A marina (from Spanish, Portuguese and Italian marina, "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with

moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not
handle large passenger ships or cargo from freighters.

The word marina is also used for inland wharves on rivers and canals that are used exclusively by non-
industrial pleasure craft such as canal narrowboats

Emplacement[edit]

Marinas may be located along the banks of rivers connecting to lakes or seas and may be inland. They are
also located on coastal harbors (natural or man made) or coastal lagoons, either as stand alone facilities or
within a port complex.

Facilities and services[edit]

A marina may have refueling, washing and repair facilities, marine and boat chandlers, stores and
restaurants. A marina may include ground facilities such as parking lots for vehicles and boat trailers.
Slipways (or boat ramps) transfer a trailered boat into the water. A marina may have a boat hoist well (a
traveling crane) operated by service personnel. A marina may provide in- or out-of-water boat storage.

Fee-based services such as parking, use of picnic areas, pubs, and clubhouses for showers are usually
included in long-term rental agreements. Visiting yachtsmen usually have the option of buying each
amenity from a fixed schedule of fees; arrangements can be as wide as a single use, such as a shower, or
several weeks of temporary berthing. The right to use the facilities is frequently extended at overnight or
period rates to visiting yachtsmen. Since marinas are often limited by available space, it may take years
on a waiting list to get a permanent berth.

Moorings and access[edit]

Boats are moored on buoys, on fixed or floating walkways tied to an anchoring piling by a roller or ring
mechanism (floating docks, pontoons). Buoys are cheaper to rent but less convenient than being able to
walk from land to boat. Harbor shuttles (water taxis), may transfer people between the shore and boats
moored on buoys. The alternative is a tender such as an inflatable boat. Facilities offering fuel, boat ramps
and stores will normally have a common-use dock set aside for such short term parking needs.

Where the tidal range is large, marinas may use locks to maintain the water level for several hours before
and after low water.

Economic organization[edit]

Marinas may be owned and operated by a private club, especially yacht clubs — but also as private
enterprises or municipal facilities. Marinas may be standalone private businesses, components of a resort,
or owned and operated by public entities.
Yacht club

Yacht Clubs are mostly located by the sea, although there are some that have been established at a lake or
riverside locations. Yacht or sailing clubs have either a marina or a delimited section of the beach or
shoreline with buoys marking the areas off-limits for swimmers as well as safe offshore anchorages. On
shore they also include a perimeter reserved for the exclusive use of the members of the club as well as a
clubhouse with attached bar, café or restaurant where members socialize in a pleasant and informal
setting.

Although the terms Yacht Club and Sailing Club tend to be synonymous, some general differences
regarding the recreational use of boats can be broadly outlined. Historically a Yacht Club tended to focus
on a membership composed of yacht owners. This type of club often was extremely exclusive, attracting
the aristocracy or the high class and leaving small boat owners out of the circle. On the other hand, a
Sailing Club tended to focus on a membership composed of owners of smaller boats such as dinghies.
These became very popular towards the end of the 19th century when small boats began to be produced
on an industrial scale.

Yacht clubs are often known by their initials (e.g. New York Yacht Club abbreviated to NYYC and
Kamini Yacht Club abbreviated to KYC). Many well known yacht clubs, including the Yacht Club de
France and the Royal Yacht Squadron, have been established under royal patronage or have been granted
the title at some point in their history.

Organized and run by the membership, Yacht Clubs became a place to promote the sport of sailboat
racing and cruising, as well as provide a meeting place for the particular social community. The
membership is a mixture of people with specific recreational affinities. Generally, the members include
those who sail as crew for cruising or racing, as well as boat owners. Also it is up to the members decide
on the objectives of the club to satisfy the membership and to attract other like-minded individuals. For
example, some clubs include owners of powerboats, while others specifically exclude them. In order to
overcome difficulties concerning the affinities of their members one particular club may have two
sections, a sailing section and a powerboat section.

Members Clubs often have paid staff for catering, bar duty, boat yard duty, accounts, office etc. Control
and organization of the club is done for the membership via members elected by the membership into
roles such as Sailing Secretary, Commodore, Cruising Captain, Racing Captain etc. Smaller clubs
typically have a condition of membership which requires active participation of the membership in
activities such as maintenance of club facilities and equipment.

Unlike the classical clubs where the membership is the focus, certain clubs are run on a commercial basis.
They may be owned by individuals or a company to provide a service and generate a profit. Often they
are associated with a particular marina or port. Objectives are usually very similar to members clubs but
the social side maybe more dominant.

