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Boating

Boating

Boating is the activity of traveling by boat. In particular, it refers to the recreational use of boats, typically focused on the traveling itself, as opposed to activities just using the boat, such as fishing, waterskiing or sailing. Even so, it encompasses a wide variety of activities, ranging from taking a rowboat on the pond of a city park, to kayaking on the open sea. Boating is an extremely popular activity, and there are millions of boaters worldwide. Sailing is a category of boating that uses wind-powered vessels, while powerboating uses motorized vessels. The obvious initial requirement for boating is a boat. There is an entire industry devoted to supplying both large and small vessels for boaters. There also is an entire industry devoted to supplying boat loans to people that cannot afford to purchase a vessel outright. Most smaller boats are stored at home and carried to the water on boat trailers, where they are floated from launch ramps leading down into the water. The smallest boats and kayaks may simply be carried by hand or by lashing it to the top of an automobile. Larger boats are kept at marinas, which offer a tie-up protected from the weather and a variety of support services, such as fuel, equipment and so forth. Most boat trips begin and end in one day, while longer trips are typically called cruises. While other activities may be planned as part of the trip, for many boaters the purpose is simply to enjoy being out on the water; drinking and partying are proverbial as part of the experience. Being a recreational activity, most boating is done in calm protected waters and during good weather. Even so, conditions can change rapidly, and a small vessel can get into life-threatening difficulties. The coast guards of most nations include boating safety and rescue as part of their charter. Boating is also lesser used as a term to describe a common position of feline relaxation. The term is used in American households to in relation to the appearance of how a cat looks when its front legs are tucked beneath it. In this position, the cat looks as if it has no appendages, yet sits tucked in and appears to float on the carpet as a boat would on water. Thus arose the term boating. Usage: "Check it out, your cat's boatin'!"

External links

- [http://BoatUS.com Boat Owners Association of The United States] Category:Recreation

Boat

A boat is a watercraft, usually smaller than most ships. Some boats are commonly carried by a ship or on land using trailers. A boat consists of one or more buoyancy structures called hulls and some system of propulsion, such as a screw, oars, paddles, a setting pole, a sail, paddlewheels or a water jet.

Parts of a Boat

The roughly horizontal but cambered structures spanning the hull of the boat are referred to as the "deck". In a ship, there would be several but a boat is unlikely to have more than one. The similar but usually lighter structure which spans a raised cabin is a coarch-roof. The "floor" of a cabin is properly known as the sole but is more likely to be called the floor. (A floor is properly, a structural member which ties a frame to the keelson and keel.) The underside of a deck is the deck head. The vertical surfaces dividing the internal space are "bulkheads". Some are important parts of the vessel's structure. The front of a boat is called the bow or prow. The rear of the boat is called the stern. The right side is starboard and the left side is port. It is somewhat risible in modern practice to call the command area of a large boat the "bridge". It is the cockpit or wheelhouse, depending on its design. The compartments housing a toilet, and the toilet itself, are known as the "heads", and a trip to this area is a "head call". In the old days, cordage intended for the delicate hands of a yacht's owner was of linen, later cotton. Therefore cordage used to control a sailing boat, tends to be referred to as "line" rather than rope. Most have specific names, but in general, lines used for raising things like sails and flags are "halyards" while the principal ones for adjusting the positions of the sails are called "sheets". All the lines and wire collectively are referred to as "rigging". That which is set up in the yard and left is standing rigging. That which is adjustable in use is running rigging. For example, a forestay is standing rigging and a sheet or a halyard is part of the running rigging.

Types of Boats

water jet
- Bangca
- Bateau
- Barge
- Cabin Cruiser
- Canoe
- Catamaran
- Cape Islander
- Catboat
- Coracle
- Cruiser
- Cutter
- Dhow
- Dinghy
- Dory
- Durham Boat
- Dutch Barge
- Felucca
- Ferry
- Folding boat
- Go-fast boat
- Gondola
- Houseboat
- Inflatable boat Inflatable boat]
- Jetboat, Jetski
- Jonsboat
- Junk
- Kayak
- Ketch
- Lifeboat
- Log boat
- Luxemotor
- Motorboat
- Narrowboat
- Norfolk wherry
- Outrigger canoe
- Padded V-hull
- Pinnace
- Pirogue
- Powerboat Powerboat
- Raft
- Rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RIB)
- Rowboat, rowing boat
- Sailboat, sailing boat
- Sampan
- Schooner
- Scow
- Sharpie
- Skiff
- Sloop
- Submarine
- Swift boat
- Tjalk
- Trimaran
- Tugboat
- U-boat
- Water taxi
- Whaleboat
- Yacht
- Yawl Yawl

Unusual types of boats

Unusual floating vehicles have been used for sports purposes as well. For example, the Bathtub Boat is used in "bathtub races" in many cities, although it originated in Nanaimo, BC, Canada.

