Jess Besack, who launched the Yacht Rock channel on SiriusXM, takes us through the classics Yacht rock first set sail over 50 years ago, but the sound just keeps getting bigger and bigger. This particular kind of soft rock — paired best with a piña colada and a pool chair — peaked in the late Seventies and early Eighties. But it didn’t get its official name until the mid-2000s, when a web series gave overdue appreciation to the breezy bangers made by Steely Dan , Gerry Rafferty, and the Doobie Brothers. In 2015, SiriusXM launched an official Yacht Rock channel, thanks to Jess Besack, senior director of music programming and special projects.  “I didn’t grow up with yacht rock, but it was in the ether, the way some of these long-lasting hits always are, and they get absorbed into your brain,” Besack tells Rolling Stone . “These songs are all so intrinsically related. They share the smoothness, they share this groove. It’s a very relaxing type of music.…