A yacht is a watercraft used for pleasure or sports. The term originates from the Dutch word jacht, referenced light, fast sailing vessels that the Dutch Republic navy used to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries; the yacht was popularized by Charles II of England as a pleasure or recreation vessel following his restoration in 1660. A yacht is any power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. Many racing yachts are stripped-out vessels with a minimum of accommodations to lower weight. Charter yachts are a subset of yachts run as a business for profit. Yacht lengths range from 7 metres up to dozens of meters. A power craft smaller than 12 metres with overnight accommodations called a cabin cruiser. Yachts may be classified as "large" (over 24 m, which have higher construction standards. A superyacht refers to any yacht above 40 m. Of the more than 15,000 yachts extant in 2020, more than 7,000 were over 20 metres long. A few countries have a special flag worn by recreational boats or ships, which indicates the nationality of the ship.

Although inspired by the national flag, the yacht ensign does not always correspond with the civil or merchant ensign of the state in question. The US yacht ensign for example, has a circle of 13 stars and a fouled anchor in the canton instead of the 50 stars, being quite different from the ensign of the United States, the flag of the United States. Yacht ensigns differ from merchant ensigns to signal that the yacht is not carrying cargo that requires a customs declaration. Carrying commercial cargo on a boat with a yacht ensign is deemed to be smuggling in many jurisdictions; until the 1950s all yachts were made of wood or steel, but a much wider range of materials is used today. Although wood hulls are still in production, the most common construction material is fibreglass, followed by aluminium, carbon fibre, ferrocement; the use of wood has changed and is no longer limited to traditional board-based methods, but include modern products such as plywood, skinned balsa and epoxy resins. Wood is used by hobbyists or wooden boat purists when building an individual boat.

Apart from materials like carbon fibre and aramid fibre, spruce veneers laminated with epoxy resins have the best weight-to-strength ratios of all boatbuilding materials. Sailing yachts can range in overall length from about 6 metres to well over 30 metres, where the distinction between a yacht and a ship becomes blurred. Most owned yachts fall in the range of about 7 metres -14 metres; the cost of building and keeping a yacht rises as length increases. In the United States, sailors tend to refer to smaller yachts as sailboats, while referring to the general sport of sailing as yachting. Within the limited context of sailboat racing, a yacht is any sailing vessel taking part in a race, regardless of size. Many modern racing sail yachts have efficient sail-plans, most notably the Bermuda rig, that allow them to sail close to the wind; this capability is the result of a hull design oriented towards this capability. Day sailing yachts are small, at under 6 metres in length. Sometimes called sailing dinghies, they 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 are larger, at under 9.5 metres in length. They may have twin keels or lifting keels such as in trailer sailers; this allows them to operate in shallow waters, if needed "dry out"—become beached as the tide falls. This is important in UK waters; the hull shape allows the boat to sit upright. Such boats are designed to undertake short journeys lasting more than 2 or 3 days. In coastal areas, long trips may be undertaken in a series of short hops. Weekenders have only a simple cabin consisting of a single "saloon" with bedspace for two to four people. Clever use of ergonomics allows space in the saloon for a galley and navigation equipment. There is limited space for stores of 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 called pocket yachts or pocket cruisers, trailer sailers can be transported on special trailers. Cruising yachts are by far the most common yacht in private use, making up most of the 7–14-metre 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 favor 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 common for down-wind use; these types are chosen as

John McLachlan was a Scottish architect, based in Edinburgh operating in the late 19th century. He was a brother-in-law to Robert Morham, he has been described as a "minor master". He was born in Thornhill in Dumfries in 1843. In 1857 he was articled to the Edinburgh architect David Cousin. In Cousin's office he worked with Robert Morham and through him met Margaret Ann Morham, Robert's sister, whom he married. In 1868 he started his own practice and by 1878 had prestigious offices at York Buildings in the New Town. In 1884 he became architect to the National Bank of Scotland, in 1892 succeeded Hippolyte Blanc as architect to the Scottish Co-operative Association. In life he formed a business association with Thomas P. Marwick and his architectural style changed from Victorian Baronial to Queen Anne Revival. Marwick took over his offices following McLachlan's death, he died young, aged only 49, at home at 33 Queens Crescent, was buried in Morningside Cemetery, near the southern edge. His wife, Margaret Ann Morham (sister of Robert Morham, who died young, is buried with him.

The grave lies back-to-back with Robert Margaret's parents. Their son John Morham McLachlan lies alongside. Thomas P. Marwick died many years but is buried close to him. All works are in Edinburgh unless otherwise stated: Corner block, St Marys Street/Cowgate 50-56 Shandwick Place Villa, 57 Fountainhall Road Office, 4 St Andrew Square Terraced houses, 8-11 Ventnor Terrace Hawick Cottage Hospital Villa, 55 Fountainhall Road Warehouses, Caledonian Distillery National Bank of Scotland, Scottish Borders Coldstream Cottage Hospital Villa, 11 Tipperlinn Road National Bank of Scotland, 142 Princes Street retained as a facade to the Royal Bank of Scotland The "Abbotsford" bar, Rose Street Miller's Foundry, London Road fragments retained as part of the Meadowbank Retail Centre. Scottish Co-operative Buildings, Bread Street Royal Bank of Scotland, Royal Mile/ Cockburn Street McLachlan built several Free Churches: Yester.

Harold Galper is a jazz pianist, arranger, bandleader and writer. He studied classical piano as a boy, but switched to jazz which he studied at the Berklee College of Music from 1955 to 1958, he hung out at Herb Pomeroy's club, the Stable, hearing local Boston musicians such as Jaki Byard, Alan Dawson and Sam Rivers. Galper started sitting in and became the house pianist at the Stable and on, at Connelly's and Lenny's on the Turnpike, he went on to work in Pomeroy's band. On he worked with Chet Baker and Stan Getz and accompanied vocalists Joe Williams, Anita O'Day, Chris Connor. Between 1973–1975, Galper played in the Cannonball Adderley Quintet replacing George Duke, he performed in New Chicago jazz clubs in the late 1970s. Around this time, Galper recorded several times with guitarist John Scofield for the Enja label. For 10 years he was a member of Phil Woods's quintet. Galper left the Woods group in August 1990 to start touring and recording with his new trio with Steve Ellington on drums and Jeff Johnson on bass.

From 1990–1999, Hal's group was on the road six months a year. Galper is internationally known as an educator, his theoretical and practical articles have appeared in six of Down Beat editions. His scholarly article on the psychology of stage fright published in the Jazz Educators Journal, has subsequently been reprinted in four other publications. Hal is on the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. With Cannonball Adderley Inside Straight Love and the Zodiac Pyramid With Nat Adderley Double Exposure With Franco Ambrosetti Heartbop With Chet Baker The Most Important Jazz Album of 1964/65 Baby Breeze Live at Fat Tuesday's With Randy Brecker Score With Tom Harrell Open Air With Sam Rivers A New Conception With John Scofield Rough House Ivory Forest With Phil Woods Birds of a Feather Bop Stew Boquet All Birds Children Dizzy Gillespie Meets Phil Woods Quintet List of jazz arrangers Forward Motion: From Bach To Bebop. A Corrective Approach to Jazz Phrasing; the Touring Musician: A Small Business Approach to Booking Your Band on the Road Official site