Author Archives: Tony Johnson

Last time we spoke of the difference between a hitch and a bend according to the Ashley Book of Knots. According to Ashley, a hitch makes a rope fast to another object while a bend unites two ropes at the … Continue reading →

I think I know what a splice is, and I’m sort of willing for the time being, subject to further review, to use the word “knot” to describe any jumble of rope made intentionally or otherwise. But of the two … Continue reading →

The forecast calls for a “small craft advisory.” Latitude 38 once made the comment that these don’t really mean anything. This is false, but I can understand how one might come to that conclusion. First, there’s no legal definition of … Continue reading →

            Last time we talked about a boat being “Bristol,” but what about the sailor? What do we call the man or woman whose uniform is pressed, shoes polished, and knife lanyard festooned with proper sinnets and Matthew Walker knots? … Continue reading →

By the early seventeenth century, mariners were calling the steady easterly winds near the equator the “trade” winds. But it was not understood why these winds blew with such constancy, and a full explanation had to wait until the early … Continue reading →

          Everyone knows that the trade winds, from which our club takes its name, are the reliable easterlies that were followed when most freight was carried under sail. But is this mercantile association the real reason they are called “trade … Continue reading →

Away out here they got a name for rain and wind and fire The rain is Tess, the fire Joe, and they call the wind Mariah I was born and raised “away out here” in California where the characters in … Continue reading →

            Remember when you were just learning to sail and the boat heeled over for the first time? My instructor was calm, but I’m told I was yelling “Help! Yikes! Eeek!”…although I’m pretty sure it was quite a bit more … Continue reading →

            Last time we established that the yardarm is not the whole yard, but just the tip of it outboard of the leeches, and moreover the commentators are all over the map concerning which yard to use. Yet any part … Continue reading →