Unusual uses of the word "Boat"

- Often in rowing as a racing-type competitive sport, "boat" means the crew and "shell" means the craft. So a university might refer to its first boat, meaning the rowers who make up their best team, rather than their best piece of equipment.
- A submarine is generally referred to as a boat rather than a ship. This dates from the early days of submarine warfare, when submarines were essentially motor torpedo boats which could submerge. In the modern combat environment where a typical attack submarine is the size of a destroyer and equipped with either a nuclear reactor or air independent propulsion which can allow it to stay submerged for months or weeks (and boomers are even larger, on the order of old-style battleships), this use is something of an anachronism.
- A ship can be informally known as a boat, especially by its crew. This use is uncommon in the case of a warship.
- In Great Lakes shipping, "boat" refers to any vessel, even one which would normally be considered a "ship" on the ocean.
- In some versions of cockney rhyming slang, "boat" means face, from "boat race".
- The term "gravy boat" is used to describe a small jug used to dispense meat gravy at the dining table. Similarly: "sauce boat".
- A boat can also be one of the massive cars manufactured in America from the 1950s through the 1970s.
- A boat, short for full-boat is another term for a full-house in the card game poker.

External links

- [http://www.boatingdir.com Boating Directory]
- [http://www.cronab.demon.co.uk/china.htm The Rise and Fall of 15th Century Chinese Seapower]
- [http://www.barges.org DBA - Dutch Barge Association] Living aboard ex-commercial barges or any other type of broad-beam inland waterways craft Category:Vehicles Category:Water transport
- ja:船 simple:Boat

Fishing

Fishing is the activity of hunting for fish. By extension, the term fishing is also applied to hunting for other aquatic animals such as various types of shellfish as well as squid, octopus, turtles, frogs and some edible marine invertebrates. The term fishing is usually not applied to the hunting of aquatic mammals such as whales. Fishing is an ancient and worldwide practice with many techniques and traditions, and it has been transformed by modern technological developments.

Fishing in antiquity

Origins

whales Fishing is a very ancient practice that dates back at least to the Mesolithic period which began about 10,000 years ago. We know from archaeological features such as shell middens [http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/arch/middens/index.htm], discarded fish bones and cave paintings that sea foods were important and consumed in significant quantities. During this time, most people lived a hunter-gather life style and were, of necessity, constantly on the move. However, where there are a few early examples of permanent settlements (though not necessarily permanently occupied) such as those at Lepenski Vir, they are almost always associated with fishing as a major source of food. The neolithic culture and technology spread worldwide between about 8,000 and 4,000 years ago. With the new technologies of farming and pottery came the basic forms of most fishing methods known today. Fishing may even pre-date the development of modern humans. There is a controversial theory called the aquatic ape hypothesis which proposes that the ancestors of modern humans went through one or more periods of time living in a semi-aquatic setting and that they gathered most of their food from shallow coastal or other waters before their descendants returned to a more land-based existence.

