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sailing

(Encyclopedia)sailing, as a sport, the art of navigating a sailboat for recreational or competitive purposes. Although sailing as a means of transportation predates history, sport sailing—or yachting—seems to...

racing

(Encyclopedia)racing: see horse racing; automobile racing; track and field athletics; dog racing; for boat racing, see motorboating; rowing; and sailing; and for bicycle racing, see under bicycle. ...

automobile racing

(Encyclopedia)automobile racing, sport in which specially designed or modified automobiles race on any of various courses. Automobile racing originated in France in 1894 and appeared in the United States the follow...

dog racing

(Encyclopedia)dog racing, trials of speed between dogs. Now contested on oval tracks, the sport developed from the ancient practice of coursing, in which specially trained dogs chase game animals in the open field....

harness racing

(Encyclopedia)harness racing: see horse racing. ...

horse racing

(Encyclopedia)horse racing, trials of speed involving two or more horses. It includes races among harnessed horses with one of two particular gaits, among saddled Thoroughbreds (or, less frequently, quarterhorses) ...

bicycle racing

(Encyclopedia)bicycle racing or cycling, an internationally popular sport conducted on closed courses or the open road. Track racing takes place at a velodrome, usually a banked 1,093.6 ft (.333 km) oval. Olympic m...

brig, sailing vessel

(Encyclopedia)brig, two-masted sailing vessel, square-rigged on both masts. Brigs have been used as cargo ships and also, in the past, as small warships carrying about 10 guns. They vary in length between 75 and 13...

bark, sailing vessel

(Encyclopedia)bark or barque both: bärk [key], sailing vessel with three masts, of which the mainmast and the foremast are square-rigged while the mizzenmast is fore-and-aft-rigged. Although the word was once used...

canoeing

(Encyclopedia)canoeing, sport of propelling a canoe through water. John MacGregor, an English barrister and founder of the Royal Canoe Club (est. 1865), is generally credited with being the initiator of modern spor...