Sailing Jargon

[zz4gta]

Boom vang and kicker.

foreguy and downhaul.

Both of these do almost the same thing, a vang and kicker, but the construction is different.

A foreguy and downhaul do something very similar and are called the same thing on a lot of boats. However, they are rigged differently and perform slightly different tasks.

Twings and tweakers are often interchanged.

I'm sure there's more, but the language is very confusing when you first start out.

[CalypsoP35]

Originally Posted by zz4gta

Boom vang and kicker.

foreguy and downhaul.

Both of these do almost the same thing, a vang and kicker, but the construction is different.

You can have a vang that's not a kicker and a kicker that's not a vang. You can have a kicker that is a vang (or a vang that is a kicker if you prefer). Or you can have a kicker and a vang that are two separate pieces of equipment that are on the same boom. I feel like there should be a punchline at the end of this.

[kaluvic]

For my money a kicker holds the boom up....a vang pulls it down.
A rigid vang does both....are there Kickers with down hauls on them?

[Omatako]

Originally Posted by zz4gta

I'm sure there's more, but the language is very confusing when you first start out.

. . . . . . but then so is Russian. My belief remians that if you learn the jargon then everything is crystalised and no ambiguity. When some one says "pull that rope" it means nix. When they say "haul down that halyard" or "pull in that sheet" it is very specific provided you know what the heck a halyard or a sheet is.

After some thought I have one thing on my boat that has two names - the anchor winch is often called a windlass. Oh, and my wife has several names but they're not really sailing jargon unless I'm really angry

[dboy4ever]

I think checking out a sailing book from your local library would help...