Yachting is recreational boating activities using medium/large-sized boats or small ships collectively called yachts. Yachting is distinguished from other forms of boating mainly by the priority focus on comfort and luxury, the dependence on marinas for docking, and being typically only for exclusive social leisures such as cruising, fishing trip or racing.
A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a yacht, as opposed to a boat, such a pleasure vessel is likely to be at least 33 feet (10 m) in length and may have been judged to have good aesthetic qualities.
Yacht racing is a sailing sport involving sailing yachts and larger sailboats, as distinguished from dinghy racing, which involves open boats. It is composed of multiple yachts, in direct competition, racing around a course marked by buoys or other fixed navigational devices or racing longer distances across open water from point-to-point. It can involve a series of races with buoy racing or multiple legs when point-to-point racing.
Gipsy Moth IV is a 53 ft (16 m) ketch that Sir Francis Chichester commissioned specifically to sail single-handed around the globe, racing against the times set by the clipper ships of the 19th century.
A superyacht or megayacht is a large and luxurious pleasure vessel. There are no official or agreed upon definitions for such yachts, but these terms are regularly used to describe professionally crewed motor or sailing yachts, ranging from 40 metres (130 ft) to more than 180 metres (590 ft) in length, and sometimes include yachts as small as 24 metres (79 ft).
The Contessa 32 is a 9.75 metre (32 ft) fibreglass monohull sailing yacht, designed in 1970 by David Sadler in collaboration with yachtbuilder Jeremy Rogers, as a larger alternative to the Contessa 26. With over 750 hulls built, the yacht has become the most successful one-design cruiser-racer of all time. The yachts have a masthead sloop rig, with a fin keel and a skeg-mounted rudder, a cutting edge concept for the period which now represents a cross between newer and older designs.
The Transat Jacques Vabre is a yachting race that follows the historic coffee trading route between France and Brazil. It is named after a French brand of coffee.
Huckins Yacht Corporation is one of the oldest boat builders in the United States. The company is located on the Ortega River in Jacksonville, Florida, and is run by its third-generation owners, Cindy and Buddy Purcell. Huckins manufactures custom yachts ranging from 40 to 90 feet that combine classic design and traditional workmanship with modern technology and amenities. It has built a total of 457 yachts during its 80 years of operation, crafting vessels one at a time.
The Barcelona World Race is a non-stop, round-the-world yacht race for crews of two, sailed on Open 60 IMOCA monohull boats. Following the Clipper route, it starts and finishes in Barcelona, and is organised by the Barcelona Ocean Sailing Foundation (FNOB).
Oyster Yachts is a British brand of luxury cruising sailing yachts established in 1973. The company is based in Southampton but with foundation and ongoing strong links to Wroxham and Ipswich.
The Corvette Motoryacht originally was a British-built "trawler-styled" motorboat with a nominal hull length of 32 feet and a beam of 13 feet (3.96m). The styling was traditional rather than contemporary, with a raised aft deck, wide walkaround side-decks, flybridge and fore & aft twin cabins, both with their own shower and toilet. Particular attributes were the spacious internal accommodation facilitated by the relatively wide beam and the full use of the two-level external deck space, providing comfortable social seating for eleven. The very wide one-level side decks also facilitated safe movement and working around the boat. Unusually for a trawler yacht, by virtue of its semi-planing hull design, speeds in excess of 20 knots were achievable, depending on the engines used. Twin engines were almost universally used, but there were some rare variants specially custom-built with a single engine in the 1980s. The Corvette was noted for its good sea-keeping qualities, by virtue of its somewhat unorthodox hull form. Production started in 1974 with the Corvette 32 and through a number of company changes and developments became the Corvette 320 and finally the 340, a development of the 320 based on the same hull but with a revised aft deck/cabin, when production moved to Taiwan in 2009 and continues currently. The Corvette is a hand-built boat of some exclusivity, only having been manufactured in relatively very small numbers for a boat of this type over its four decade history.
Guillaume Verdier is a French naval architect noted for his designs of high performance sailboats.
The 2012–2013 Vendée Globe is a non-stop solo Round the World Yacht Race for IMOCA 60 class yachts this is the seventh edition of the race.
The 2008–2009 Vendée Globe is a non-stop solo Round the World Yacht Race for IMOCA 60 class yachts this is the sixth edition of the race.
The 2004–2005 Vendée Globe is a non-stop solo Round the World Yacht Race for IMOCA 60 class yachts this is the fifth edition of the race starting on 7 November 2004 from Les Sables-d'Olonne.
Jean-Pierre Dick is a French professional yachtsman.
The IMOCA 60 Class yacht Gitana 80 was designed by Farr Yacht Design and launched in 2007 after being assembled by Southern Ocean Marine based in New Zealand the boat was then shipped to France before being launched. The boat is a sistership to Paprec Virbac 2 also built by the same builder from the same moulds.
The IMOCA 60 Class yacht Paprec-Virbac 2 was designed by Farr Yacht Design and launched in 2007 after being assembled by Southern Ocean Marine based in New Zealand the boat was then shipped to France before being launched. The boat is a sistership to Gitana 80 also built by the same builder from the same moulds.
The IMOCA 60 Class yacht Paprec-Virbac 3 was designed in partnership with VPLP and Guillaume Verdier and launched on 18 May 2010 after being built by Cookson Boats in New Zealand. It is named after the companies that sponsored its construction, Virbac and Paprec. The boat was lost during the 2016 Vendee Globe where the skipper was rescued and in November 2018 the remains of written of yacht were found on the east coast of Madagascar.
The IMOCA 60 Class yacht Saint Michel - Virbac, FRA 06 was designed by VPLP design and Guillaume Verdier and launched in the 11th September 2015 after being built Multiplast in Vannes, France.
