At what length does a boat become a yacht?

SINKorSWIM · 09-23-2007, 07:23 AM

Hi all. I wanted to ask this question but never got around to asking, but here it is...

I would like to now the approximate feet for these. The length when a boat is called a yacht, the length when a yacht is called a super yacht and so forth.

Thank you in advance,
SINKorSWIM

Loren Schweizer · 09-23-2007, 08:47 PM

Hi Sink or Swim:

Nomenclature can be so tiring. "Boating" or "Yachting" or "SuperYachts"...

When I tell my office manager I'm off to do seatrials on an 87-footer, I'm "going for a boat ride".

When I'm playing hooky, I'll call & tell her that I'm going "yachting" and she knows that I'll be out on Biscayne Bay on my 16-ft. kayak.

"Superyachts"? That's what 130-footers used to be called ten years ago, but I'd suppose much less than 250 feet nowadays hardly qualifies.

Check back in a year or so--it'll all change.

It's a matter of mindset.

jsi · 09-24-2007, 12:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loren Schweizer

Hi Sink or Swim:

Nomenclature can be so tiring. "Boating" or "Yachting" or "SuperYachts"...

When I tell my office manager I'm off to do seatrials on an 87-footer, I'm "going for a boat ride".

When I'm playing hooky, I'll call & tell her that I'm going "yachting" and she knows that I'll be out on Biscayne Bay on my 16-ft. kayak.

"Superyachts"? That's what 130-footers used to be called ten years ago, but I'd suppose much less than 250 feet nowadays hardly qualifies.

Check back in a year or so--it'll all change

It's a matter of mindset.

Built - and am still building - BOATS.

Everything from a 16' Cape Cod dory to 50 metre big-ass boats.

Now - as with the shoemaker whose children have no shoes - if I could just afford the time away from nonstop building goddam boats for a living, I could build me a simple little 22' Calkins Bartender and die and go to heaven..............

so it goes

jsi

JWY · 09-24-2007, 08:44 AM

Depends on the recipient of the term. If it is a seller, it's a boat. If it's a buyer, it's a yacht.

Ken Bracewell · 09-24-2007, 08:49 AM

"A Yacht is what a pretentious person calls his boat"

YachtForums · 09-24-2007, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JWY

Depends on the recipient of the term. If it is a seller, it's a boat. If it's a buyer, it's a yacht.

Shouldn't that be the other way around?

JWY · 09-24-2007, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YachtForums

Shouldn't that be the other way around?

We want the seller to detach emotionally from his vessel. We want the buyer to become Ken's pretentious owner with bragging rights.

The real estate equivalent is a seller is selling his house, but a buyer is looking for his new home.

Emotional verbiage that really sounds more prescribed than practiced.

YachtForums · 09-24-2007, 09:32 AM

OK, now I understand. It's all about perspective...

As a broker, you want the seller to be detached.

But when I'm the seller... my 25 footer is a YACHT!

KCook · 09-24-2007, 10:20 AM

Key point I think. Very often on other sites I see guys going on and on and on about how fussy they are going to be about who they sell their boat to. As if the buyer is assumed to be low life until proven otherwise. When I turned my boat over to a broker, he told me "forget this boat as of now, as it's no longer your property". And he was perfectly right.

Kelly

YachtForums · 09-24-2007, 11:50 AM

I need to apologize... I've been searching YF for threads relevant to the question, but to no avail. Somewhere in the GY forum, we had a thread that outlined designation by length. I remember it, because I posted it. But as Loren stated, the designation seems to be changing by the year.

Let's put this question to rest. At what point a boat becomes designated a yacht is subject to debate, but for the new-fangled prefixes that have accompanied the magnitude of new, larger yachts, I seem to recall the following...

Yacht = up to 100'.
MegaYacht = 100' to 150'.
SuperYacht = 150' and up.

Then, a YF member intro'd the term "GigaYacht" (I think it was Lars, maybe Rene), but in fact the title had been reserved as a domain name some years earlier. If I remember correctly...

GigaYacht = 300' and above.

What's the general consensus among members? Are these numbers an acceptable "rule of thumb"? Or should they be altered to remove the word "yacht" from the vocabulary of mortals, because a 70 footer is a dinghy by today's standards!

SINKorSWIM · 09-24-2007, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YachtForums

I need to apologize... I've been searching YF for threads relevant to the question, but to no avail. Somewhere in the GY forum, we had a thread that outlined designation by length. I remember it, because I posted it. But as Loren stated, the designation seems to be changing by the year.

Let's put this question to rest. At what point a boat becomes designated a yacht is subject to debate, but for the new-fangled prefixes that have accompanied the magnitude of new, larger yachts, I seem to recall the following...

Yacht = up to 100'.
MegaYacht = 100' to 150'.
SuperYacht = 150' and up.

Then, a YF member intro'd the term "GigaYacht" (I think it was Lars, maybe Rene), but in fact the title had been reserved as a domain name some years earlier. If I remember correctly...

GigaYacht = 300' and above.

What's the general consensus among members? Are these numbers an acceptable "rule of thumb"? Or should they be altered to remove the word "yacht" from the vocabulary of mortals, because a 70 footer is a dinghy by today's standards!

Hi Carl. I think that is good thank you for the info that I needed.
Now though, what do you think the point is when a smallish boat would be called a yacht. i.e. let's say should it be 30'.

SorS

KCook · 09-24-2007, 02:46 PM

Eh???? Here I thought it was the megayachts that were bigger than the superyachts?

TOTALLY confused Kelly

SINKorSWIM · 09-24-2007, 03:08 PM

Hi, same here I always thaught that to. I agreed with him though because he is the boss as you could say it.

brunick · 09-24-2007, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YachtForums

Then, a YF member intro'd the term "GigaYacht" (I think it was Lars, maybe Rene), but in fact the title had been reserved as a domain name some years earlier. If I remember correctly...

GigaYacht = 300' and above.

try a search on "gigayacht" on google - yachtforum is settings the standards on yachting

jsi · 09-25-2007, 12:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YachtForums

I need to apologize... I've been searching YF for threads relevant to the question, but to no avail. Somewhere in the GY forum, we had a thread that outlined designation by length. I remember it, because I posted it. But as Loren stated, the designation seems to be changing by the year.

Let's put this question to rest. At what point a boat becomes designated a yacht is subject to debate, but for the new-fangled prefixes that have accompanied the magnitude of new, larger yachts, I seem to recall the following...

Yacht = up to 100'.
MegaYacht = 100' to 150'.
SuperYacht = 150' and up.

Then, a YF member intro'd the term "GigaYacht" (I think it was Lars, maybe Rene), but in fact the title had been reserved as a domain name some years earlier. If I remember correctly...

GigaYacht = 300' and above.

What's the general consensus among members? Are these numbers an acceptable "rule of thumb"? Or should they be altered to remove the word "yacht" from the vocabulary of mortals, because a 70 footer is a dinghy by today's standards!

Well......

From the shorter OED;

Yacht. 1557. Early modern Dutch. Jaghie = jaghischip, fast piratical ship. f. jag(h)t hunting, f. jagen, hunt. A light fast-sailing ship, in early use esp. for the conveyance of royal or other important persons; later, a vessel, usu. light and comparatively small, for cruising, now esp. one built and rigged for racing 1886.

Just so.

So we have the question of sail vs. mechanical propulsion.

And the question of the purpose and proportion built.

jsi