and competed against fifteen other vessels . The three most dangerous competitors being put out through accidents, the " America " passed the winning-See also:post 18 minutes ahead of the 47-ton cutter " See also:Aurora," and won the cup; but, even if the time allowance891 had not been waived, the See also:American schooner yacht would still have won by fully a couple of minutes . The prize was ;given to the New York Yacht Club and constituted a See also:challenge cup, called " the America's cup," for the yachts of all nations, by the See also:deed of See also:gift of the owners of the winner . (See below for .a See also:complete account of these races.) Not only was the " America " as great a departure from the conventional See also:British type of yacht as the " Mosquito," but the set of her sails was a decided novelty . In England it had been the practice to make them baggy, whereas those of the "America" were See also:flat, which told materially in working to windward . The revolution in yacht designing and canvasing was complete, and the bows of existing cutters were lengthened, that of the "Arrow " among others . The " Alarm " was also lengthened and turned into a schooner of 248 tons, and the " Wildfire," cutter, 59 tons, was likewise converted . Indeed there was a complete craze for schooners, the " Flying See also:Cloud," " Gloriana," " Lana Rookh," " Albertine," " Aline," " See also:Egeria," " See also:Pantomime " and others being built between 1852 and 1865, during which period the centre-board, or sliding See also:keel, was applied to schooners as well as sloops in America . The See also:national or cutter rig was nevertheless not neglected in England, for Hatcher of Southampton built the 35-ton cutter " Glance "—the See also:pioneer of the subsequent 4o-tonners--in 1855, and the " See also:Vampire "—the pioneer of the 2o-tonners—in 1857, in which year Weld also had the " Lulworth," an 82-ton cutter of comparatively shallow draught, constructed at Lymington . At this time too there came into existence a See also:group of cutters, called " flying fifties " from their See also:tonnage, taking after the " Mosquito " as their pioneer; such were the " Extravaganza," " Audax " and " Vanguard." In 1866 a large cutter was constructed on the Clyde called the " See also:Condor," 135 tons, followed by the still larger " Oimara," 163 tons, in 1867 . In 1868 the " See also:Cambria" schooner was built by Ratsey at Cowes for Ashbury of See also:Brighton, and, having proved a successful match-sailer, was taken to the United States in 187o to compete for the America's cup, but was badly beaten, as also was the " See also:Livonia " in 1871 . The First Great Era of Yacht Racing.—The See also:decade between 187o and 188o may be termed the first See also:Golden See also:Age of yachting, inasmuch as the racing See also:fleet had some very notable additions made to it, of which it will suffice to mention the schooners " Gwendolin," " Cetonia," " Corinne," " See also:Miranda " and " Waterwitch "; the large cutters " Kriemhilda," " Vol au Vent," " See also:Formosa," " Samcena " and " Vanduara," a cutter built of See also:steel; the 4o-tonners " Foxhound," " Bloodhound," " Myosotis " and " See also:Norman "; the 2o-tonners " Vanessa" (Hatcher's masterpiece), " Quickstep," " Enriqueta," " See also:Louise " and " Freda "; and the yawls " Florinda," " Corisande," " Jullanar " and " See also:Latona." The " Jullanar " may be noted as a specially See also:clever See also:design . Built in 1874 from the ideas of Bentall, an agricultural See also:implement maker of See also:Maldon, See also:Essex, she had no dead See also:wood forward or aft, and possessed many improvements in design which were embodied and developed by the more scientific See also:naval architects, G . L . See also:Watson, William See also:Fife, jun., and others in later years . See also:Lead, the use of which commenced in 1846, was entirely used for See also:ballast after 187o and placed on the keel outside . Of races there was a plethora; indeed no fewer than 400 matches took place in 1876, as against 63 matches in 1856, with classes for schooners and yawls, for large cutters, for 40-tonners, 2o-•tonners and 10-tonners . The sport, too, was better regulated, and was conducted on a See also:uniform See also:system: the Yacht-Racing Association, established in 1875, See also:drew up a See also:simple See also:code of See also:laws for the regulation of yacht races, which was accepted by the yacht clubs generally, though a previous See also:attempt to introduce uniformity, made by the Royal Victoria Yacht Club in 1868, had failed . The Association adopted the See also:rule for ascertaining the size or tonnage of yachts which had been for many years in force, known as the Thames rule; but in 1879 they altered the plan of reckoning length from that taken on deck to that taken at the load water-line, and two years later they adopted an entirely new system of calculation . The See also:Plank-on-edge.