When is a yacht a yacht or not.

[chuckiebits]

You can call yours what you wish, it's a free world (well, I hear rumours that some parts of it are).

I don't have nearly enough money to consider ours a "yacht". It's a sailboat, always will be, and frankly I would rather belong to a sailing club than a "yacht club".

But that's just my opinion, FWIW.

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by irwinsailor

Also, I think a yacht must be paid off. If it is not then it is a liability and not a care free pleasure to own.

That means I'm a yachtie. Wait till I tell my wife .................._/)

As a long time member of a drinking club with a sailing problem, all I can say is "What's in a name?". My name appears in the 81st assition of "Yachting Yearbook", so I guess that makes me a yachtsman, but I consider myself a sailor. My boat is designed to a traditional workboat fashion, but it is not a commercial vessel, so, is it a yacht, or a vessel? Royce's "Sailing Illustrated" Vloume 1 defines a yacht as "A vessel designed for pleasure or state. This includes a presidential yacht and your dinghy, except the rowboat by legal definition is a rowboat."
The same source defines a ship as "a sailing vessel square rigged on all masts from three or more. USN version is 75' long or longer capable of taking passengers and/or cargo for long seagoing voyages...while carrying smaller boats aboard except variables." Decidedly vague at best. The fact is, calling all vessels boats is a coloquialism, and, as with most coloquialisms, has become accepted into the English language. As such, any vessel can correctly be refered to as a boat. I, personally, own boats. I can't afford a yacht.

[Jack Tar]

You tell me

Shall we call you captain, or sir

[S/V Elusive]

Thats a damn fine looking yacht!

[Steve Kidson]

When I go to the yacht club for a drink, (or whatever), I expect to see lots of masts and hear the sound of halyards clanking against aluminium masts in the gentle breeze and movement of water.

Ah semantics and definitions that hold slightly different meanings to different people. A great debate!

Fair winds (but only if you have sails) lol

Steve

Steve, depends on if you boat is docked outside the club. We tend to "help" our fellow sailors learn to secure their halyards so they do not bang against the mast Of course, if they are true yachts, they have wooden spars, and the noise is much more tolerable

[muskoka]

I drink pints at the Yacht Club - no jacket & tie required! But I take my boat sailing...

On t'other hand - my friends refer to my boat as a yacht. So, perhaps it's all in the eyes of the beholder.

And no doubt Michael Schumacher refers to his Ferrari as just a 'set of wheels'...

[muskoka]

Oops, that's one way to up your posts...

[Pa La O La]

My two cents is that it is a moniker use to acquire a higher price by the broker or a term used by the pretentious to show their status. Me, I was surprised to find some people thought I lived on a Yacht. NOT ! - I’d fall under the wine in a box crowd.

[Starbuck]

If this thread illustrates one thing, it is that language is as much art as science.

Definitions, whether from consensus-authorities like dictionaries or common-use, change with time, geography and personal perceptions of our own identities. In this thread alone, consider:

• the socio-economic status of the speaker, and how his perception of, or wish to identify/disassociate with a certain status, affects the adoption or rejection of the little Dutch word yacht.
• The geographic difference: Talbot lives in Britain, where the word has more general acceptance; across the Atlantic, yacht suggests class distinctions, which we Americans pretend do not exist. Here, the more generic, and class-less, sailboat is often substituted. Notice all we staunchly democratic Americans connecting yachts with power, money, and social entré? Some of us belong to yacht clubs, yet own boats, not yachts.
• the perception of the type of use the vessel is to be put to: I perceive a tendency for cruisers to leave the word yacht for the racers, and find other ways to describe their vessels.
• the traditionalists (I think Talbot and I are both in that camp, for example) who see yacht as the proper description, vs. the less traditional who express the idea "I don't care, I just sail it."

Of course, all these factors swirl together, each having a stronger or weaker effect on the perspective of the speaker. Using myself as an example, I think yacht is the perfectly correct term for just about any privatly-operated craft, and I'd like to see it revived a bit here. When I use it, I try to dis-arm any raised eyebrows at my highbrow term by tossing it out as matter-of-factly as I can, so as to get people to hear it without perceiving any snooty-ness. I only have a few hundred more people to talk to in my marina, then I can move on to the next.

So Happy Yachting, Everyone.

Sorry if all this bores you. I was a linguistics major and sociology minor, and this stuff fascinates me…

[rsn48]

If I recall, 48 North did an article on this very subject. And if I recall correctly, the original use of the word "yacht" was not to designate a boat from rich heritage. Instead the term was set up for inspectors who had to inspect all manners of commercial ships and boats. The inspectors felt they were wasting their time on recreational boats, so the term yacht was used to differentiate a commercial from recreational vessel, so that the yacht did not need to be inspected.

On a personal note, many of use feel that the word "yacht" is to upper crust to describe our vessel. On the other hand, with that same vessel, we then go and join a "Yacht" club.

[Talbot]

sailboat is not a term we would use in UK. Yacht covers everything from a 19 ft with a cuddy up to Mirabella V. Then there are motor yachts and steam yachts. For a country with a supposed class problem there is no prejudice either way for using this term: yacht. Just as the terms raggie, mobo, stinkie, half-boat, cat etc are just terms used within the sport.

Two nations seperated by a common language!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SkiprJohn]

My boat is currently a very large "lawn ornament" by definition.

I helped create a "Yacht Club" versus a "Sailing Club" because we can share reciprocal privileges with Yacht Clubs throughout the world. I once used my Pearl Harbor Yacht Club card to enter and use facilities at Monaco's Yacht Club. PHYC dues were $25 with no initiation fee. My current Yacht Club's dues are $25 a year for off islanders (Associate membership) with no initiation fee and its name is Na Hoa Holomoku of Hawaii Yacht Club which means shipmates of Hawaii. Most all our members sail and we have 16 club owned boats that we can share. Our membership has been as high as 120 familes in a community of 50,000.
The other yacht club in town is Hilo Yacht Club. Hilo Yacht Club has no marina, no piers, no boats and nearly all its members have no idea what a yacht is and don't care. It does have a very nice restaurant, tennis courts, and swimming pool and is located on oceanfront property and its dues and initiation fees are very high.
Not all clubs are the same but I like to think we are sailors and have fun messing about in boats more than any other yacht club.
Kind Regards, --JohnL--