YACHTING, the sport of racing in yachts and also the pas time of cruising for pleasure in sailing, steam, or motor vessels. Yacht racing dates from the beginning of the 19th century ; for, although there were sailing yachts long before, they were but few, and belonged exclusively to princes and other illustrious person ages. During the reign of Elizabeth a pleasure ship was built ( 1588) at Cowes (Isle of Wight), so that the association of that place with the sport goes back a very long time. In 1660 Charles II. was presented by the Dutch with a yacht named the "Mary," until which time the word "yacht" was unknown in England. He was fond of sailing, for he designed a yacht of 25 tons called the "Jamie," built at Lambeth in 1662, as well as several others later on. In that year the "Jamie" was matched for 00 against a small Dutch yacht, under the duke of York, from Greenwich to Gravesend and back, and beat her, the king steering part of the time—apparently the first record of a yacht match and of an amateur helmsman.
The first authentic record of a sailing club is in 1720, when the Cork Harbour Water Club, now known as the Royal Cork Yacht Club, was established in Ireland, but the yachts were small. Mait land, in his History of London (1739) mentions sailing and rowing on the Thames as among the amusements then indulged in ; and Strutt, in his Sports and Pastimes 0800, says that the Cumber land Society, gave yearly a silver cup to be sailed for near London. The boats usually started from Blackfriars bridge, went up the •Thames to Putney, and returned to Vauxhall, being no doubt, mere sailing boats and not yachts or decked vessels. From the middle to the end of the 18th century yachting developed very slowly : although matches were sailed at Cowes as far back as 1780, very few yachts of any size, say 35 tons, existed in 1800 there or else where. In 1812 the Royal Yacht Squadron was established by 5o yacht owners at Cowes and was called the Yacht Club, altered to the Royal Yacht Club in 1820.