--These changes led to a decline in yacht-racing, the new measurement exercising a prejudicial effect on the sport, as it enabled vessels of extreme length, depth and narrowness, kept upright by enormous masses of lead on the outside of the keel, to compete on equal terms with vessels of greater width and less depth, in other words, smaller yachts carrying an inferior See also:area of See also:sail . The new type was known as the " lead mine " or plank-on-edge type . Of this type were the yawls " Lorna " and " Wendur," the cutters ~ " May," " Annasona," " Sleuth-See also:hound," " See also:Tara," " Marjorie " and " Margarite "—the most extreme of all being perhaps the 4o-tonner " Tara," six times as long as she was broad, and unusually deep, with a displacement of 75 tons, 38 tons of lead on her keel, and the sail-spread of a 6o-tonner like " See also:Neva." In 1884 two large 8o-ton cutters of the above type were built for racing, the " Genesta " on the Clyde and the " Irex " at Southampton . Having been successful in her first See also:season, the former went to the United States in 1885 in quest of the America's cup; but she was beaten by the " Puritan," which had a moderate draught of 8 ft . 3 in. of water, considerable beam and a deep centre-board . The defeat of the " Genesta " was not surprising; she drew 13 ft. of water, had a displacement or See also:weight of 141 as against the " Puritan's " 106 tons, and a sail area of 7887 sq. ft. to the American's 7982—a greater See also:mass with less See also:driving See also:power . Still, she did not leave the States empty-handed, as she won and brought back the Cape May and See also:Brenton See also:Reef challenge cups, though they were wrested from her by the " Irex " in the following year . The same thing happened to the " Galatea," which was beaten by the " May-See also:flower " in 1886 . In all classes in British See also:waters the narrow type was not carried to excess; indeed, as the narrowness of the new yachts increased annually, so did the popularity of racing decrease . Plank-on-edge Type abandoned.—See also:Prior to 1886 it had been the See also:custom in Great See also:Britain for several reasons to build the yachts deep, narrow, See also:wall-sided, with very heavy lead keels and heavy displacement . The system of measurement had been a tonnage measurement, and under this system designers found, from the knowledge they had then attained from racing trials, that a narrow heavy vessel would beat a wider and lighter craft when both were measured by the tonnage rules . In America this was not the See also:case . There a much lighter and wider See also:form of yacht had been in See also:vogue, having shallower draught and relying upon a centre-board for weatherliness instead of a deep lead keel . Hence in the See also:International contests from 1884 to 1886 for the America's cup and other events the trials were between deep and narrow British yachts and shallow and broad American yachts . Even in 1887, when G . L . Watson built the " See also:Thistle," much broader than " Genesta " and " Galatea," this vessel was met and defeated by afar wider and shallower American sloop, namely, the " Volunteer " above referred to . British yachtsmen claimed that their narrow deep-keeled vessels were more weatherly and better See also:sea-boats than the See also:light American sloops, but racing honours rested with the Americans . In 1887 the plank-on-edge type was completely abandoned in the United See also:Kingdom . Thenceforward, therefore, the old spirited contests between deep British yachts and shallow American sloops ceased . Whilst Britain abandoned her narrow deep type, America soon also began to modify the old shallow centre-board sloop type, and so between 1887 and 1893 the See also:rival types began to converge very rapidly, until the old See also:idea of a race for the America's cup being a test of a British type against an American type completely died out . Races sailed for that See also:trophy, after 1887, were less and less trials of opposing national types, but merely contests between British and American designed yachts built upon the same See also:general principle of similar type . See also:Dixon See also:Kemp in 1887 induced British yachtsmen to abandon the system of measuring yachts by tonnage and to adopt a new system of rating them by water-line length and sail area . The new system contained no taxes or penalties upon beam or depth nor upon " over all" length . The only factors measured were the water-line and the area of the sails . All the old tonnage rules taxed the length and the breadth . The effect of this See also:change of the system measurement was See also:electrical . It crushed the plank-on-edge type completely . There was not another See also:boat of the kind built . Revival of Yacht-Racing under Length and Sail Area Rule.