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 when buoy racing or multiple legs when point-to-point racing.
Cowes Week is one of the longest-running regular regattas in the world. With 40 daily sailing races, up to 1,000 boats, and 8,000 competitors ranging from Olympic and world-class professionals to weekend sailors, it is the largest sailing regatta of its kind in the world. Having started in 1826, the event is held in August each year on the Solent, and is run by Cowes Week Limited in the small town of Cowes on the Isle of Wight.
Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other water-borne craft for as long as such watercraft have existed.
A Squib is a type of small racing keelboat designed in 1967 by Oliver Lee as a successor to the Ajax 23. It is a strict "one-design" class of boat, having a length of 5.79m, beam of 1.87m, a sail area of 15.8 sq m upwind, 29 sq m total and a weight of 680 kg. The usual crew is two people and the boat can be cruised or raced with a Portsmouth Yardstick of 1129. The Squib has been adopted by the RYA as the National Keelboat and is big enough to race at sea and small enough to be trailed easily behind a family car.
Uffa Fox, CBE was an English boat designer and sailing enthusiast.
The SB20 is a one-design class of sailboat commonly used for racing. Marketed and distributed by Sportsboat World the boat was designed by Tony Castro and launched in 2002.
America was a 19th-century racing yacht and first winner of the America's Cup international sailing trophy.
The J-class yacht Velsheda was designed by Charles Ernest Nicholson and built in 1933 by Camper and Nicholsons at Gosport, Hampshire. She was built for businessman William Lawrence Stephenson and between 1933 and 1936, she won many races and competed with other yachts of her era such as Britannia, Endeavour and Shamrock V.
The Seabird Half Rater is the oldest one design class still sailing in Britain. It is a 20 ft carvel planked sailing boat, with a design dating back to 1898. As of the 2017 season there have been 101 built [up to No.108]. The class has a Portsmouth Yardstick of 1229.
His Majesty's Yacht Britannia was a gaff-rigged cutter built in 1893 for RYS Commodore Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. She served both himself and his son King George V with a long racing career.
The Sea View Yacht Club is in the village of Seaview, on the Isle of Wight, on the north-east coast of the island. The Sea View Yacht Club was founded in 1893 and its stated aim is 'to encourage amateur sailing and boat racing'.
Itchenor Sailing Club is a sailing club located in Chichester Harbour which was founded in 1927.
The Twelve Foot Dinghy was designed by George Cockshott, an amateur boat designer from Southport, England in response to a 1912 design contest. It became the first one-design racing dinghy to achieve international recognition. The class was granted the 'International' status by the IYRU in 1919 and remained this status until 1964 when it was revoked by the same authority. The class was selected as the dinghy class for the Olympics in 1920 & 1928. In 1924 the French wanted to use an alternate French design.
The Classic Boat Museum is a museum of boats and of the history of yachting and boating. It is located on the Isle of Wight at two separate sites on either side of the River Medina; The Boat Collection in Cowes, and The Gallery in East Cowes. It is a working museum featuring restoration. Work takes place all year round. In addition to classic boats, the museum contains tools, artefacts, books, photographs, film and archival items that relate to the history of boat building, sailing, yachting, cruising and racing over the last century.
The RS Eliteclass is a 24-foot keelboat class designed by Phil Morrison. Built to meet the requirements of the Hayling Island Sailing Club, the class has a start at Cowes Week and events around the United Kingdom. Fleets can be found at the Royal Burnham Yacht Club in the UK, as well as at Falmouth, Belfast Lough, Cowes, Hayling Island and Lymington. Outside the UK, the class can be found in locations such as the Caribbean, Guernsey, Holland, Norway and Sweden.
The Britannia Yacht Club (BYC) is a private social club, yacht club and tennis club based in Britannia, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1887 by a group of cottagers.
The Daring is a One-Design keelboat which is based in Cowes on the Isle of Wight and races throughout the season around the Solent. Its construction is GRP, with some older yachts possessing original wooden decks.
Dolly Varden was a British racing yacht.
The Enchantress was a 19th-century racing yacht, winner of several national and international Cups including the Royal Yacht Squadron's 53-mile (85 km) regatta around the Le Havre to Southampton, and the New York Yacht Club's 140-mile (230 km) regatta from Owl's Head Point to Sandy Hook Lightship. She was designed by Robert Fish for George L. Lorillard.
The Royal Victoria Yacht Club was founded at Ryde, on the Isle of Wight and uniquely granted 'Royal' status immediately. In 1845 the club was granted a warrant to wear the Red Ensign of HM Fleet. From 1872 until 1898 the club held the warrant to wear the crown defaced Red Ensign. It currently holds the warrant for its defaced ensign. It is the second club of that name, succeeding a failed club on the Thames and preceding its namesake in Canada by nearly fifty years. It was once regarded as one of the premier yacht racing clubs of the world. In 1961, after two world wars and the decline in yacht racing as the preserve of the wealthy, the Royal Victoria amalgamated with two local dinghy sailing clubs and moved its base to Fishbourne on Wooton Creek, some five miles (8.0 km) west of Ryde where it remains.