Ancient archaeology

Ancient representations

aquatic ape hypothesis The ancient river Nile was full of fish; fresh and dried fish were a staple food for much of the population. The Egyptians invented various implements and methods for fishing and these are clearly illustrated in tomb scenes, drawings, and papyrus documents. Simple reed boats served for fishing. Woven nets, weir baskets made from willow branches, harpoons and hook and line (the hooks having a length of between eight millimetres and eighteen centimetres) were all being used. By the 12th dynasty, metal hooks with barbs were being used. As is fairly common today, the fish were clubbed to death after capture. Nile perch, catfish and eels were among the most important fish. Some representations hint at fishing being pursued as a pastime. Fishing scenes are rarely represented in ancient Greek culture, a reflection of the low social status of fishing. There is a wine cup, dating from 510–500 BC, that shows a boy crouched on a rock with a fishing-rod in his right hand and a basket in his left. In the water below, a rounded object of the same material with an opening on the top. This has been identified as a fish-cage used for keeping live fish, or as a fish-trap. It is clearly not a net. This object is currently in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. [http://www.mfa.org/collections/search_art.asp?recview=true&id=153702&coll_keywords=fishing&coll_accession=&coll_name=&coll_artist=&coll_place=&coll_medium=&coll_culture=&coll_classification=&coll_credit=&coll_provenance=&coll_location=&coll_has_images=&coll_on_view=&coll_sort=0&coll_sort_order=0&coll_package=0&coll_start=71 Image:Ancient angler] ancient Greek Pictorial evidence of Roman fishing comes from mosaics which show fishing from boats with rod and line as well as nets. Various species such as conger, lobster, sea urchin, octopus and cuttlefish are illustrated. [http://museum.agropolis.fr/english/pages/expos/aliments/poissons/images/mosaique.htm Image of Roman mosaic]. In a parody of fishing, a type of gladiator called retiarius was armed with a trident and a casting-net. He would fight against the murmillo, who carried a short sword and a helmet with the image of a fish on the front. The Greco-Roman sea god Neptune is depicted as wielding a fishing trident.

Ancient literature

There are numerous references to fishing in ancient literature; in most cases, however, the descriptions of nets and fishing-gear do not go into detail, and the equipment is described in general terms. An early example from the Bible in Job 41:7: Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears? [http://bible.tmtm.com/wiki/Job_Chapter_41] The Greek historian Polybius ((ca 203 BC-120 BC), in his Histories, describes hunting for swordfish by using a harpoon with a barbed and detachable head. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plb.+34.3] Oppian of Corycus, a Greek author wrote a major treatise on sea fishing, the Halieulica or Halieutika, composed between 177 and 180. This is the ealiest such work to have survived intact to the modern day. Oppian describes various means of fishing including the use of nets cast from boats, scoop nets held open by a hoop, spears and tridents, and various traps “which work while their masters sleep”. Oppian’s description of fishing with a “motionless” net is also very interesting: :The fishers set up very light nets of buoyant flax and wheel in a circle round about while they violently strike the surface of the sea with their oars and make a din with sweeping blow of poles. At the flashing of the swift oars and the noise the fish bound in terror and rush into the bosom of the net which stands at rest, thinking it to be a shelter: foolish fishes which, frightened by a noise, enter the gates of doom. Then the fishers on either side hasten with the ropes to draw the net ashore. From ancient representations and literature it is clear that fishing boats were typically small, lacking a mast or sail, and were only used close to the shore. In traditional Chinese history, history begins with three semi-mystical and legendary individuals who taught the Chinese the arts of civilization around 2800-2600 BC: of these Fu Hsi was reputed to be the inventor of writing, hunting, trapping, and fishing.

Fishing techniques

Hand fishing

It is possible to fish with minimal equipment by using only the hands. In the USA catching catfish in this way is known as noodling. In the British Isles, the practice of catching trout by hand is known as trout tickling; it is an art mentioned several times in the plays of Shakespeare. Trout binning is a method of fishing, possibly fictional, performed with a sledgehammer. [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/11267] Divers can catch lobsters by hand. Pearl diving is the practice of hunting for oysters by free-diving to depths of up to 30 m. Hand-line fishing is a technique requiring a fishing line with a weight and one or more lure-like hooks.

Spear and bow fishing

Spear fishing is an ancient method of fishing and may be conducted with an ordinary spear or a specialised variant such as an eel spear ([http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/claremuseum/riches_of_clare/water/eel_spear2.htm Image]) or the trident. A small trident type spear with a long handle is used in the American South and Midwest for "gigging" bullfrogs with a bright light at night, or for gigging carp and other trash fish in the shallows. Traditional spear fishing is restricted to shallow waters, but the development of the speargun has made the method much more efficient. With practice, divers are able to hold their breath for up to four minutes; of course, a diver with underwater breathing equipment can dive for much longer periods. Hunter gatherers may use the bow to kill fish in shallow water.

