S/y, S/v?

[T34C]

Fred has good taste and big asperations. Two important things for a 9 year old!

[sharkbait]

The only time I refer to my boat as a yacht is when I'm inviting a woman to go sailing

[chris_gee]

The Royal yacht was a motor vessel presumably used for pleasure, so would not be a SY but perhaps a MY. Nowadays for most people a yacht has sails. I suspect a vessel is regardless of size although most people would use it for a larger vessel eg motorboat vs motor vessel. I suspect this reflects the difference between a boat and a ship. One never referred to a ship as a boat.
Perhaps the change comes from SS meaning steamship originally so one moved to MV and SV rather than confusing SS with sailing ship.
So Giulietta's son can still have a yacht while his father almost has a SV.

[Rodz47]

Hmmmm .. I wonder why some (if not all) pleasure boat owners associations are called …. YACHT CLUBS ……. not …. VEHICULE CLUBS …?? Since we aren’t riding XXI century rockets but we enjoy using (probably even sailing) a very archaic floating vehicles shouldn’t we keep with the tradition and call it a YACHT ??? Just a thought ….
mstern - I always thought the same way .... pleasure boat is a yacht

[sailaway21]

Boat: A small open craft propelled by oars, sails, or some form of engine. this term is also applied to larger vessels built to navigate rivers and inland waters.

Ship: A ship may be defined as a vessel of considerable size adapted to navigation. The word is used as a general term for sea-going vessels of every kind. A ship may also defined as a masted vessel larger than a boat and suitable for navigation on the high seas. In maritime law and prize law the word ship is equivalent to vessel and it is not the form, the construction, the rig, the equipment,or the means of propulsion that makes a ship, but the purpose and business of the craft as an instument of marine transportation.

Yacht: A vessel used exclusively for pleasure, as distinguished from one used for commerce, war, or scientific purposes. A yacht is also used as a vessel of state to convey persons of distinction by water. From the legal viewpoint, a yacht is a ship, and is subject to most of the rights and liabilities of ships, though it may be bound by the local rules of any yacht club to the exclusion of it's legal rights, but not for it's liabilities.

Source: de Kerchove's International Maritime Dictionary

[sailingdog]

I think most of our boats here are boats, not ships... An old friend of mine from the navy described it as this... a boat can be put on a ship...but a ship can not be put on a boat. If your sailboat will fit in a Dockwise transport ship...it's a boat...not a ship. Whether it is a yatch or not is a different story. If you only use it for pleasure then it is probably a yatch. If you live aboard it and it is your primary or only residence then it is probably a sailing vessel.

If your sailboat is the Maltese Falcon or something similar... why are you worrying about it?

[Giulietta]

So...what is mine?? Yacht? Sailboat? SS? Vessel? ship??

I need to know so I can have either the T-shirts made...or the suit jacket...

Ahh shoes or sandals.....also

[camaraderie]

I think it is a w/c...wine cellar!

[Giulietta]

ehehehehehe nope its a:

WTHWT.

[werebeagle]

Is that what they say when they blow past you?