Model of a 1920’s racing yacht.

Yacht racing is a sailing sport involving sailing yachts and larger sailboats, as distinguished from dinghy racing, which involves open boats. It is composed of multiple yachts, in direct competition, racing around a course marked by buoys or other fixed navigational devices or racing longer distances across open water from point-to-point. It can involve a series of races when buoy racing or multiple legs when point-to-point racing. ‘It was two of Victoria's descendants who have perhaps the most significant history at Cowes, her son Prince Edward (future King Edward VII) and her grandson, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who regularly clashed there in the 1890s. On his annual trip to see his British relatives, Wilhelm was reportedly loud and aggressive, with his sense of humour leaving much to be desired. Meanwhile from the other side, it has been speculated that his British relatives mocked his attire, which was not right for the summer-casual aesthetic at Cowes, with its boat shoes and striped blazers. The Kaiser and the future king tried constantly to one-up each other with bigger, faster, flashier boats, with the German nephew desperate to impress his English uncle, who of course was known for his great fleet of naval ships. In 1896, the Kaiser had the biggest yacht yet built, the 121-ft long Meteor II, which he pitted against Edward's Britannia. After it won, the future king retired from racing at Cowes.