Nautical Terminology

JumbleDuck said:
Because, as Simondjuk has helpfully pointed out, there are just so many of them, and unless you want to put someone off sailing for life there is no need to overwhelm them. So yes, by all means talk about battens, clews and companionways in due course, but don't feel bad about calling them "those wooden sticks at the back of the sail", "the corner of the sail by the mast" or "the doorway into the cabin" if that works better. And if you need someone new to make an urgent change of course, ask yourself whether "hard a-starboard" or "turn hard right" is more likely to have the desired effect ...
Click to expand...

You have just demonstrated one of the main benefits of using the accepted terms. Surely it is simpler to call a batten a batten, than to refer to "those wooden sticks at the back of the sail"
 
Simondjuk said:
So who's going to compile the New De-Nauticalised Nautical Dictionary, and could they please start by advising the non-pretentious replacements for the following, which I use frequently?


Bumpkin.


Actually, I hadn't realised there were so many, so let's go with A to C for now and deal with the rest later.
Click to expand...

And:-
Bumkin-Bobstay-Dolphin-Striker

I always have a smile at that one.

Imagine telling an uninitiated fellow that his very expensive (and over pretentious) sunglasses are dangling off it........
 
Last edited:
NormanS said:
You have just demonstrated one of the main benefits of using the accepted terms. Surely it is simpler to call a batten a batten, than to refer to "those wooden sticks at the back of the sail"
Click to expand...

Nah it's the hatches I batten down; I call them things "horizontal carbon sticks that go right along the sail"!
 
Last edited:
NormanS said:
You have just demonstrated one of the main benefits of using the accepted terms. Surely it is simpler to call a batten a batten, than to refer to "those wooden sticks at the back of the sail"
Click to expand...

Of course it is ... to someone who knows the terms. That's my point. If I'm flaking down the mainsail with a helpful newcomer at the back end of the boom, there is no point in my saying "Make sure the battens lie along the boom" if they have never heard the word "batten" before. So I'll say "Make sure that the battens - those wooden sticks at the back edge of the sail - are lying along the boom."

They'll know the word "boom", of course, because I introduce that right at the beginning as the only thing on the boat which is easily capable of killing you.
 
JumbleDuck said:
Is there any reason why you seem so determined to make this a personal issue? I think we were and probably are still in basic agreement, and I really can't see any point in the constant sniping.
Click to expand...

Comments on your posts are not sniping. Snide implications about personal motivations are a different matter.
 
Serin said:
Comments on your posts are not sniping. Snide implications about personal motivations are a different matter.
Click to expand...

My dear Serin, permit me to share a little secret with you: these mid-winter threads are simply a bit of semi-nautical banter, digital nurseries if you like, where sailors can practice their "lines" before walking into a real yacht club bar after dropping their kite right onto the leeward mark :ambivalence:
 
dom said:
My dear Serin, permit me to share a little secret with you: these mid-winter threads are simply a bit of semi-nautical banter, digital nurseries if you like, where sailors can practice their "lines" before walking into a real yacht club bar after dropping their kite right onto the leeward mark :ambivalence:
Click to expand...

Is there no end to your sage advice? You, sir, are a veritable fountain of wisdom!

But I'm afraid in my 25 years or so around internet forums, including this one, I have observed that some patterns are perennial. And one of them is the pattern of projection, by means of which people tend to give away what is really in their heads through their observations about what they assume is in other people's heads.

Happily, I am not a member of a yacht club and frequent yacht club bars very rarely. Do you "practice your lines"? What an interesting idea. I can't say I've felt the need to myself. But wherever I am, in the real or the virtual world, I do pay attention to the phenomenon of projection.

Communication on the internet, conducted in public between strangers, is a very different matter from communication face to face and especially between friends and people who know each other. In fact it's a fascinating study in its own right. But for me, in both worlds, discussion and arguments about ideas is fine - no quarter given or expected. But personal projection is not fine. I don't like it sir! (And those who indulge in it should be careful - they may give away more than they imagine)
 
adwuk said:
That sounds very much like the voice of experience!
Click to expand...

You mean you are all practicing your lines? Who'd have thunk it? At least I'm safe because I steer well clear of leeward marks at all times. People will rush up to them all the time in great gangs. It disturbs the tranquillity of my stately progress. :)
 
adwuk said:
That sounds very much like the voice of experience!
Click to expand...

