Who nose what it's called?

[Danny Jo]

Who nose what it\'s called?

On an earlier thread about anchoring with a warp there was a little spat about what to call a bow. Someone made the intriguing statement that it's the same in any language, so I tried my French translator, and it came up with "arc", which I think has something to do with archery. This reminded me of a remark made by my eldest, when I asked her to fetch the tripping gear from the anchor locker, you know, the one in the bow - "Oh, you mean the locker at the front."

But never mind that, just tell me how to distinguish between the two spring lines. I have been uncertain for some time which is the bow and which the stern spring, but thought it was just my ignorance. However checking various versions on the web suggests that a genuine ambiguity exists. For example, the diagram here shows the "bow spring" attached to the stern cleat on the boat, whereas the description here of a downwind departure clearly refers to the same warp as the "stern spring".

The question is further complicated by the fact that many boats, Freestyle included, attach both springs to the centre cleat, so one can't name them according to their attachment point on the boat. I suggest we settle this by a vote. Consider the spring attached to the stern cleat on the boat in the first diagram: even if it is attached instead to the centre cleat, its point of attachment to the pontoon is at or in the direction of the bow.

 

[Gunfleet]

Re: Who nose what it\'s called?

<<many boats, Freestyle included, attach both springs to the centre cleat>>

now you've started something.

 

[sarabande]

Re: Who nose what it\'s called?

I was trained to call springs by

1 where the point of attachment on the boat is
2 what they prevent the boat doing

Hence:
a HEAD spring prevents the boat moving forward, and BACK spring, ... well....

So the MIDSHIPS HEAD spring is located on an onboard cleat at or near the beam max of the boat, goes to a point on the pontoon well ASTERN of the boat's cleat, and prevents her from moving FORWARDS.

An AFT BACK spring will go from an onboard cleat near the STERN to a point on the pontoon well AHEAD of the stern cleat, and prevents the boat moving BACKWARDS.

So you can have an AFT Head spring, and a FOR'D head spring too.

Springs prevent a boat from SURGING ahead or astern at the berth.

(A rope which goes from the boat directly to the nearest part of the pontoon is a BREAST rope. A breast rope prevents the boat from moving AWAY from the berth. So FOR'D BREAST rope will be located at the front of the boat directly to the nearest part of the pontoon. It is not a popular name when when sailing with young teenagers for some reason /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif)

 

[Danny Jo]

Re: Who nose what it\'s called?

This photo provides a possible clue to the source of any confusion. If I say, I'm going to tickover in forward gear against the bow spring, I'm likely to get puzzled looks from the some of the crew.

 

[NealB]

Eloquently put....nm

*

 

[johnalison]

Re: Who nose what it\'s called?

No, don't get me started on centre-cleats. I usually leave a trail of puzzled folk who think I'm the most unreasonable person on earth for insisting on end-to-end springs when they want to raft up. Maybe I am, but I like a night's sleep.

 

[Danny Jo]

Re: Who nose what it\'s called?

Clear, logical and unambiguous. Thanks. I can see a "Pontoon mooring SOP" coming up. As in:

Freestyle uses conventional bow and stern lines, plus two springs attached midships. The loop on the midships head spring (marked by one red and one green whipping) is passed through and over the midships cleat and made fast to the pontoon cleat at the outer end of the finger. The stern line (marked by two green whippings) is made fast to the same pontoon cleat. The bow line (marked by two red whippings) is brought back to the midships cleat as the midships aft spring.

 

[sarabande]

Re: Who nose what it\'s called?

There's a bit of a problem if, like me you have a boat which is very beamy ("fat" SWMBO calls her, but we won't go there !), and want to run a headspring from the bow to the pontoon astern.

The spring chafes against the hull at the beamiest point if you run it outboard of the boat. So my headspring goes from the big cleat up in the bows to a fairlead amidships, then outboard to the cleat on the pontoon. This gives the length required to prevent snatching, and the spring doesn't abraid the gelcoat on the hull.

Looks as if you have the lines already made up and marked. One of these days, I'll get round to doing that too !

 

[johnalison]

Re: Who nose what it\'s called?

I see what you mean about chafe, but I usually get round that by bringing the line up to deck level with a shock-cord from the life-lines.

 

[sarabande]

Re: Who nose what it\'s called?

Neat idea, I must give that a try ! thanks

/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif