Glossary:Yacht

yacht

A yacht is any moderately large vessel or conveyance that floats on the water which is used for pleasure, not for commercial purposes.

Word Class: noun

Pronunciation: yät

Example: The yacht traveled through Haulover Canal on the Intracoastal Waterway.

Yacht Size

Mega-Yacht O'Mega

There is no firm lower-end cut-off for the size of a yacht; however, it can generally be said that a vessel or conveyance used on the water for pleasure, approximately under 30 feet (9.1 meters) LOA is a not a yacht but a pleasure boat or recreational boat.

The word yacht also connotes elegance and expense. Thus some pleasure boats under 30 feet (9.1 meters), which are particularly elegant or expensive, may occasionally be called yachts. Example: When speaking of a particularly beautiful and elegant 25-foot (7.6 meter) sailboat, one might say, “Now that’s a real little yacht.”

Most yachts are boats but not all yachts are boats. Some very large vessels have been built entirely for private pleasure and pleasure-charter use, a few over 400 feet (122 meters) LOA. Such vessels are ships that are yachts. Very large yachts are often termed megayachts or super yachts.

The word yachts may also be used collectively to encompass a large group of boats used primarily for pleasure, even if many of the boats are smaller than usual to specifically be termed yachts on their own. Example: “The harbor is filled with yachts.”

Megayachts are yachts that are generally over 100 feet (30.5 meters) LOA, though there is no firm cut-off point on the lower-end of the size range.

Super yachts are yachts that are generally over 150 feet (45.7 meters) LOA, though there is no firm cut-off point on the lower-end of the size range. Many super yachts are ships, not boats or small-craft.

A charter yacht is a yacht employed primarily for recreational purposes, that is principally operated by a professional crew for paying passengers who themselves will primarily use the yacht for pleasure. Charter yachts are really commercial vessels even though the word yacht applies to them. Charter yachts must meet commercial requirements for passenger-carrying vessels. In the U.S., this applies if they carry more than six paying passengers.