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Spar vs. mast. What's the difference?

18K views 12 replies 9 participants last post by  SanderO 
#1 ·
From reading, they seem to be used interchangeably. In the same sentence or different sentences, it sounds the same. If they are the same, why do people use both words in the same sentence?

A spar is a pole of wood, metal or lightweight materials such as carbon fibre used in the rigging of a sailing vessel to carry or support its sail. These include booms and masts, which serve both to deploy sail and resist compressive and bending forces, as well as the bowsprit and spinnaker pole.
The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the centre-line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sail, spars, and derricks, and giving necessary height to a navigation light, look-out position, signal yard, control position, radio aerial or signal lamp.[1]
 
#2 · (Edited)
Your quote is exactly correct.

The boom and mast and bowsprit are all spars.

The mast is one specific spar.

Just like you have sails on a boat which include the jib, mainsail, and spinnaker.

We use the concept of a general group all the time like motor vehicle and specific examples such as cars, buses, trucks.

Same idea.
 
#3 ·
Got it! Thanks.
Like a circle is a special ellipse and a square is a special rectangle.
 
#4 ·
Strange that people both in the same sentence.
When you need to step the mast and center the spar in the hole... why not use the same word?
 
#12 ·
I guess you don't have a bell rope, a bolt rope on your sail, or a starter rope on your outboard. No, there is not clear demarcation as to when a rope becomes a line and it a pointless exercise to create one or defend it. OED has countless references to rope on a boat.
 
#11 ·
Now This is the quality of response I like to see on the internet -- you're either an in member of this activity or you're really good at baffling with bovine 'manure' those, like me, who have no clue! I was seeking the answer to the difference between mast and spar & you guys have cleared that up -- thank you all so much! It was bugging me, to see both defined similarly in crossword puzzles. .
 
#13 ·
Boat jargon can be useful because/when the terms clearly distinguish the function. It's helpful to communication when people are "speaking the same language" and that includes vocabulary. However if someone can make their intention understood... that's really all that matters. On a "small yacht" it hardly matters if a newb calls the anchor windlass an anchor winch... in my opinion. Knowing the jargon is a sign of an experienced sailor, I suppose.

"Jargon is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular communicative context and may not be well understood outside that context. The context is usually a particular occupation, but any ingroup can have jargon. The main trait that distinguishes jargon from the rest of a language is special vocabulary—including some words specific to it and often different senses or meanings of words, that outgroups would tend to take in another sense—therefore misunderstanding that communication attempt. Jargon is sometimes understood as a form of technical slang and then distinguished from the official terminology used in a particular field of activity."

Almost every "field" has jargon specific to that field.
 
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