Approximately two-thirds of the earth’s surface is covered by water.

Ships and vessels, which are believed to date back more than 5,000 years, are the oldest means of transport. Until the past few hundred years, wind was the only source of natural energy that would allow man to travel long distances over seas and oceans.

Sailing for pleasure - as opposed to a means of transportation for such things as trade, exploration and warfare - was pioneered in Holland in the early 17th century. An early convert to the pastime was King Charles II of England, who spent nearly a decade in exile in the Low Countries before the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660. The first Dutch ‘yaght’ - from which the modern English word ‘yacht’ derives - arrived in England in the 1660s as a gift to Charles II. Sailing became a popular hobby in England before also flourishing in the American Colonies.

The Royal Cork Yacht Club, in south-west Ireland, is the world’s oldest yacht club, having been founded in 1720

The term ‘clipper’ is loosely used as a generic name for the fast sailing ships that were first built in the early 19th century and allowed trading companies to ‘clip’ the passage time of the regular packet ships. The first British clippers were built for the profitable tea trade, with the first arrivals in London from China each year commanding the highest prices.

The America’s Cup, which was originally offered as the Royal Yacht Squadron Cup, is named after the first yacht to win the trophy - the schooner America, which won it in 1851. Owned by a syndicate that represented the New York Yacht Club, America beat 15 yachts, all of them representing the Royal Yacht Squadron, around the Isle of Wight. The trophy remained in the hands of the New York Yacht Club until 1983, when the Cup was won by the challenger Australia II, of Australia, thereby ending the longest winning streak in the history of sport.

After bad weather forced the cancellation of the first Olympic regatta in 1896, sailing was officially introduced to the Olympic programme at the Paris Games of 1900, when there were eight different events. Absent in St Louis four years later, sailing has been included at every summer Olympics ever since.

Great Britain, who won three of the eight available gold medals in 1900, have won more Olympic sailing golds (23) than any other country and have finished on top of the sailing medals table at each of the past three Games. The United States have secured 18 gold medals, Norway 17, France 13, Denmark 12 and Spain 11.

There were 11 sailing events at the 2008 Beijing Olympics (four for men, four for women and three mixed), of which Britain were victorious in four. Races were sailed as a ‘fleet-racing format‘. In other words, fleets of equally-matched boats competed on the same course at the same time. Races were scheduled to last for between 30 and 75 minutes, depending on the particular event, and each boat earned a score equal to its finishing position. Each event was scheduled to consist of an initial 10-race series (15 in the 49er class), from which competitors were allowed to exclude their worst result. The 10 boats with the lowest aggregate scores qualified for the medal race. Scores were carried forward to the medal race, in which double points were apportioned based on the finishing position.

The Yngling discipline for women was the most recent event to be introduced to the Games. It first appeared in 2004 and was won by the British trio of Shirley Robertson, Sarah Ayton and Sarah Webb - or ‘Three Blondes in a Boat’, as they became known. The Be Number 1 triumvirate of Ayton, Webb and Pippa Wilson won the Yngling crown at the 2008 Beijing Games.

The Yngling boat, which was designed by Jan Herman Linge in 1967, is described by the International Yngling Association as “an agreeable cross between a planing dinghy and a keelboat”. It is 6.35 metres (20 feet 10 inches) long and weighs 645 kilograms (1,422 pounds).

The Jurassic Coast in Dorset, which will provide a spectacular backdrop to the sailing events hosted by the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy at the 2012 London Games, is 180 million years old (give or take the odd day). With the natural amphitheatre of Weymouth and Portland Harbour providing some of the best sailing waters in Britain, it is expected that more than 30,000 spectators will watch the ‘non-ticketed’ sailing events, with many of them looking on from the multitude of high vantage points around the overlooking coastline.