You Favorite Mis-Used Naultical Jargon

Graham376 said:
If you had taken the course, you would have found the practical tests of candidate's ability far from sloppy;)
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Perhaps. Most gliding instructors I flew with were pretty good, although not many of them know why up elevator is required in turns[1] - my standard test of instructors' theory knowledge. And then there was the chap at a large club in the Midlands who kept telling me to pull back at the top of a site-check winch launch although (a) we were already in pre-stall buffet (b) in a Puchacz (c) two weeks after they had had a fatal spin off the wire.

[1] It is not "to increase the angle of attack because of the higher loading in a turn"
 
Old Bumbulum said:
Most of the times a boat is described as havng a list it is not, it is has developed a loll. List is an unstable condition - perhaps from a free surface on board. A loll is stable, perhaps a flooded compartment or shifted cargo or when aground. Again, a vessel aground and therefore not upright or incorrectly trimmed ballast-wise it almost certainly has a loll, not a list.
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Other way round - list is a stable lean one way or another, loll is an unstable condition usually caused by free surface water (i.e. a small amount of water on the car deck of a ro-ro ferry can cause loll).
Angle of Loll | Marine Notes
 
thinwater said:
Kedge. Frequently sailors refer to their storm anchor as a kedge, because that sounds big to them.
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Eh? Not where I learned to sail! Kedge being the smallest anchor on board or the verb for pulling yourself away from the mud you've just run onto using your anchor.

I wish these American 'sources of reference' would get their facts right. And their spelling.
 
OBVIOUSLY I know what a kedge is. I used it as an example of a word I have heard misused and said as much. This repetition is well past tiresome. Let's move on.

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noun. \ ˈrōd. Definition of rode (Entry 2 of 2)


: a line (as of rope or chain) used to attach an anchor to a boat. [Webster's]

I have heard sailors describe chain and being better than rode, and further explain that rode was the proper term for rope when used as a component of, well, the rode.

Curiously, other dictionaries say something different:
rode3, Pronunciation /rōd/ /roʊd/ noun
North American Nautical
  • A rope, especially one securing an anchor or trawl.
    ‘Some would advise using four anchors two on each rode, with the rodes spread out in a Y.’
    ‘How many boats have anchor rodes strong enough to take such a loading?’
Origin
Early 17th century of unknown origin. [Lexico]

I find this useage ambiguous, since the effect is to have no generic term for the line connected to the anchor, which could be chain or wire cable. FWIW, in the US Webster's is generally considered the authoritative reference for US English, just as OED is the reference for British English, and to a great extent, correct English in general.

What does the OED say (I don't have access at the moment).
 
thinwater said:
OBVIOUSLY I know what a kedge is. I used it as an example of a word I have heard misused and said as much. This repetition is well past tiresome. Let's move on.

----

noun. \ ˈrōd. Definition of rode (Entry 2 of 2)


: a line (as of rope or chain) used to attach an anchor to a boat. [Webster's]

I have heard sailors describe chain and being better than rode, and further explain that rode was the proper term for rope when used as a component of, well, the rode.

Curiously, other dictionaries say something different:
rode3, Pronunciation /rōd/ /roʊd/ noun
North American Nautical
  • A rope, especially one securing an anchor or trawl.
    ‘Some would advise using four anchors two on each rode, with the rodes spread out in a Y.’
    ‘How many boats have anchor rodes strong enough to take such a loading?’
Origin
Early 17th century of unknown origin. [Lexico]

I find this useage ambiguous, since the effect is to have no generic term for the line connected to the anchor, which could be chain or wire cable. FWIW, in the US Webster's is generally considered the authoritative reference for US English, just as OED is the reference for British English, and to a great extent, correct English in general.

What does the OED say (I don't have access at the moment).
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OED
rode, n.1

Pronunciation:
Brit. /rəʊd/
,
U.S. /roʊd/
,
Canadian /roːd/
Forms: 16 rood, 16 roode, 16–17 roade, 17– road, 17– rode, 18– rhode.
Frequency (in current use):
Origin: Of uncertain origin. Probably a variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymon: road n.
Etymology: Origin uncertain; probably < road n. (compare forms at that entry, and compare ... (Show More)
North American regional (chiefly New England and Newfoundland). Nautical.
Thesaurus »
Categories »

A rope, esp. one attached to the anchor of a boat. Cf. roding n.3
1612 Inventory in R. A. Barakat Willoughby Papers (1995) 33 Small coyle of ropes..for boates hallers and roades.
1624 C. Levett Voy. New Eng. 4 At length I caused our Killick (which was all the Anker we had) to be cast forth, and one continually to hold his hand upon the roode or cable.
1679 in Rec. Early Hist. Boston (1881) VII. 135 A roade taken out of his Boate in the time of ye fire, & made vse of to pull downe houses.
1726 S. Penhallow Hist. Wars New-Eng. 45 They..fir'd..with such resolution, as made them to quit one of their Boats, by cutting their roads and lashings.
1792 G. Cartwright Jrnl. I. Gloss. p. xiv The foot of it [sc. a shoal net] is brought to, on a shallop's old rode, and the head, on two fishing-lines.
1843 Newfoundland Indicator 18 Nov. 3 Cordage—viz. Hawsers, Roads, Ratlin, Bolt-rope, [etc.].
1883 Great Internat. Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 12 Manilla Trawl Rhode, large yarn.
1912 Rudder 27 377/1 The worst possible ground tackle..is a rope anchor rode, with a sliding stock anchor at the end of it.
1963 J. T. Rowland North to Adventure x. 147 With both hooks down and a long scope of rode she should be able to ride out anything.
1986 J. Feltham Islands of Bonavista Bay 55 On the fishing grounds, the motor boats, like the bullies, were moored with ‘rodes’ and grapnels.
1996 Chesapeake Bay Mag. Sept. 37/2 Carry a good anchor with plenty of chain and rode.
 
