Sailing is an intersting sport and pasttime, dating back millenia. The ancient egyptians used sailing vessels as modes of transport for goods, and Saint Brendan, who lived 484AD to 577AD, is said to have sailed over the Atlantic in a leather sailing vessel (a modern take can be read in Tim Severin's "The Brendan Voyage"). Interestingly enough, some larger modern commercial vessels are harnessing the power of the wind once again to reduce fuel consumption, with the aim to eliminate using fuel at certain points of the journey.

 

However, unless we are embarking on a voyage such as Kon Tiki, Brendan Voyage or the Abora II passage (which ended in disaster!) we aren't too concerned with the ancient history of sailing, interesting as it is. Therefore we will fast forward a few thousand years to 1660, when King Charles II recieved a "Jacht" as a present from the city of Amsterdam. This is seen by many people as the defining moment that leisure sailing took hold and especially when the term "yacht" took over as the term for a leisure boat. The vessel King Charles II got was a Dutch Jacht, originally designed as a fast, manoeuverable vessel which was used within the Dutch navy to chase after pirate vessels. The Dutch word "Jacht" means hunt, which describes the type of vessel well. 

 

This was the first of a long line of royal British yachts and had a knock on effect. Many royals since then have taken to the water and enjoyed sailing. In 1826 the Royal Yacht Club hosted the first ever Cowes Week regatta, which one year later recieved the approvement of King George IV, who presented the King's Cup to the winner. In 1851 the racing yacht America won a race in the Solent, thus creating the well known "America's Cup". Both of these races are still held in regular intervals to this day, proving that sailing was becoming a popular hobby.

 

Unfortunately back then you had to be rich to sail, the first "America's Cup" races were carried out on J Class yachts, fantastic, massive and luxuriously comfortable inside, they are known as "Gentleman's yachts". And you had to be a gentleman to sail on one. Due to their immense size and luxurious build, only the richest people could afford to have one. And then they needed a crew to suit their social status. Thus it was known that no middle class worker could ever go sailing.

 

This however changed in the beginning of the 20th century when sailing became more popular for normal people. Smaller boats were being built and more people could afford to buy a boat. There are many stories from this era on sailing, "We didn't mean to go to Sea" by Arthur Ransome is one of my favourites, as well as "Magic of the Swatchways" by Maurice Griffiths. Sailing was becoming more popular, but the age old perceptions that you had to be rich to sail still hadn't been lost.

 

Fast forwarding to post war years, people wanted to get out and enjoy themselves and in the 20 to 30 years to followed many companies popped up, offering small family cruisers for anyone who wanted to sail. With the advent of GRP, more boats were produced in mass production, resulting in some of the best boats ever to be built (see Fritha for proof of this!). This made yachts even cheaper and sailing started to boom.

 

Nowadays, especially in Britain, sailing is everywhere. Every lake, river or resevoir that is big enough has a sailing club and today more than ever it is easy to pick up the sport! To get more information on how to start please continue reading the rest of this section (which can be selected in the menu above).