Fishing nets

bow All fishing nets are meshes usually formed by knotting a relatively thin thread. Modern nets are usually made of artificial polyamides like nylon, although nets of organic polyamides such as wool or silk thread were common until recently and are still used in certain areas. A small hand net held open by a hoop and possibly on the end of a long stiff handle has been known since antiquity and may be used for sweeping up fish near the water surface. Such a net used by an angler to aid in landing a captured fish is known as a landing net. In England, hand netting is the only legal way of catching eels and has been practiced for thousands of years on the River Parrett and River Severn. A casting net is circular with a weighted periphery. Sizes vary up to about 4 m diameter. The net is thrown by hand in such a manner that it speads out on the water and sinks. Fish are caught as the net is hauled back in. [http://www.nccoastalfishing.com/index.htm?casting.htm~main]. River Severn 1972]] Coracle-fishing is performed by two men, each seated in his coracle and with one hand holding the net while, with the other, he plies his paddle. When a fish is caught, each hauls up his end of the net until the two coracles are brought to touch and the fish is then secured. The Chinese fishing nets (Cheena vala) found at Kochi in India are an unusual method of fishing. Huge mechanical contrivances hold out horizontal nets of 20 m or more across. The nets are dipped into the water and raised again, but otherwise cannot be moved. A seine is a large fishing net that hangs vertically in the water by attaching weights along the bottom edge and floats along the top. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively pulling a fishing net through the water behind one or more boats. A gillnet catches fish which try to pass through it by snagging on the gill covers. Thus trapped, the fish can neither advance trough the net nor retreat. Ghost nets are nets that have been lost at sea. They may continue to be a menace to wildlife for many years.

Dredging

There are types of dredges used for collecting scallops or oysters from the seabed. They tend to have the form of a scoop made of chain mesh and they are towed by a fishing boat. Scallop dredging is very destructive to the seabed, and nowadays is often replaced by mariculture or by scuba diving to collect the scallops.

Fishing lines

Fish are caught with a fishing line by encouraging a fish to bite upon a fish hook or a gorge. A fishing hook will pierce the mouthparts of a fish and may be barbed to make escape less likely. A gorge is buried in the bait such that it would be swallowed end first. The the tightening of the line would fix it cross-wise in the quarry's stomach or gullet and so the capture would be assured. Fishing with a hook and line is called angling. Trolling is a technique in which a fishing lure on a line is drawn through the water. Trolling from a moving boat is a technique of big-game fishing and is used when fishing from boats to catch large open-water species such as tuna and marlin. Trolling is also a freshwater angling technique. Long-line fishing is a commercial fishing technique that uses hundreds or even thousands of baited hooks hanging from a single line.

Kite fishing

Kite fishing was invented in China and was (and is) also known to the people of New Guinea and other Pacific Islands. It is not clear whether kite fishing was communicated or of independent invention. Suitable kites may be of very simple construction. Those of Tobi Island are a large leaf stiffened by the ribs of the fronds of the coconut palm. The fishing line may be made from coconut fibre and the lure made from spiders webs. Kites can provide the boatless fishermen access to waters that would otherwise be available only to boats. Similarly, for boat owners, kites provide a way to fish in areas where it is not safe to navigate such as shallows or coral reefs where fish may be plentiful. Kites can also be used for trolling a lure through the water.

Ice fishing

See main article Ice fishing. Ice fishing is the practice of catching fish with lines and hooks through an opening in the ice on a frozen body of water. It is practiced by hunter-gatherers such as the Inuit and by sportsmen in many cold climates.

