Comments on the Questions & Answers
You can walk the walk, but can you talk the talk? Here we go.1. The correct answer to number one is yawl, ya'll. With 1294 results in 74% got this correct. A ketch has two masts with the smaller aft but the aft mast is in front of the rudder post. On a two-masted schooner the smaller mast is forward. A cutter is typically a sloop with a staysail added though you can have a cutter-rigged yawl, ketch or schooner too. Is this confusing or what?2. According to Dennis Connor, a sail's aspect ratio is the length of it's luff divided by the length of its foot. The Encyclopedia of Sailing confirms this. 58% of the respondents got this right. I'm not sure about the power squadron answer that was raised. Do those folks know something about sails? Seriously I'll keep my eye out for that one but believe the given answer to be the correct one.3. The answer to the roach question was all of the above. 62% got this right. Obviously the outward curve of the leech is the proper nautical answer, but we're having fun here, right? Your quiz result won't figure into your grade point average!4. The correct answer is to stop what you are doing. 59% got this right. And if you're still complaining about the answer to 3, avast!5. A neap tide occurs when the moon is in it's first and third quarters and it's pull on the oceans is minimized due to right angle alignments of earth, moon and sun. Thus it's the time of higher low tides, lower high tides, and minimum tidal range and currents. 48% got this right. The opposite effect, called spring tides occurs during full and new moons. The significance for sailors is most pronounced when you're trying to travel through an area with strong tidal currents. It's desirable to pass through during neap tides if possible and slack tides if you can.6. Sailing full and by means sailing as close to the wind as you can while still keeping your sails full. 37% got this right.7. Getting pooped in the nautical sense means getting boarded from astern by a breaking wave. Hasn't happened to me yet and I hope it never does. 85% got this right.8. An occulting light is an intermittent light that is light more than it's dark It's characteristics are abrreviated on charts as OCC. 26% got this right.9. A limber hole is that little drain hole that interconnects sections of the bilge so water can get to the bilge pump and get pumped overboard. 56% got this right.10. In a nautical sense a jigger is another name for a mizzen. 43% got this right.As always, we hope you had fun and maybe learned something.Gary WyngardenS/V Shibumi H335