Racing and sailing activities[edit]

Most clubs, regardless of the size of their craft, have a well defined racing program. Clubs may host
regattas ranging from informal local events to national championships. Often clubs have a regular
weekday evening racing schedule or a weekend racing schedule organized by the membership. Many
yacht clubs field teams to compete against other clubs in team racing. There are also some specific boat
models and lengths which have their own club. These boat ownership clubs often hold single design races
for their members; the Islander 36 association is such a club. With the growth of sailing at secondary
schools and universities many yacht clubs host Interscholastic Sailing Association or Intercollegiate
Sailing Association regattas. Additionally, a number of yacht clubs enter into agreements with schools to
provide dock space and practice facilities for the school teams year-round.

Clubs with active adult sailing programs most often feature junior sailing programs as well. Most often
these programs enroll children from ages 8 to 16. Children most often learn to sail in the optimist
(dinghy) and then progress to a larger single handed dinghy such as starling or laser dinghy or two handed
such as 420 (dinghy). These junior sailing programs often also teach children rowing, kayaking, general
seamanship and navigation. Children are also taught how to race competitively from an early age and
most clubs host junior sailing regattas each season.

Types

Day sailing yachts

Day sailing yachts are usually small, at under 6 metres (20 ft) in length. Sometimes called sailing
dinghies, they often have a retractable keel, centreboard, or daggerboard. Most day sailing yachts do not
have a cabin, as they are designed for hourly or daily use and not for overnight journeys. they may have a
'cuddy' cabin, where the front part of the hull has a raised solid roof to provide a place to store equipment
or to offer shelter from wind or spray.

Weekender yachts[edit]

Weekender yachts are slightly larger, at under 9.5 metres (31 ft) in length. They may have twin keels or
lifting keels such as in trailer sailers. This allows them to operate in shallow waters, and if needed "dry
out"—become beached as the tide falls.This is important in the UK waters where many moorings are in
tidal creeks. The hull shape (or twin-keel layout) allows the boat to sit upright when there is no water.
Such boats are designed to undertake short journeys, rarely lasting more than 2 or 3 days. In coastal areas,
long trips may be undertaken in a series of short hops. Weekenders usually have only a simple cabin,
often consisting of a single "saloon" with bedspace for two to four people. Clever use of ergonomics
allows space in the saloon for a galley (kitchen), seating, and navigation equipment. There is limited
space for stores of water and food. Most are single-masted "Bermuda sloops", with a single foresail of the
jib or genoa type and a single mainsail. Some are gaff rigged. The smallest of this type, generally called
pocket yachts or pocket cruisers, and trailer sailers can be transported on special trailers.

Cruising yachts[edit]

Cruising yachts are by the far the most common yacht in private use, making up most of the 7 metres
(23 ft)-14 metres (46 ft) range. These vessels can be quite complex in design, as they need a balance
between docile handling qualities, interior space, good light-wind performance and on-board comfort.
The huge range of such craft, from dozens of builders worldwide, makes it hard to give a single
illustrative description. However, most favour a teardrop-planform hull, with a fine bow,a wide, flat
bottom and deep single-fin keel with ample beam to give good stability. Most are single-masted Bermuda
rigged sloops, with a single fore-sail of the jib or Genoa type and a single mainsail. Spinnaker sails, are
often supplied for down-wind use. These types are often chosen as family vessels, especially those in the
26 to 40-feet (8 to 12 m) range. Such a vessel will usually have several cabins below deck. Typically
there will be three double-berth cabins; a single large saloon with galley, seating and navigation
equipment; and a "head" consisting of a toilet and shower-room. The interior is often finished in wood
panelling, with plenty of storage space. Cruisers are quite capable of taking on long-range passages of
many thousands of miles. Such boats have a cruising speed upwards of 6 knots. This basic design is
typical of the standard types produced by the major yacht-builders.

Aside from this fairly standard design, built in numbers and using methods approaching mass production
by the large yacht-building firms of Europe and North America, there are some common variations to suit
a yacht for a more particular role or to emphasise one aspect of performance rather than the wide range of
abilities needed in a standard design. The classic "long keel" yacht, where the keel is integrated into the
lower portion of the hull and extends for all or most of the hull's length, rather than being a single fin
attached to the hull at the centre, is still being built in small numbers. The long keel generally provides
better directional stability, especially in rough weather, at the cost of greater weight, a narrower hull
which decreases interior space, and poorer handling when under engine power or in tight conditions such
as a marina.

Whilst the cutter rig with twin foresails was once the standard rig for most cruising yachts until the 1960s
(when it began to be replaced by the two-sail sloop rig) it is now only commonly found on larger cruising
yachts (usually around 15 m (49 ft) and over). Other rig variations are found on many different sizes of
yacht such as the yawl, ketch, schooner and even unusual sail plans such as the junk rig.

A yacht may also be a "cruiser-racer", which as the name implies is a blend between the cruiser and
racing variants. This is often a builder's existing design with changes to the rigging, sails, keel and
controls to provide better performance. Some of the interior appointments may be reduced or removed to
save weight.

