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Date Posted: 17:46:23 01/03/02 Thu
Author: Cana
Subject: Me knowledge of Fisher craft...be afraid, be VERY afraid!!

Types of Boats: There are dinghies (smaller, flightier boats) and keelboats (these have a keel), these are the monohulls. But, there are the multihulls (though I doubt they’d have any of these on Pern, catamarans and trimarans), or boats with more than one hull (the main body of the boat). Second are the monohulls, and the classification of the boat depends on how many masts it has. First are the one-masters: Sloops and catboats. Sloops have two types of rigging for the sails. The main one is the mainsail, and the other is the jib. The first type of rigging is the masthead rigging, where the tip of the jib and the tip of the mainsail are hoisted to the same height (are even at the tope). The second is the fractional rigging, where the jib doesn’t come up to the tip of the mast, instead it comes about ¾ up. Then there are the two-masters. First is the ketch, where the mizzen (or second, smaller mast) is behind the main mast. The yawl is very similar to this, except its mizzen mast is past the rudder. The third is the schooner, with two or more masts, and the foremast, or first mast, must be shorter than the second mast. These can also have square rigging.

Mainsail types: The Marconi, what you mainly see today, where the sail is a tall, scalene triangle. The gaff rig is where the mainsail is four-sided, with the second boom (or wood attached to the mast used to control the sail) slanting to the left where the Marconi rig goes straight up. The third was used in olden times, the lateen sail, but I think Pern hasn’t devolved that much, since the boats that Jim Tillek and others brought wouldn’t have lost that much technology, since they weren’t that complicated…but anyway, the lateen sail is like a smallish isosceles triangle turned on its side, with the mast intersecting with the sail towards the end. The wishbone rig is like the Marconi rig, except its boom slants down and leftward from about a quarter of the way up the mast. Whoo was that a lot! And I hardly had to look at Sailing for Dummies for reference at all!!

Parts of the Boat: First, ropes are called lines. There is the forestay (or headstay), the main line that connects from the top of the mast to the bow (or front of the boat), and the backstay, which goes from the top of the mast to the stern (or back of the boat). There are also sidestays, or shrouds, which are lines that run up and down the mast. The boom is the piece of wood that lies along the foot (or bottom) of the mainsail, and, on a dinghy, is controlled by the outhaul, which lies along the end of the boom. Dinghies don’t have keels, they have a centerboard instead, I believe, which (I am thinking) is retractable. The wheel, cockpit, and deck you can guess, but those are mostly for keelboats. The tack is at the front bottom corner of the sail, and the clew at the back bottom of the sail. On dinghies (and maybe keelboats…the book wasn’t too clear), there is a leech (front) side of the sail and a luff (back) side of the sail. Keelboats have battens, which help to straighten the mainsail, and if something has “sheet” attached to it (i.e. mainsheet), it means it is the line used to control the mainsail. The rudder makes the boat change direction, and is controlled by the tiller. The halyard is a line that runs along the mast and pulls the sails up. Blocks are pulleys, and cleats are used to anchor lines. The Cunningham is the line system used to adjust luff tension. Transoms are the outer sides of the stern, and topsides are the outer sides of the hull. That’s all I can conjure up now. If I remember something I forgot I’ll put it in later.

Sailing: First you have to prepare the sails! Put battens in pockets (if there are battens) after you’ve laid the sail (still mostly folded) out, and then hoist the sail. I believe it starts with you fitting the clew into its groove, and then the foot, and lastly, the tack, then putting the head (top of the sail), well, attaching it to the halyard. Same, mostly, with the jib. Clew, tack, you get the idea. It’s called rigging. To hoist, after feeding the luff into the mainsail, I believe, you then pull the halyard until the sail is taught. I’m pretty sure it’s mostly the same with the jib sail. Then you tie the halyard down, by tying it to a cleat. While you’re at the dock, and not moving, the boat should be tied. Sailing! There’s a no-sail zone, where the wind is facing you, that’s about 45 degrees on each side, so about a 90 degree area where you can’t sail because the wind’s facing you. The best you can do without zig-zagging is 45 degrees, to each side of the direction of the wind. If you tack, you move all the way to the other 45 degree angle where it’s fine to sail, on the edge of the no-sail zone. Then, there are different directions to sail. If you’re at those 45 degree angle places, then you’re close-hauling. If you’re going basically with the wind, downwind, I believe, then you’re running. Anything else is reaching. When you’re sailing, you trim the sails (the mainsail moves most, I believe), adjusting them so you can still sail at different angles. Hey! I’m starting to get this!! Port is left, starboard is right. Windward side of the boat is the side that’s facing the wind. Leeward is the side that’s facing away from the wind’s side. Heading up is when you’re moving towards the wind, and bearing away is when you’re moving away. Tacking, like I said, is that move through the no-sail zone, and jibing is when you move through the dead zone (you’re running). That’s all my brain can hold now.

Knots: Okay. Pleeease don’t make me do it!! There’s a lot of different knots, and I can’t memorize them all! But I’ve tried them all, and I have Sailing for Dummies as a reference. I’ll name em: Overhand Knot, Figure-Eight Knot, Bowline Knot, Square Knot, Reef Knot, Two Half Hitches, Clove Hitch, Fisherman’s Bend, Rolling Hitch, and Trucker’s Hitch.

Fishing: Yay! First, rod and reel. The rod itself is what you can use to go fishing, and is used for catching individual fish one at a time. There is a string (usually a gut string) that is attached to the reel, with bait on the end. You cast (throw the bait and line out), and then wait. There are floating and sinking lures, and once you hook something (a fish takes your bait), you reel it in, winding the string in. On Pern, though, I believe that they would more often use net fishing when trying to collect fish as food for a hold. You attach the net to the pulleys and such on the dock and lower it, then, when a school of fish would com by, pull it up!

Relation to Dolphins: Once thought of as shipfish, any accounts of storm rescues and them talking were put down to shock. Readis and Masterfisher Alemi finally brought notice to them, and now any ship carries some spare fish for the dolphins that escort it and bring it out of the path of storms, so the two crafts often coincide.

Allrighties, I know that’s not all that much info, but I have my Sailing for Dummies on hand in case I don’t know the answer to a question or what not. Me rp sample coming soon!!

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