Changes in Yacht Design 1860 - 2010 By
David M. Cannell FRINA
Te word “yacht” is derived from “yaght”, believed to have its derivation from “yaghen”, a Dutch word meaning to hunt or pursue, or an alternative meaning to tow a vessel.
The Early Yachts
Te earliest recorded yachts were fighting vessels of the 17th century when the Dutch fleet was at its preeminence, defeating combined English and French fleets in 1673. These yachts generally had a length of nearly 70ſt and were heavily timber planked and rigged with a combination of square and fore and aſt sails. Te largest Dutch yachts were over 100ſt long but there were a number of private yachts of little more than 20ſt. In Britain, yachting developed as a sport in the 18th century,
with the first yacht club formed in Cork, Ireland, in 1720. Vessels at this time, generally rigged fore and aſt, were slow and cumbersome by today’s standard. During the 18th and into the 19th century, very large prizes were introduced for yacht racing and yacht clubs were formed throughout the UK and at major ports worldwide, where the sport of yachting became popular.
1800 - 1900
During the 19th century, large royal yachts were built, enabling visiting royalty to remain, as it were, on home territory when attending a foreign country. In 1843, the new British Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert was built. Te Victoria and Albert was a paddle steamer with a length of 200ſt and beam of 59ſt. Te problems experienced by a vessel this size when visiting many ports in Europe were overcome by building a smaller steam screw driven yacht, the Fairy, having only a 21ſt beam. “Shadow” or supporting vessels have recently introduced with the modern large yachts. Te more recent trend towards larger motor yachts, now
called Superyachts or Megayachts, reflects the trend seen during the 19th century when a new British Royal Yacht, the Victoria and Albert was built in 1855 with over twice the tonnage of the predecessor and 360ſt in length, capable of achieving just under 15 knots. Steam-powered motor yachts with some sail assistance in the
late 19th century were of very efficient hull forms, being long and lean. During this period, it was not unknown for these larger motor yachts to undertake international voyages with some steaming round the world over several years. Te popularity of smaller boat sailing in the 19th century
led to the introduction of town racing regattas, where yachts or boats ranging from 20 to 80ſt would be allotted a primitive
handicap number. Te repeated success of some vessels led to dissatisfaction with the handicap system, resulting in the birth of the raters in the 1890’s, where similarly constructed and rigged vessels raced against one another, as half raters, ¾ raters and the like. Tis approach was replicated in the latter half of the 20th century with the half ton, ¾ ton and 1 ton designs. Yachting in America was centred around the East Coast, with
the larger sailing yachts oſten schooner rigged and with long, lean hull forms. Te schooner America was typical of the type, winning the famous America’s Cup in 1851.
Victoria and Albert II 1900 – 2010
Yacht design in the early part of the 20th century evolved through trial and error. Very large sums were spent by keen racing sailing yacht protagonists in developing faster vessels, oſten resulting in an unsuccessful vessel being built and scrapped within a few years. In order to control the diversity of racing yachts in a particular event, the Class yachts developed, including 12, 15, 19 and 23 metre Classes, with America developing the J and M Class racers. As the first holder of the America’s Cup, the USA stipulated the type of vessel the challenger should race to win the cup, resulting in the very fine J Class yachts being built during the 1920s and 1930s. A number of these yachts have been
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