Kicker and Vang

[Lakesailor]

So? The rules may have been written with a heavy US influence.

 

[trouville]

im glad to find this just as ive gprs conection.
Since ive been hear i noticed others refering to there vang when sailing downwind,as i hadent thought much about names i imagened hydralikc rams to be vangs,and my folkboats line to be a kicking strap
I wondered about the difference and thought kicking strap most suitable,as today gliding downwind my boom tried to rise everytime a motor boat limped past(when they were fast enough)
Having read this it reminds me or the early 80s hood adds which showed huge sailboats with vangs
It will always be a kicking strap even on dingys,serves the same purpose.

 

[woody001]

My boat has a gas powered rod kicker or a vang.
in fact it also has a kicking strap as well.

I suspose the boom does "kick up" if you dont have one.

maybe kicker is right.

 

[alahol2]

Mines got a kicker, always had and always will. My mast isn't made of aloominum and I don't have newcular power. The only trouble with the Yanks is that their language is infiltrating over here.

 

[aitchw]

Who's he?

 

[bbg]

To add to the confusion, the Selden website refers to one of their products as the "Rodkicker rigid vang"


If charles_reed's definitions are correct, it seems that "boom vang" may have historical precedence (i.e. modifying the old generic term "vang" with "boom") but "kicking strap" may be the modern term to describe a modern (less than 50 yrs old) invention.

For my part, I will continue to call it a vang because that is what it is. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[StellaGirl]

I call it a vang - as does everyone else who races on the boat. Until the boat is about to broach and then its a "dump the f***ing kicker*

 

[woody001]

still prefer the term vang, it's so much clearer than kicker
Stella must be right, she's an officer

 

[jamesjermain]

I am unreliably told by a linguist that the old English pronounciation of buoy was booey but that it became boy when the aristocracy took up sailing. The Americans, meanwhile, retained the original as they had no aristocracy (hmmm!).

As in many other ways American English is actually a purer form of the language as spoken in the 17th and 18th centuries than modern 'Oxford'or 'The Queen's' English.

 

[NigeCh]

It\'s the other way round

[ QUOTE ]
Could be wrong but I think "Boom Vang" is American for "Kicking Strap"

[/ QUOTE ]

Uffa Fox in one of his books claims to have invented the anti-'kicking-strap' in the 1930's whereas the Americans were using (boom) vangs on their clippers prior to 1775.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Re: It\'s the other way round

I dont care what any of you say... (fingers in ears) lah de lah de lah de lah de lah...

Its a bloody kicker........

Vangs are what are used by racing crews... and lets face it... they also call the spinnaker a kite (whereas most kids would recognise the difference), so what would they know?... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Lakesailor]

Respect

If it's good enough for Uffa Fox...........
Any one know what Arthur Ransome called it?

 

[whisper]

Re: Respect

Kicker & Vang - sounds like a comedy act at the Edinburgh Fringe to me.

 

[bbg]

Re: Respect

I don't know what Ransome called it, but I read an excerpt from Chichester yesterday and he called it a vang.

 

[Lakesailor]

Re: Respect

Well thank you. However Chichester may have bought a gadget from a US manufacturer that was called a "Vang".
I think Arthur, who stirred the nautical loins of many youngsters, is the authority we should be looking to.
Of course he may not have had a kicking strap either.