220 illustrations, 60 in colour

Yachting began as occasional cruises in the sheltered waters of the Netherlands over three centuries ago. Today, it is a fiercely competitive and popular sport, epitomized by boats like Australia II and Stars and Stripes, designed solely to race in the greatest of all yachting races, the America's Cup.

This splendid history depicts every aspect of the sport - paintings, yachting equipment, trophies and ephemera - using a fascinating mixture of little-seen archive photography and spectacular modern colour photography. In a highly readable and authoritative text, Robin Knox-Johnston recounts the entire story, with particular emphasis given to the great characters of yachting, like the Victorian entrepreneur. Sir Thomas Lipton, who dominated the America's Cup racing for thirty-two years; Joshua Slocum, who against all the odds - including barefoot Patagonians, the Locos Keeling islands and President Kruger - managed to sail single-handed around the world; and Alan Bond who, for the first time in 132 years, took the America's Cup away from the United States.

The author chronicles the establishment of yacht clubs, the development of yacht rigs, the famous races and records, and the growth of dinghy sailing, to make this an invaluable reference source, while sections on yacht designers, fashion, the Cowes Regatta and the great yachts, Britannia and Sunbeam, highlight the glamorous side to the sport.

This lavish book will delight all those who have a passion for yachting and the sea.