Well :hopeless:. Came in wide, alone, fast, ditch the kite time:

"OMG release the god damn halyard"

"I just did"

"No the f****** halyard"

"Look it's slack"

"Not that one, the Spi #1 one!"

Meanwhile broach, sail the wrong side of the mark, at which point correct halyard released, kite lands on the mark, the rest of the fleet caught us, some very unsportsmanlike things were said (:rolleyes:) ...and I didn't even have a Hamlet cigar!

Moral of the story: replace expletives with colour codes!
 
dom said:
Well :hopeless:. Came in wide, alone, fast, ditch the kite time:

"OMG release the god damn halyard"

"I just did"

"No the f****** halyard"

"Look it's slack"

"Not that one, the Spi #1 one!"

Meanwhile broach, sail the wrong side of the mark, at which point correct halyard released, kite lands on the mark, the rest of the fleet caught us, some very unsportsmanlike things were said (:rolleyes:) ...and I didn't even have a Hamlet cigar!

Moral of the story: replace expletives with colour codes!
Click to expand...

Either that, or a little more practice with your lines ;)
 
Robert Wilson said:
And:-
Bumkin-Bobstay-Dolphin-Striker

I always have a smile at that one.

Imagine telling an uninitiated fellow that his very expensive (and over pretentious) sunglasses are dangling off it........
Click to expand...

An yes, Dolphin Striker! I once had the great joy, when skippering a tug manoevering an old sailing ship, to be able to say on the VHF, "I'm going to ease back a bit, the tow line is fouled on your Dolphin Striker". I got some funny looks from the uninitiated.
 
NormanS said:
An yes, Dolphin Striker! I once had the great joy, when skippering a tug manoevering an old sailing ship, to be able to say on the VHF, "I'm going to ease back a bit, the tow line is fouled on your Dolphin Striker". I got some funny looks from the uninitiated.
Click to expand...

One of the "Old Harry" stories involves Harry's search for two dead-eyes and a dolphin striker at the Earl's Court Boat show.
 
Capt Popeye said:
Ahh, thank you doris, good to see that there are some real sailors around these ere parts that are aware of the difficulties arising from some half hearted and land lubbers ere :-)

Tis not surprising then that some Fishermen and Coastal Ship Officers look upon some yachtsmen with a certain distaste and lack of acumen
Click to expand...

alan_d said:
Either you are using "acumen" to mean something different from its dictionary definition or some words have dropped out of your post.
Click to expand...

theoldsalt said:
Can you please explain the problem with Capt Popeye's post.

(Acumen meaning - skill in making correct decisions and judgments)
Click to expand...

Sorry for the delay in responding, but I have been in transit back from the USA (which is why my original post was made at the time it was - I am not really an early riser), but as I started this I feel I should follow it up.

As The Old Salt says, acumen means fine judgement, perspicacity, keen perception. If one substitutes any of these for "acumen" in Captain Popeye's post it does not seem to me to make sense. Capt. P does not think it surprising that the fishermen etc. should look on some yachtsmen with distaste, so I would not expect that he would also consider it unsurprising that they (i.e. the fishermen etc.) did so with lack of judgement, which is what the post as it was written actually means.

I considered that it was much more likely that Capt P meant either that the fishermen looked on some yachtsmen with distaste because of the yachtsmen's lack of judgement (i.e. some words were missing), or that he meant that the fishermen etc. looked on the yachtsmen with distaste and lack of approval, respect, esteem or some similar emotion (i.e. acumen was not the right word).

It may be that I have misinterpreted Capt. P and that he really did mean to say that he thought the fishermen etc, were showing poor judgement by their distaste for some yachtsmen, but this seems at odds with the sentiments expressed in his first sentence, hence my belief that there was something wrong.
 
I have owned a small sailing boat for nearly a year and to begin with wanted to learn the proper terms for the various things. I quickly realised that they are unfathomable.
The Halyard for example I do not have a yard to haul on my boat, so why stick to that name?
My sail has leading and trailing edges on my boat. Works for me and the few others that are on my boat. I could learn all the terms or I can sail. I do the latter.

Could somebody explain to me what a Cunningham is but not use the strange names for the stuff it is attached to.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top