We have no ropes onboard Dagny.

There are sheets, reefs, rodes, halyards, stays and vangs, outhauls and downhauls, and various other control lines that help Dagny start, stop, and stay on course, but none we call rope. These lines may be made of rope, but they all have a specific name and purpose and are referred to as such. 

“The starboard sheet tweaker needs to be hauled in a bit.”  Perfectly clear, to a sailor.

It’s not an elitist yachting thing, this odd vocabulary. Using the traditional names for our lines helps to identify them and their function and leads to less confusion, even more so when things get “sporty”.   Our lines and their unique names also bind us in a small way to those before who sailed the seas in exploration, trade, or personal fulfillment.  We are the beneficiaries in many ways of those sailors, and we honor their legacy by keeping this tradition alive.  We hope to pass it on to others.

If you came aboard for a sail we would be happy to “show you the ropes” — so to speak.  P