Why are Sailing vessels much shorter than their motorized counterparts?

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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.

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Anonymous 0 Comments

There’s a few reasons, I think. I believe that there’s nothing inherent about sail power that make huge yachts less common. There was a whole fleet of non-motorized steel cargo ships in the early 1900s. [Sail powered freighters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_P-Liner?wprov=sfti1) The Flying P line ships were in the neighborhood of 400 feet and 15000 tons, with motorized rigging to reduce crew requirements. So the tech was there 100 years ago for massive sailing yachts.

I think that the mega yachts are mostly flex; flamboyant consumption. Having a boat that requires hundred of thousands of dollars to keep fueled is a pretty simple way to show you’ve got more money than you know how to spend. They are not interested in saving on fuel. And I suspect the owners are the kind of people that want their floating mansion to be in exactly where they want it when they want it. With no dependence on the weather.

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