The fixed fin keel is most commonly found on modern cruising yachts world wide but some are still built
with twin 'bilge' keels or with lifting fin keels which retract into the yacht's hull. In both cases these allow
the yacht to sit upright on the seabed in shallow water or on areas that dry at low tide.

Most large yachts, 16 m (52 ft) and up, are also cruisers, but their design varies greatly as they are often
"one off" designs tailored to the specific needs of the buyer.

Luxury sailing yachts[edit]

These yachts are generally 25 metres (82 ft) or longer. In recent years, these yachts have evolved from
fairly simple vessels with basic accommodation into sophisticated and luxurious boats. This is largely due
to reduced hull-building costs brought about by the introduction of fibreglass hulls, and increased
automation and "production line" techniques for yacht building, especially in Europe.

On the biggest, 130-feet-plus (40 m) luxury yachts, every modern convenience, from air conditioning to
television, is found. Sailing yachts of this size are often highly automated with, for example, computer-
controlled electric winches controlling the sails. Such complexity requires dedicated power-generation
systems. In recent years the amount of electric equipment used on yachts has increased greatly. Even
20 years ago, it was not common for a 25-feet (7 m) yacht to have electric lighting. Now all but the
smallest, most basic yachts have electric lighting, radio, and navigation aids such as Global Positioning
Systems. Yachts around 10 metres (33 ft) bring in comforts such as hot water, pressurised water systems,
and refrigerators. Aids such as radar, echo-sounding and autopilot are common. This means that the
auxiliary engine now also performs the vital function of powering an alternator to provide electrical
power and to recharge the yacht's batteries. For yachts engaged on long-range cruising, wind-, water- and
solar-powered generators can perform the same function.
Racing yachts[edit]

Racing yachts try to reduce the wetted surface area, which creates drag, by keeping the hull light whilst
having a deep and heavy bulb keel, allowing them to support a tall mast with a great sail area. Modern
designs tend to have a very wide beam and a flat bottom aft, to provide buoyancy preventing an excessive
heel angle and to promote surfing and planning. Speeds of up to 35 knots can be attained in extreme
conditions. Dedicated offshore racing yachts sacrifice crew comfort for speed, having basic
accommodation to reduce weight. Modern racing yachts may have twin rudders because of the wide stern.
Since about 2000 water ballast transfer pumps have become more common as have transversely swinging
keels. Both these stiffen the yacht and allow more sail to be carried in stronger winds. Depending on the
type of race, such a yacht may have a crew of 15 or more. Very large inshore racing yachts may have a
crew of 30. At the other extreme are "single handed" races, where one person alone must control the
yacht.

Yacht races may be over a simple course of only a few miles, as in the harbour racing of the International
One Design; long-distance, open-ocean races, like the Bermuda Race; or epic trans-global contests such
as the Global Challenge, Volvo Ocean Race, Clipper Round the World Race and Mini Transat 6.50.

Propulsion[edit]

The motive force being the wind, sailing is more economical and environmentally friendly than any other
means of propulsion.[citation needed] A hybrid type of vessel is a motor sailing yacht that can use either sail or
propulsion (or both) as conditions dictate.

Many "pure" sailing yachts are also equipped with a low-power internal-combustion engine for use in
conditions of calm and when entering or leaving difficult anchorages. Vessels less than 7 metres (23 ft) in
length generally carry a petrol outboard-motor of between 3.5 kilowatts (5 hp) and 30 kilowatts (40 hp).
Larger vessels have in-board diesel engines of between 15 kilowatts (20 hp) and 75 kilowatts (101 hp)
depending on size. In the common 7 metres (23 ft)-14 metres (46 ft) class, engines of 20 to 40 horsepower
are the most common. Modern sailing yachts can be equipped with electric inboard motors in order to
reduce consumption of fossil fuel. The latest technology are outboard electric pod drives that can also
regenerate electricity (motogens). These motogens can be made retractable to increase the efficiency of
the yacht. Some of these yachts are extremely efficient and do not need additional diesel generators. This
technology is called Green Motion. Tests can be seen and read in the following magazines: Yachting
Monthly, November 2010; the German magazine Yacht, January 2011;the Water kampioen from the
Netherlands, May 2011 and in Voile magazine in December 2011 in France. The Mansura Trophy was
awarded for this new propulsion system in May 2011.

Hull types[edit]

Monohull yachts are typically fitted with a fixed keel or a centreboard (adjustable keel) below the
waterline to counterbalance the overturning force of wind on the vessel's sails. Multihull yachts use two
(catamarans) or three (trimarans) hulls widely separated from each other to provide a stable base that
resists overturning.
EXAMPLE OF MARINAS YATCH CLUB