Seasoned Sailor Tips
"Student: "How fast should I approach the dock?"
Teacher: "How hard do you want to hit the dock?"
Here are some tips for improved roleplay with a sailor. It's good to know the basics of a ship and how it sails, but if you're also looking for a few snazzy facts and methods, here they be found! Hard to place these in any kind of order, but here they are.
- Stopping the Boat - Hey, I'm sailing! Now..how do I stop? The easiest and fastest way to stop a boat is called "Spilling the sails", or releasing all the lines and ropes. The sail will blow and ripple in the wind, but will catch no air.
- Finding Wind on the Water - A sailor, when out on the water, can determine the strength and pattern of the wind by looking at the water. When wind passes over water in gusts, you can actually see it as a darker cloud of more "rippled" water compared to the immediately calmer and smoother water next to it. The ripples will move and fluctuate as the wind passes over it, and that's how you can find patches and gusts of wind. This is especially use when you're trying to find a spot to tack, because the increased wind speed will help your sails turn over quickly and you won't lose as much boat speed--- Or when you're running from pursuers. If you can change your course a small amount, but land yourself in a massive patch of wind, it can be just enough to give you that little boost on the ship behind you or in front of you.
- Stealing the Wind - There's an old adage among sailors, "If there's two boats on the water, it's a race." Whether you're pursuing, escaping, overtaking, a useful tactic to know on the water is stealing the wind of another. If you place your ship close to the other and on the windward side, you end up taking a large portion of their wind, and will generally move much faster. But be careful! Get too close to another ship, and they could board, fire, or even threaten to collide--hence pushing you into a point of sail you don't want to be (Irons), in which case you'd end up a sitting duck.
- Light Wind/Heavy Wind - So you know what trimming the sails is, "but what adjustments would I even be making?" Beyond adjusting the sails to match the direction of the wind, there are other adjustments that are made to catch the wind based on how much wind there is. In lighter wind, you want to loosen the sails to create a more "poofy" pocket. That doesn't mean changing the direction of the sail, it means loosening some of the ropes that attach the sail to the mast and boom. In heavier wind, however, you want to tighten everything down so that the Sail is as flat as you can get it.
- Determining Speed - Back in the day, Sailors would take a set length of rope, tying knots at a set interval. When moving, they would toss the line into the water, allowing the rope to move through their hands. While doing this, they take careful note of an hourglass (Or some tool to measure the time!). It only lasts a few seconds before the man wielding the rope pinches it. They then would bring the rope aboard, count the wet knots- and determine speed.
- A Sailor's Mentality - There's -always- adjustments to be made or things to be cleaned. The maintenance of a boat is an extremely challenging act, even with a large crew. Most of a sailor's day would be spent scrubbing metal free of rust. A sailor, at least a good one, is capable of adjusting and adapting based on -feeling-. While there are a number of tools available to a sailor, such as compasses, knot rope, etc, the sailor micromanages everything on the boat to a really shifty and patterned wind. He could adjust every rope perfectly for his heading, only to find that a moment later he needs to release every rope about a few centimeters or so. Sailor's -feel-.
Due to the nature of the fickleness of wind, as well as perhaps too long a time at sea, Sailors are extremely superstitious people. Something I'd recommend looking up for yourself are a number of fun, Faerun superstitions to attach to your character. "Never start a voyage on Friday", patting the mast every time you enter the ship, or a number of fun habits are all at your disposal.
- Sailor Sayings -
"Let the Cat out of the Bag" - Today this expression usually means that you have said something to someone that you should have kept to yourself. In the days when sails ruled the oceans such an expression brought fear to even the strongest sailor. The sailor would have been guilty of a crime that would have brought out the whip, or "cat-o'-nine-tails," from its bag, and a brutal whipping would be administered.
"To the Bitter End." - Nowadays we hold on "to the bitter end." In sailing language, the "bitts" were vertical wooden beams through which the anchor cables passed. If all the ship's cables were run out, the small amount that remained on board was referred to as "the bitter end."
"Posh" - During the warm summers, it was advisable to have a cabin that was on the shaded side of the ship. These were the highly prized cabins and the ones for which you paid extra. Thus, for the additional fee, passenger tickets were stamped "POSH" and meant "Port-Out, Starboard Home."
"High and Dry" - Typically used for 'Out of your element', this was a fairly common method of beaching the ship, so that when the tide went out, the crew could make proper repairs.
"Aboveboard" - This is used to denote an Honest Person. Pirates would often lure or deceive other vessels by having a number of their crew below deck in waiting. Honest captains kept their crew 'Aboveboard'.
"At Loggerheads." - Typically used to describe a failing relationship. In sailing terms, "the loggerhead" was a tool used to spread hot pitch in the seams between the planks of a vessel. It was a hot and dangerous job, and the sailor's tempers were short. Fights would break out and - you guessed it - the tool that was used was the loggerhead.
"Red in the morning, sailor's warning. Red at night, sailor's delight." - A fairly common phrase among sailors. The red sky at night usually meant dry weather.
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