JohnGC said:
OED
rode, n.1

Pronunciation:
Brit. /rəʊd/
,
U.S. /roʊd/
,
Canadian /roːd/
Forms: 16 rood, 16 roode, 16–17 roade, 17– road, 17– rode, 18– rhode.
Frequency (in current use):
Origin: Of uncertain origin. Probably a variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymon: road n.
Etymology: Origin uncertain; probably < road n. (compare forms at that entry, and compare ... (Show More)
North American regional (chiefly New England and Newfoundland). Nautical.
Thesaurus »
Categories »

A rope, esp. one attached to the anchor of a boat. Cf. roding n.3
1612 Inventory in R. A. Barakat Willoughby Papers (1995) 33 Small coyle of ropes..for boates hallers and roades.
1624 C. Levett Voy. New Eng. 4 At length I caused our Killick (which was all the Anker we had) to be cast forth, and one continually to hold his hand upon the roode or cable.
1679 in Rec. Early Hist. Boston (1881) VII. 135 A roade taken out of his Boate in the time of ye fire, & made vse of to pull downe houses.
1726 S. Penhallow Hist. Wars New-Eng. 45 They..fir'd..with such resolution, as made them to quit one of their Boats, by cutting their roads and lashings.
1792 G. Cartwright Jrnl. I. Gloss. p. xiv The foot of it [sc. a shoal net] is brought to, on a shallop's old rode, and the head, on two fishing-lines.
1843 Newfoundland Indicator 18 Nov. 3 Cordage—viz. Hawsers, Roads, Ratlin, Bolt-rope, [etc.].
1883 Great Internat. Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 12 Manilla Trawl Rhode, large yarn.
1912 Rudder 27 377/1 The worst possible ground tackle..is a rope anchor rode, with a sliding stock anchor at the end of it.
1963 J. T. Rowland North to Adventure x. 147 With both hooks down and a long scope of rode she should be able to ride out anything.
1986 J. Feltham Islands of Bonavista Bay 55 On the fishing grounds, the motor boats, like the bullies, were moored with ‘rodes’ and grapnels.
1996 Chesapeake Bay Mag. Sept. 37/2 Carry a good anchor with plenty of chain and rode.
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I see conflicts in the above.
Many are talking about rope, but they could has easily meant it generically. In earlier references, rope was simply far more common than chain.
1624. "roode or cable." Since cable would have meant a large rope, I don't know what roode means in this example.
1883. Manilla trawl rhode. By describing it as manila it is identified as rope, meaning the use of rhode was generic.
1912. Rope anchor rode. Clearly, rode is generic and he is criticizing the use of rope vs. chain.
1996. Chain and rode. In this case, rode seems to mean rope.

I don't think the OED references are definitive in this case. Is it a term that is used with two meanings? I (being American) have always used the Webster's meaning, which is both generic and unambiguous: a line (as of rope or chain) used to attach an anchor to a boat.
 
Kukri said:
There are many, but ‘under weigh’ for ‘under way’ is in there.
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My understanding has always been that when weighing (raising) anchor, at the point when the anchor leaves the ground, and the vessel is no longer attached to the seabed, it is "under weigh". At this point the vessel may or may not be actually moving.
 
NormanS said:
My understanding has always been that when weighing (raising) anchor, at the point when the anchor leaves the ground, and the vessel is no longer attached to the seabed, it is "under weigh". At this point the vessel may or may not be actually moving.
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A boat is under way when it's not moored or stranded etc. You're under way once you've slipped from a jetty or once your anchor is aweigh.
Chocs away= stop eating sweets and pull the bloody anchor up....
 
lw395 said:
You're not 'tacking' until the bow is through the wind.
By which time there should be no need to tell the crew.
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That is the racing rule definition, upon which stand on / give way depends. Until that point you are considered to be luffing. But common usage includes the entire turn, but not the preparation (ready about) phase.

"Tacking or coming about is a sailing maneuver by which a sailing vessel, whose desired course is into the wind, turns its bow toward the wind so that the direction from which the wind blows changes from one side to the other, allowing progress in the desired direction."https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacking_(sailing)
 
Kelpie said:
So the OED say a capsize is when a boat 'overturns'.
Does that not mean it refers to a complete inversion? And if so, what word should we use when a boat only rotates to 90 degrees?

Am I the only one who thought that a capsize was, in actual maritime usage, best applied to a 90 degree rotation, and not an inversion? Perhaps I have been labouring under a misapprehension all my life :/
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Doesn't "Knock Down" describe a 90 degree rotation?

Has anyone mentioned the term "Set Sail" when applied to a usually large passenger carrying motor boat?
 
How about "kellet?"

I can't find it in non-nautical dictionaries. Alternatives, including Sentinel, Chum, Buddy, Rider, and Angel, are to my knowledge, all brand names. I like generic terms. Kellet probably comes from killick or killeck, but I don't know. Kellet is probably the most common term in the US, since the products generally were not distributed here.
 
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