Its A Yard Not A Lug!!!!!

[Shippy]

to clarify to all you silly people who are under the inpression that spar on a whaler / cutter is called a lug... IT'S NOT!!!!

explaination:

a yard is any spar that is hung off the mast and crosses the mast, as opposed to a boom, which is secured to the base of the mast, or a gaff which is hung off the mast, but does not cross it.

the term lug, is naval slang for lugsail. lugsail's orginated in scotland and have been used for hundreds of years on small fishing vessels.

the phrase "dip the lug", is again short for "dip the lugsail", same as "back the fore", is short for "back the forsail". as with every thing else in the navy, we are lazy and try to make things as simple and idiot proof as possible (yet, most idiots still dont seem to understand ;) )

So please, for all you people out there who are guilty of this error, please try to correct it...

thanks!!

[Sea Training]

Lugsail: A four sided sail the head of which is bent to a yard.

Yard and gaff: The head of a four sided sail is bent to and supported by either a yard or a gaff; a yard crosses the mast, but a gaff has jaws at its throat which fit round the mast. The halyard of a gaff is bent to the gaff itself, but the halyard of a yard is bent to an iron hoop with a hook on it called a traveller, to which the yard is hooked by means of a strop.

Page 290 of vol 1 of Admiralty Manual of Seamanship (1979) has a diagramme fig 9-14 sailing rig of a 8.46 metre Montague whaler.

It indicates that the item of kit in question is a "Yard" to which a main sail is laced.