Fish traps

Traps are culturally almost universal and seem to have been independently invented many times. There are essentially two types of trap, a permanent or semi-permanent structure placed in a river or tidal area and pot-traps that are baited to attract prey and periodically lifted. Indigenous Australians were, prior to European colonisation, most populous in Australia's better-watered areas such as the Murray-Darling river system of the south-east. Here, where water levels fluctuate seasonally, indigenous people constructed ingenious, stone, fish traps. Unfortunately most have been completely or partially destroyed. The largest and best known were the Brewarrina fish traps on the Barwon River at Brewarrina in New South Wales, which fortunately are at least partly preserved [http://www.deh.gov.au/heritage/national/sites/brewarrina.html]. The Brewarinna fish traps caught huge numbers of migratory native fish as the Barwon River rose in flood and then fell. In southern Victoria, indigenous people created an elaborate systems of canals, some more than 2 km long. The purpose of these canals was the encouragement and catching of eels, a fish of short coastal rivers (as opposed to rivers of the Murray-Darling system). The eels were caught by a variety of traps including stone walls constructed across canals with a net placed across an opening in the wall. Traps at different levels in the marsh came into operation as the water level rose and fell. Somewhat similar stone wall traps were constructed by native American Pit River people in north-eastern California. [http://www.primitiveways.com/ajumawi_fish_traps.html] In medieval Europe, large fishing weir structures were constructed from wood posts and wattle fences. 'V' shaped structures in rivers could be as long as 60 m and worked by directing fish towards fish traps or nets. Such fish traps were evidently controversial in medieval England. The Magna Carta includes a clause requiring that they be removed: :All fish-weirs shall be removed from the Thames, the Medway, and throughout the whole of England, except on the sea coast. [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/magnacarta.html] Basket weir fish traps were widely used in ancient times. They are shown in medieval illustrations and surviving examples have been found. Basket weirs are about 2 m long and comprise two wicker cones, one inside the other — easy to get into and hard to get out. [http://www.le.ac.uk/ulas/annualreports/ar99-00/hemington/hemington.html] Magna Carta The Wagenya people, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, build a huge system of wooden tripod across the river. These tripods are anchored on the holes naturally carved in the rock by the water current. To these tripods are anchored large baskets, which are lowered in the rapids to “sieve” the waters for fish. It is a very selective fishing, as these baskets are quite big and only large size fish are entrapped. Twice a day the adults Wagenya people pull out these baskets to check if there is any fish caught; in which case somebody will dive into the river to fetch it. Pot traps are typically used to catch crustaceans such as crabs, lobsters and crayfish. Pot traps such as the lobster trap may be constructed in various shapes, each is a mesh box designed with a convoluted entrance that makes entry much easier than exit. The pots are baited and lowered into the water and checked daily. Similar traps are used in many areas to capture bait fish.

Trained animals

bait fish In China and Japan, the practice of cormorant fishing is thought to date back some 1300 years. Fishermen use the natural fish-hunting instincts of the cormorants to catch fish, but a metal ring placed round the bird's neck prevents large, valuable fish being swallowed. The fish are instead collected by the fisherman. [http://www.city.gifu.gifu.jp/kankou/08_eng_01.html] The practice of tethering a remora, a sucking fish, to a fishing line and using the remora to capture sea turtles probably originated in the Indian Ocean. The earliest surviving records of the practice are Peter Martyr d'Anghera's 1511 accounts of the second voyage of Columbus to the New World (1494)[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/12425/12425-h/12425-h.htm]. However, these accounts are probably apocryphal, and based on earlier accounts no longer extant. Dating from the 1500s in Portugal, Portuguese Water Dogs were used by fishermen to send messages between boats, to retrieve fish and articles from the water, and to guard the fishing boats.

Toxins

Many hunter gatherer cultures use poisonous plants to stun fish so that they become easy to collect by hand. Some of these poisons paralyze the fish, others are thought to work by removing oxygen from the water. [http://tk.agron.ntu.edu.tw/Segawa1/fishing_poison.htm] Cyanides are used to capture live fish near coral reefs for the aquarium and seafood market. This illegal fishing occurs mainly in or near the Philippines, Indonesia, and the Caribbean to supply the 2 million marine aquarium owners in the world. Many fish caught in this fashion die either immediately or in shipping. Those that survive often die from shock or from massive digestive damage. The high concentrations of cyanide on reefs so harvested damages the coral polyps and has also resulted in cases of cyanide poisoning among local fishermen and their families.

Explosives

Dynamite or blast fishing, is done easily and cheaply with dynamite or homemade bombs made from locally available materials. Fish are killed by the shock from the blast and are then skimmed from the surface or collected from the bottom. The explosions indiscriminately kill large numbers of fish and other marine organisms in the vicinity and can damage or destroy the physical environment. Explosions are particularly harmful to coral reefs[http://stigmes.gr/br/brpages/articles/dinambr.htm]. Blast fishing is also illegal in many waterways around the world.

