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.
Dinghy racing is a competitive sport using dinghies, which are small boats which may be rowboats, have an outboard motor, or be sailing dinghies. Dinghy racing has affected aspects of the modern sailing dinghy, including hull design, sail materials and sailplan, and techniques such as planing and trapezing.
The flag of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda as a red ensign was first adopted on 4 October 1910. It is a British Red Ensign with the Union Flag in the upper left corner, and the coat of arms of Bermuda in the lower right. Prior to this like most of the British colonies at the time it adopted a blue ensign with a seal that depicted a dry dock with three sailing ships. In 1999, the flag was changed to its current form, with an enlarged coat of arms.
A yacht club is a boat club specifically related to yachting.
The City of Hamilton, in Pembroke Parish, is the territorial capital of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is the territory's financial centre and a port and tourist destination. Its population of 854 (2016) is one of the smallest of any capital city.
Jolie Brise is a gaff-rigged pilot cutter built and launched by the Albert Paumelle Yard in Le Havre in 1913 to a design by Alexandre Pâris. After a short career as a pilot boat, owing to steam replacing sail, she became a fishing boat, a racing yacht and a sail training vessel.
Sir Charles Benedict Ainslie is a British competitive sailor. Ainslie is the most successful sailor in Olympic history. He won medals at five consecutive Olympics from 1996 onwards, including gold at the four consecutive Games held between 2000 and 2012.
A Bermuda rig, Bermudian rig, or Marconi rig is a configuration of mast and rigging for a type of sailboat and is the typical configuration for most modern sailboats. This configuration was developed in Bermuda in the 17th century; the term Marconi, a reference to the inventor of the radio, Guglielmo Marconi, became associated with this configuration in the early 20th century, because the wires that stabilize the mast of a Bermuda rig reminded observers of the wires on early radio masts.
A variety of sports are played in British Overseas Territory of Bermuda, from those brought by British and International relations, and sail racing). Some sports and events have greater historical and cultural significance whilst others are played for entertainment or competition.
The Newport Bermuda Race, commonly known as the Bermuda Race, is a biennial, 635 nautical miles (1175 km) sailing yacht race from Newport, Rhode Island to the British island of Bermuda. According to its website, the Race is the oldest regularly scheduled ocean race, and one of two regularly scheduled races "held almost entirely out of sight of land." Indian Harbor Yacht Club has recorded more entries in the Newport Bermuda Race than any other yacht club in the world.
The Royal Malta Yacht Club (RMYC) is a yacht club in Ta’ Xbiex Marina, Ta' Xbiex (Malta).
The Bermuda Fitted Dinghy is a type of racing-dedicated sail boat used for competitions between the yacht clubs of Bermuda. Although the class has only existed for about 130 years, the boats are a continuance of a tradition of boat and ship design in Bermuda that stretches back to the earliest decades of the 17th century.
The Royal Windermere Yacht Club is a sailing club which was founded in 1860, situated at Fallbarrow Road, Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria, England.
The Royal St. George Yacht Club is a yacht club housed in a Victorian clubhouse, located in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland. Each season the Club hosts a number of national and international sailing events.
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 Marion to Bermuda Cruising Yacht Race is a biennial yacht race held in odd-numbered years, from Marion, Massachusetts to the island of Bermuda, a distance of 645 nautical miles (1,195 km). The most recent race was held starting June 9, 2017.
The sport of sailing involves a variety of competitive sailing formats that are sanctioned through various sailing federations and yacht clubs. Racing disciplines include matches within a fleet of sailing craft, between a pair thereof or among teams. Additionally, there are specialized competitions that include setting speed records. Racing formats include both closed courses and point-to-point contests; they may be in sheltered waters, coast-wise or on the open ocean. Most competitions are held within defined classes or ratings that either entail one type of sailing craft to ensure a contest primarily of skill or rating the sailing craft to create classifications or handicaps.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to sailing:
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 Wootton Creek, some five miles (8.0 km) west of Ryde where it remains.
The Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club (RHADC) is a private yacht club in the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda that was established as the Hamilton Amateur Dingey Association on, or before, 28 July 1882. It is the World's only Royal dinghy club.
