Pompous Boat Terminology and Boat Owners

capnsensible said:
Up to you what you want to call anything, really.
Personally having dpent decades in various nautical environments where ambiguity matters for vessel safety and crew welfare, I'm not gonna change for anyone on a wind up.

I do worry about these islandish sometimes.
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Just to pick you up, I think you meant that clarity matters for vessel safety. Ambiguity is the problem.
 
WoodyP said:
Just to pick you up, I think you meant that clarity matters for vessel safety. Ambiguity is the problem.
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Yep, you can call a halyard a splunket so long as everyone concerned knows exactly what you mean.

Imagine on those huge sailing boats of yor, with their multiple sails, if the mate had cried, "raise the futtock sheet" and everyone had stood around arguing which one that was!
 
ridgy said:
Some american skippers like to refer to themselves as captain.
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I’ve noticed this. It seems they are all Captain This and Captain That. I’ve often wondered what they think qualifies them to use this term in an official manner. I don’t mind but it’s clearly a different culture to U.K. tradition.

For big ships, the Navy, tugs, all commercial stuff backed up by industry qualifications, I can see why it makes sense. For everyone else, I’m not sure. I would never refer to myself as captain.

By the way, I recently attended a brilliant talk on this history and development of British children’s television. The very knowledgeable and highly entertaining speaker assured us that any innuendo attached to Captain Pugwash is entirely false and does not stand up to scrutiny.
 
People incorrectly describing a Yacht as a Boat (Sandy has it nailed) should retire themselves to the Practical Boat Owners section and leave us Yachties in the 'Yachting Monthly (Scuttlebutt) section.
If 'Yachting Monthly', 'Yachting World', and 'YBW.Com' is too embarrassing for you, then 'Das Boot' is your natural destiny. Talk about trunnels and seacocks to your hearts content and leave us yachties to talk about the fine art of yachting.
 
I always thought yacht was a fairly simple term for a pleasure vessel. Why would it be pompous or embarrassing to describe an object correctly? Let's face it if I'm rocking up in something with sails and a mast I'm not kidding anyone that I'll be engaging in dredging operations anytime soon or carrying 100000 cubic meters of LNG anywhere at all.

I think that outside of the British Isles 'captain' is a fairly widely understood and simple term which means 'the person in charge'. It is also very accurate and there shouldn't really be any pretention or awkwardness attached to the word. The day skipper heading out to see with family or a few mates is wholly responsible for their safety as well as the safety of the vessel & marine environment. Therefore he or she is the captain of the vessel.

On the other hand - a Master Unlimited with 20 years on the briny but circling the globe as a C/M is NOT the captain. The captain is the person they report to when the waste hits the macerator.
 
Rightly or wrongly, I've always used the term 'yacht' to refer to a sailing vessel built for leisure and pleasure. Pleasure craft with no sails are 'motor boats' or 'powerboats' in my mind; the prefixes 'big', 'enormous' or similar get used to distinguish the vast gin palaces from the Nelsons or whatever.
I think the word 'yacht' comes from the Dutch, originally a fast sailing boat for hunting pirates, the type later being taken up as a fun boat for rich people to sail in their spare time.
 
I'm hoping this post is permitted - I'm trying to keep below the parapet.

This all makes a complete and refreshing change from anchors, no wonder I like YBW.

Tend to feel a complete charlatan when large commercial vessels, bulk carriers, cruise ships, etc and our volunteer Marine Rescue radio stations call me 'Sir' or 'Captain'.

Jonathan
 
We're bordering on boaty pronouns here.
Do you identify as:
Skipper​
Yacht
Captain​
Of a​
Motor boat
Crew​
Boat
Mate​
Ship

Let's hope JK Rowling isn't a boater...
 
Neeves said:
I'm hoping this post is permitted - I'm trying to keep below the parapet.

This all makes a complete and refreshing change from anchors, no wonder I like YBW.

Tend to feel a complete charlatan when large commercial vessels, bulk carriers, cruise ships, etc and our volunteer Marine Rescue radio stations call me 'Sir' or 'Captain'.

Jonathan
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Like me: someone addressed me as ‘Mr benjenbav’ recently. I thought they must have meant my late father. 🤷‍♂️
 
Neeves said:
I'm hoping this post is permitted - I'm trying to keep below the parapet.

This all makes a complete and refreshing change from anchors, no wonder I like YBW.

Tend to feel a complete charlatan when large commercial vessels, bulk carriers, cruise ships, etc and our volunteer Marine Rescue radio stations call me 'Sir' or 'Captain'.

Jonathan
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Sir or Ma'am are simply honorifics in common use by professional radio users, eg VTS. The operator doesnt know and cant see the sending user so needs to use something simple and polite.
 
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Neeves said:
The common 'title' for anyone in Australia is 'Mate'. 'Captain' and 'Sir' do seem a bit 'contradictory'. But I do understand the reasons.

Jonathan
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Yes, but "mate" is inflected in Australia, it can mean best friend, random person I'm talking to or that you're about to lose your teeth!
 
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