Modern fishing

Recreational fishing

homemade bombs Main article Angling Recreational fishing and the closely related (nearly synonymous) sport fishing describe fishing for pleasure or competition. Recreational fishing has conventions, rules, licensing restrictions and laws that limit the way in which fish may be caught. Typically, these prohibit the use of nets and the catching of fish with hooks not in the mouth. The most common form of recreational fishing is done with a rod, line and hooks attached to any of a wide range of lures or baits. This practice is known as angling. One method of growing popularity is kayak fishing. Kayak fisherman fish from sea kayaks in an attempt to level the playing field with fish and to further challenge their abilities. Kayaks are extremely stealthy and can allow anglers to reach areas unfishable from land or by conventional boat. In angling, it is sometimes expected or required that fish all be returned to the water (catch and release). The practice, however, is viewed by some with disapproval as they consider it unethical to inflict pain on a fish for fun or sport and not for reasons of capturing food. Anglers deny this charge, pointing out that fish commonly feed on hard and spiky prey items, and as such can be expected to have tough mouths, and also that some fish will re-take a lure they have just been hooked on, a behaviour that is unlikely if being hooked was painful. In a real sense, the suitability of catch and release is an ethical consideration and, as such, a science-based conclusion on the issue is unavailable. However, a variety of scientific studies have recorded very high survival rates (in excess of 90%) for caught and released fish, especially if the fish are carefully handled and barbless hooks and artificial lures are used. Proponents of catch and release also contend that the practice is increasingly necessary in order to conserve fish stocks in the face of burgeoning human populations, mounting fishing pressure and worsening habitat degradation. Opponents would prefer to ban or to severely restricting angling, a suggestion most anglers find unpalatable. Recreational fishermen can have profound deleterious effects on fish stocks, particularly those of large, slow growing species. The only way for growing numbers of recreational fishermen to continue fishing is to reduce their impact on fish populations. Catch and release, in combination with techniques such as strong tackle (to get fish in quickly, for release in good condition), careful handling of fish and barbless hooks (to reduce physical damage), may be useful tools in this endeavour. A recent phenomenon of recreational fishing are fishing competitions (tournaments) where fishermen compete for prizes based on the total weight of a given species of fish caught within a predetermined time. This sport evolved from local fishing contests into large competitive circuits, especially in North America. Competitors are most often professional fishermen who are supported by commercial endorsements. Big-game fishing describes fishing from boats to catch large open-water species such as tuna, sharks and marlin. Noodling and Trout tickling may be pursued as a recreation. Laws made to control recreational fishing laws frequently also attempt to control the harvest of other aquatic species, such as frogs and turtles.

Commercial fishing

turtle, north-west Scotland.]] Main article Fishing industry Commercial fishing provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who pursue it as an industry must often pursue fish far into the ocean under adverse conditions. Commercial fishermen harvest almost all aquatic species, from tuna, cod and salmon to shrimp, krill, lobster, clams, squid and crab. Commercial fishing methods have become very efficient using large nets and sea-going processing factories. Many new restrictions are often integrated with varieties of fishing allocation schemes (quotas), and international treaties that have sought to limit the fishing effort and, sometimes, capture efficiency. Fishing methods vary according to the region, the species being fished for, and the technology available to the fishermen. A commercial fishing enterprise may vary from one man with a small boat with hand-casting nets or a few pot traps, to a huge fleet of trawlers processing tons of fish every day. Some common commercial techniques today are trawling, seining, driftnetting, handlining, longlining, gillnetting, and diving. Also see Krill fishery.

Preservation

Image:Fish Packed in Ice.jpg|Fish packed in ice. Image:Canned fish 2.JPG|Canned fish. Image:Hjell-oversikt.arj.jpeg|A fish-drying rack. Hovden in Norway. image:Kipper.JPG|Kipper: salted and smoked herring. Image:Klippfiskproduksjon.jpg|Salting of fish in factory. Ancient methods of preserving fish included drying , salting, pickling and smoking. All of these techniques are still used today but the more modern techniques of freezing and canning have taken on a large importance. See:
- Haddock: Arbroath Smokie (lightly smoked).
- Herring: kipper (salted and smoked), surströmming (fermented), rollmops (pickled), soused (salted).
- Salmon: smoked salmon, cured salmon, and gravlax (fermented).
- Cod: stockfish (air dried), lutefisk (soaked in lye). In the past, fishing vessels were restricted in range by the simple consideration that the catch must be returned to port before it spoils and becomes worthless. The development of refrigeration and freezing technologies transformed the commercial fishing industry: fishing vessels could be larger, spending more time away from port and therefore accessing fish stocks at a much greater distance. Refrigeration and freezing also allow the catch to be distributed to markets further inland, reaching customers who previously would have had access only to dried or salted sea fish. Canning, developed during the 19th century has also had a significant impact on fishing by allowing seasonal catches of fish that are possibly far from large centres of population to be exploited. For example: sardines.

