Why are Sailing vessels much shorter than their motorized counterparts?

Question

Motorized yachts seem to be quite a bit larger with much more Sq footage built above the water level than their masted brethren, why is this?

I’m assuming the masts have something to do with it. Is it because they would torque the boat too hard if they were higher up? They already seem pretty high up as is and older vessels like Galleons in pirate movies seem just peachy with a ton of room above the water level. Why is it that most luxury yachts now are so low?

Edit: to clarify I mean shorter as a function of verticality not the length of the boat.

In: 21

Answer 1

People wanting the ability to sail upwind its the main reason. If you think about historical sailing ships from before the steamship age, they actually have a lot of freeboard—which is the name for the height of habitable structure above the water line. These ships were designed for sailing downwind (the same direction as the wind is blowing) or across the wind (at a right angle to the wind). Having a lot of freeboard like a modern motor yacht just meant that the wind pushing against the superstructure and hull would act with the sails to push the boat in the right direction—no problem, or at least just cause the boat to heel (lean away from the wind) a bit more when sailing across the wind. Back then, trade routes were established so that ships were always sailing downwind or across the wind.

Modern yachts need to be able to travel in any direction efficiently, so that they can go on day sails, out and back, all while the wind is blowing the same direction; they need to be able to race on loop shaped courses, and cruise routes built around modern schedules rather than the prevailing weather patterns. So the ability to sail upwind is much more important. Rather than acting like a parachute like old time sails, using primarily drag to move the boat, modern sails act like a wing, where lift is the primary force. This allows for sailing as close as 30 degrees off a dead upwind course, making it possible to track (turn back and forth) on headings close to the wind to make a course dead upwind. This is where freeboard becomes a huge problem. The superstructure and hull don’t generate lift at the correct angles to help the sails out. They just act against the sails.