Boating is Complicated by Antiquated Terms!

Is boating too complicated and therefore too difficult for the novice? Wouldn’t doing away with antiquated nautical terms and replacing them with everyday terms simplify boating? We all learn the difference between left and right in the first grade and the teachers pounded in our heads that we walk on the right in traffic. So the basics are already learned.

Then we buy a boat and things change but why do we have to follow the ancient mariners. We don’t use cotton sails or steam power anymore but we still use terminology that dates back to the Vikings. Starboard is said to be a corruption of the word 'steer-board', which was on the right side of the boat. With the 'steer board' hanging out the side you couldn't come into port on that side or you'd smash the steer-board.

So ancient boats came in to Port on the port side of the boat opposite the right side steer-board or starboard, right!  Port and left have four letters so Port and left are the same. And if we ever simplify the terms then we can start on the rules of the road. First thing would be to combine the Inland Rules and the International Rules into a standard format that is easier to remember all over instead of worrying where you are. If we can negotiate our jobs away with NAFTA we should be able to get an agreement on collision avoidance regulations. That’s very important, right!

Standardizing terms should include the names of the part of the boat such as boat such as bow (front) stern (back) beam (width) and free board (side height)! How does it benefit a novice boater to know those terms when simpler terms will do the same thing without the long learning curve? Why make it so difficult? Could it be that the old school wants to seem above the beginner?

I understand that some professions don’t want the public to understand them. The medical profession uses all kinds of gobbledygook Latin phrases and bizarre abbreviations to confuse us. A pulmonary embolism is a deadly form of blood colt in the lung so why don’t they just say it in plain English. I guess they might not be able to charge as much if we knew what they were talking about.

I want new boaters to come up to speed quickly. They should be able to know which side of what pole to pass on without figuring out what part of the intercoastal they are on. Red right returning should be from seaward toward the middle of land no matter on a river or on the waterway. And passing should be standardized. Keep what works and pitch the antiquated.

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