Fish products

Food

Image:Fried Fish and French Fries.jpg|Fried fish & French fries (fish & chips). Image:Kräftskiva-2.jpg|Crayfish and prawns. Image:Korea style raw fish.jpg|Korean style raw fish. Image:Cooked mussels DSC09244.JPG|Cooked mussels. The flesh of many fish are primarily valued as a source of food; there are many edible species of fish as well as other sea food. Shellfish include shelled molluscs and crustaceans used as food. Shelled molluscs include the clam, mussel, oyster, winkle and scallop; some crustaceans are the shrimp, lobster, crayfish, and crab. Eggs, called roe, of various species may be eaten; roe comes from fish and certain marine invertebrates, such as sea urchins and shrimp. In some cultures, roe is considered a delicacy, for example caviar from the sturgeon. Squid and octopus are valued as food. Sea cucumber is considered a delicacy in Chinese cooking and is often served at New Year’s feasts, usually in soups. [http://www.asiafood.org/glossary_2.cfm] In some cultures, for example China, Japan, and Vietnam, certain species of jellyfish are consumed. [http://www.asiafood.org/glossary_1.cfm?alpha=J&wordid=2696&startno=1&endno=25] Fish oil is valued as a dietary supplement.

Live fish

Live fish are collected for the international live food fish trade. Some seafood restaurants keep live fish in aquaria for display or for cultural beliefs. The majority of live fish kept at seafood restaurants, however, are desired for the freshness of the seafood, being killed only immediately before being cooked. Suiting customer preference, this practice makes the seafood higher in quality and better in taste. The prevalence of cultural beliefs and consumer standards helps to drive the demand for the live food fish trade. Hong Kong, for example, is estimated to have imported in excess of 15,000 tonnes of live food fish in 2000. This brought the value of their live food fish trade industry to US$400 million as reported by the [http://marine.wri.org/pubs_content_text.cfm?ContentID=645 World Resources Institute]. Fish can also be collected in ways that do not injure them such as in a seine net or by placing an electric current into the water. Such techniques are used most often by researchers for observation and study but are also used by those who collect fish for the aquarium trade. There are several organizations devoted to improving the methods of collecting, handling, transporting, exporting and farming of wild and domesticated live food fish, as well as freshwater and marine tropical fish destined for aquaria.

Other products

Pearls and mother-of-pearl are valued for their lustre. Traditional methods of pearl hunting are now virtually extinct. Sharkskin and rayskin which are covered with, in effect, tiny teeth (dermal denticles) were used for the purposes that sandpaper currently is. These skins are also used to make leather. Sharkskin leather is used in the manufacture of hilts of traditional Japanesse swords. Sea horse, star fish, sea urchin and sea cucumber are used in traditional Chinese medicine. Tyrian purple is a pigment made from marine snails Murex brandaris and Murex trunculus. Sepia is a pigment made from the inky secretions of cuttlefish. Fish glue is made by boiling the skin, bones and swim bladders of fish. Fish glue has long been valued for its use in all manner of products from illuminated manuscripts to the Mongolian war bow. Isinglass is a substance obtained from the swim bladders of fish (especially sturgeon), it is used for the clarification of wine and beer. Fish emulsion is a fertilizer emulsion that is produced from the fluid remains of fish processed for fish oil and fish meal industrially.

Cultural references

Fishing is a widely used as a metaphor though as such it is possibly ambiguous. On the one hand, fishing with a net has nuances of gathering by honest effort. For example, in the New Testament, Jesus is reported to have said to his disciples: Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bible,_English,_King_James,_Matthew#Chapter_4 Matthew 4:19]. On the other hand, fishing with bait or lure sometimes has nuances of catching by deception, possibly with an implication of greed on the part of the victim. For example, the expression "fishing expedition" (usually used to describe a line of questioning), describes a case where the questioner implies that he knows more than he actually does in order to trick the target into divulging more information than he wishes to reveal. Other examples of fishing terms that carry a negative connotation are: "fishing for compliments", "to be fooled hook, line and sinker" (to be fooled beyond merely "taking the bait"), and the internet scam of Phishing.

