In my books, it doesn’t matter how itty bitty your boat may be, you can call it a yacht if you want. Or, you can call it Ittyacht like I did this dinghy. 
What's a yacht?
- Thread starter AlastairLC
- Start date
I think the CG has retired the distinction between boat and ship. They now call everything a vessel.
-Will (Dragonfly)
I was taught by my dad that "...a vessel s something you pee in...". Navy man.
I used to feel the term 'yacht', was pretentious. I suppose that was just the local culture I grew up in.
Then I started to get to know sailors from a broader area, many in the EU, and began to get used to their easy use of the word 'yacht'. Pretty much any sailboat that we talk about, that isn't a 'dinghy' (pronounced ding-gee in the EU).
It's funny that in countries like Great Britain, where culture is more defined by class than ours (at least openly), so comfortably and without pretension, uses a term like 'yacht'.
Today I take the global view of the term 'yacht' and don't find it pretentious any longer. But I don't own a yacht, it's a boat or sailboat to me.
Here's a couple yachts, an old wooden Rhodes and a more modern Hinckley. If I owned one of these, it would still be my boat, ...your yacht?
Then I started to get to know sailors from a broader area, many in the EU, and began to get used to their easy use of the word 'yacht'. Pretty much any sailboat that we talk about, that isn't a 'dinghy' (pronounced ding-gee in the EU).
It's funny that in countries like Great Britain, where culture is more defined by class than ours (at least openly), so comfortably and without pretension, uses a term like 'yacht'.
Today I take the global view of the term 'yacht' and don't find it pretentious any longer. But I don't own a yacht, it's a boat or sailboat to me.
Here's a couple yachts, an old wooden Rhodes and a more modern Hinckley. If I owned one of these, it would still be my boat, ...your yacht?
Tom, I like your perspective, but it is still fun to tell people, I'm going down to work on my 'yacht', when you really mean an open, cabinless, 12' daysailer that some guy paid you $5 to get off his lawn.
What this thread is telling me, somewhere, someone honestly would view that boat as a 'yacht', so I wouldn't be.
-Will (Dragonfly)
What this thread is telling me, somewhere, someone honestly would view that boat as a 'yacht', so I wouldn't be
.-Will (Dragonfly)
If you tell someone you own a yacht, they nearly always think sailboat. But if you say you own a boat, then the follow-up question is: power or sail? A yacht race does not covey the same mental image as a “boat race.” In Australia, yachts are sailboats, big power boats are called “motor yachts.” “Vessel” is the most generic term (least specific) moniker, especially now that SUP’s have been defined as vessels. If you have a self-righting, self-bailing sailboat w/ a galley and an inboard engine as auxiliary propulsion and that is used for pleasure or leisure, you have a yacht. Note that many yacht clubs distinguish between boat-owners and non-boat owners, rather than yacht owner vs non-yacht owner, etc. So, owners of boats that are not “yachts” have equivalent status/privileges, etc. Pretty silly to have a “yacht club” where no one admits to owning a yacht; just a boat/ vessel of one kind or other.
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The term "yacht" implies leisure and luxury . Bring a good wine bottle aboard and you have a yacht.
Me wife and I often sip good wine with the bottle aboad while tootling in the dink. Most folks call them “yacht tenders.” I guess the sailboat would be the mega yacht in that case.
Technically, all recreational vessels are yachts and should be identified as such when hailing the USCG, bridge and locak tenders, etc.
On a lighter note...
A yacht is the term you used to describe your boat to anyone who's never seen it and never will.
Cruising is sailing your boat to exotic ports to work on it. Yachting is sailing your boat to exotic ports to pay someone else to work on it.
--Peggie
On a lighter note...
A yacht is the term you used to describe your boat to anyone who's never seen it and never will.
Cruising is sailing your boat to exotic ports to work on it. Yachting is sailing your boat to exotic ports to pay someone else to work on it.
Mothership
--Peggie
People would ask how big my boat was since they had no idea what a Beneteau 235 was. So, I'd say it's as big as a house. When they said "WOW", I'd finish up with, "well, it's as big as MY house- a townhouse of 23 feet". When I'd come home from work, sometimes I'd park in front and ponder that my boat was THAT BIG?
NotCook
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- Dec 29, 2008
- 805
So, by that definition, are “land yachts” included? Guess not - can’t really call them “vessels”.
What do you call it when you don’t really get to sail it, but just work on it all the time?
a) A job?
b) Retirement?
Mine will be a yacht when it’s up for sale. Until then I call it a boat when paying for dockage.
The last time I looked at a title for a Stamas, the designation on the paperwork was "yacht". My boat titles all read "vessel".
When I key the mike on my VHF, I normally identify myself as sailing vessel, motor vessel, or tender to, depending on what I am driving at the time.
I seem to remember that during the 79 Fastnet race, the crew of the Grimalkin consistently referred to her as "yacht Grimalkin" when calling on the radio.
When I key the mike on my VHF, I normally identify myself as sailing vessel, motor vessel, or tender to, depending on what I am driving at the time.
I seem to remember that during the 79 Fastnet race, the crew of the Grimalkin consistently referred to her as "yacht Grimalkin" when calling on the radio.
