Boat or Yacht?

beancounter

beancounter

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Some time ago, I caused a sailing friend of mine some concern by referring to his craft as a "yacht". "No, it's a boat" he replied "yachts are bigger" (he had a Dehler 35 at the time). "Also the word yacht has a certain image" (Presumably the image he was thinking of was one of conspicuous wealth, exotic locations, semi-clad young beauties draped over the foredeck.......sorry, drifted off a bit there).

Is this a defense mechanism born of perceived negative views of sailing types? How do you refer to your craft?

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All yachts are boats, but not all boats are yachts, So for a boat to be a Yacht as well as a boat, it should have a cabin with living accomodation on board, and a set of sails.

Quite where that leavesa stripped out 'Cupper' I'm not sure. Also RNLI have a naty habit of referring to all recreational boaters as 'yachtsmen' in their casualty lists - even if the casualty was 2 anglers in rubber dinghy. Gives our sport a bad reputation.


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They and the RYA also refer to it as a "sport", which in my book is an officially competitive pastime and covers only a small minority of sailors and motorboaters. Maybe that's because the RYA only represents racing sailboat users?

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There is no need for a yacht to have a cabin (he says rather indignantly as the owner of an open boat of elegant lines which although small and open is to many people far more of a yacht that the cabined caravans in the harbour). I suspect that a yacht needs ballast (to distinguish it from a dingy), white or cream sails (to distinguish it from working boats), and no plimsole line (to distinguish it from a ship). Its all semantics anyway. Your friend obvioulsy has issues he needs to deal with.

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Your own boat is always a boat. But it is complimetary and respectful to refer to other people's boats initially as "your Yacht". Like the "du" form in german, the moment they refer to their boat, or correct you that it's a boat - then it's a boat. If someone continually referred to their "Yacht" they are a bit stuck up. I know people with 40+metre sailing yachts who still refer to their "boat".



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OED definition

yacht // n. & v.
n.
1 a light sailing vessel, esp. equipped for racing.
2 a larger usu. power-driven vessel equipped for cruising.
3 a light vessel for travel on sand or ice.
v.intr. race or cruise in a yacht.
yachting n.
[early modern Dutch jaghte from jaghtschip ‘fast pirate ship’, from jag(h)t ‘hunting’ (from jagen ‘to hunt’) + schip ship

For the French a "yacht" is a gin palace.

John

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Which one ?

I have 3 !!

<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.qqbaltic.com/index.html>http://www.qqbaltic.com/index.html</A> For all those disbelievers ! /forums/images/icons/cool.gif
 
No, no, no, no. You only to have to read any Daily newspaper - preferably the more scurrilous rags- to realize that it doesn't matter what sort of craft it is - it is always a "luxury yacht"!

(This is part of the campaign by everyone else to establish that we're all stinking rich to own a boat and therefore fair game for taxmen, marina owners, speed cameras - ooops I didn't say that)

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I always say "I am just popping down to the boat". To say "I am just popping down to the yacht" would make one appear to be a bit of a to55er I feel.

<hr width=100% size=1>Sail the Se7en seas...
 
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