—Yachtsmen were greatly pleased with the broader and lighter types of yachts that designers began to turn out under the length and sail area rule . They were more comfortable and drier in a seaway than the old vessels . The first large cutters built with considerable beam were " Yarana " and " Petronilla " in 1888, and in 1889 the first of Lord Dunraven's See also:Valkyries was a vessel that was much admired . Then in 1890 " Iverna," a handsome clipper-bowed cutter owned by Mr See also:Jameson, came out and raced against " Thistle." Meanwhile, up to 1892 a See also:host of splendid 4o-raters had been built; " See also:Mohawk," " Deerhound " " Castanet " " See also:Reverie," " See also:Creole," " Thalia," " See also:Corsair," " White Slave," " Queen Mab " and " See also:Varuna " formed a class the like of which had never been surpassed in British waters . Watson, Fife and See also:Payne were the most successful designers . While a revival of yachting in the larger classes was notable under the rule Dixon Kemp had originated, the sudden popularity attained in the small classes in the Solent was even more remark-able . Under the tonnage rules deep narrow 3-tonners, 5-tonners and lo-tonners had raced about the See also:coast, but the Solent did not seem to attract a greater number of yachtsmen as small boat sailors than the Thames, Mersey or Irish ports . Moreover, the Clyde really remained the most advanced centre of small yacht sailing . At Southampton, prior to Dixon Kemp's rule being adopted by the Yacht-Racing Association in 1887, there were some sporting classes of so-called Itchen See also:Ferry boats which raced on a rating consisting of length on the water-line only . As thef6 was no tax upon their sail, they were built (according to the ideas of designers in 1885 or 1886, who had not by that time absorbed the knowledge of the value of bulb-keels) with great beam, immense displacement and very thick heavy lead keels and huge sail-spread . A sail area of 2200 sq. ft. was crowded on to a 3o-See also:foot yacht, and one 3o-footer even carried a jointed spinnaker See also:boom 56 ft. in length . It was not surprising that such a type never became popular; indeed the Southampton length classes in the 'eighties were no better than the extremely narrow 5-tonners and 3-tonners . The 5-tonner " See also:Doris," built by Watson in 1885, was 33 ft . 8 in . L.W.L., 5 ft . 7 in. beam, 7 ft. draught; displacement of 12.55 tons; 1681 sq. ft. of sail . The " Yvonne," built by Fife in 1889, was 34.1 ft . L.W.L., 9 ft. beam, 8.1 ft. draught, with a displacement of 12.9 tons and a sail area of 1726 sq. ft . The difference in dimensions between " Doris " and " Yvonne " shows how the beam and sail-carrying power was in-creased in the new type, for " Yvonne " could beat the " Doris " with the greatest ease . With the See also:advent of the length and sail area rule the Solent at once became the fashionable See also:rendezvous for small racing yachts, and the craft known as the Solent classes, 5-raters, 22-raters, 1-raters and 2-raters, flourished greatly . The Second Great Era in Yachting.—As the years 1870 to 188o will always be remembered for the great schooners and the glorious fleet of old-fashioned cutters and yawls, which showed such fine sport before they were outbuilt by the plankson-edge, so will the seasons following 1892 be identified with the big cutter racing . In that year it was commonly said that yachtsmen would build no more very large cutters . The revival under the length and sail area rule had so far extended to " Iverna," " Tarana," " Petronilla," and " Valkyrie I." being built in the first class, but then there had been a pause of some years during which large See also:numbers of 4o-raters, 2o-raters and the Solent classes had been built . Just when the critics were declaring that in the future no yachtsmen would build a class racer larger than a 4o-rater (6o ft .
L.W.L. with 4000 sq. ft. of sail), the See also:prince of See also:Wales (afterwards See also:Edward VII.) gave an See also:order for the cutter " Britannia," while Lord Dunraven built " Valkyrie II.," Mr A
.
D
.
See also:
During the years that followed the " Britannia " held a wonderful record:
f-- Starts
.
First Other See also:Total
.
Prizes
prizes
.
Prizes
.
Value
.
~
1893 43 24 9 33 f1572
1894 48 36 2 38 2799
1895 50 38 2 40 3040
1896 58 14 10 24 1562
1897 20 10 2 12 1000
219 122 25 147 £9973
Some other famous racing yachts which were built under the length and sail area rule were " Ailsa " (1895), a first-class cutter designed by Fife, " Isolde," a very beautiful 40-rater for Mr Donald-son by the same designer, " Caress," a 4o-rater by Watson, and the 2o-raters " Audrey," from Lord Dunraven's own See also:model, " See also:Niagara " by Herreshoff, and the " Sibbick "-designed 5-rater "Norman," owned by See also:Captain Orr-See also:Ewing
.
Since the introduction of Dixon Kemp's rule the smaller classes from 2o-rating right down to z-rating had been built in great numbers, but whilst these classes had flourished exceedingly, the type of boat built had developed a very See also: |