External links

Sailing

Sailing is the skillful art of controlling the motion of a sailing ship or smaller boat, across a body of water using wind as the source of power.

The physics of sailing

The force of the wind is used to create motion by using one or more sails. When sailing downwind (away from the wind source) the vessel's motion is derived from the simple force of the wind pushing the sail. When sailing upwind (towards the wind source) the movement of air over the sails acts in the same way as air moving over an aircraft's wing. Air flowing over the sail generates lift. This pulls the sail (and the boat) ahead, but also pushes it downwind rather strongly. The downwind, or leeward, component is offset by an underwater hydrofoil whose shape resists lateral movement while offering little resistance to forward motion. Some hydrofoils even convert some of the leeward movement into forward motion. Without this hydrofoil, sailing upwind or across the wind would be virtually impossible. Sailing hydrofoils include keels, centerboards, daggerboards, (less commonly) leeboards, and (particularly in small sailboats or dinghies), the rudder acts as a hydrofoil also, reducing leeway. rudder] The lifting force of the sails also acts to lean the boat over to one side, which is called heeling. In monohull vessels, heeling is counteracted by ballast, either in the form of dense material located deep in the bilge or externally in the keel (usually lead or iron) or in the form of human or water ballast located near the windward rail. In multihull vessels (catamaran, trimaran or proa) righting force may also be created by the counteracting buoyancy of the leeward hull. Too much heeling may lead to a capsize. Today, for most people, sailing is recreation, an activity pursued for the joy of being on the water and pursuing the mastery of the skills needed to manuever a sailboat in varying sea and wind conditions. Recreational sailing can be further divided into Racing, Cruising and Daysailing. In ancient times (see Odysseus), ships used following or rear-quarter winds. Therefore, they had to either row or wait in port or at sea for the right wind directions.

Basic sailing techniques

First see the notes on points of sail which introduce some important principles.

Turning a sailing boat

When turning a sailing boat, the direction relative to the wind is as important as the direction overall. Thus all turns can be described by one of the following terms:
- Heading up (or luffing up) is turning the boat to sail closer to the direction the wind is coming from. In order to keep the sails correctly trimmed, they must be pulled in towards the centre of the boat. Continuing to head up will bring the bow so close to the wind that the sails will no longer fill - this is called "being in irons", or (especially when teaching) "the no-go zone".
- If the turn is continued through the no-go zone and out the other side, the boat is said to have tacked. Thus, a tack is a turn that takes the bow of the boat through the eye of the wind.
- Bearing away (or falling off) is turning away from the direction the wind is coming from. As with luffing up, the sails must be adjusted during the turn, in this case let out away from the centre of the boat. If the turn is continued, the boat will end up running directly away from the wind, with the sails at around 90º to the hull and acting as simple wind-catchers rather than aerofoils.
- If the turn is continued such that the boat's stern passes through the wind, a gybe results. Gybing causes the boom to swing from one side to the other, sometimes rapidly, as the wind catches the leech of the mainsail on its new upwind side.

Trim

An important aspect of sailing is keeping the boat in "trim". To achieve this a useful mnemonic (memory aid) is the phrase: Can This Boat Sail Correctly? This helps the crew to remember these essential points;
- Course to Steer - Turn the boat using the wheel or tiller to the desired course to steer. See points of sail. This may be a definite bearing (e.g steer 270 degrees), or towards a landmark, or at a desired angle to the apparent wind direction.
- Trim - This is the fore and aft balance of the boat. The aim is to adjust the moveable ballast (the crew!) forwards or backwards to achieve an 'even keel'. On an upwind course in a small boat, the crew typically sit forward, when 'running' it is more efficient for the crew to sit to the rear of the boat. The position of the crew matters less as the size (and weight)of the boat increases.
- Balance - This is the port and starboard balance. The aim, once again is to adjust weight 'inboard' or 'outboard' to prevent excessive heeling.
- Sail - Trimming sails is a large topic. However simply put, a sail should be pulled in until it fills with wind, but no further than the point where the front edge of the sail (the luff) is exactly in line with the wind.
- Centreboard - If a moveable centreboard is fitted, then it should be lowered when sailing "close to the wind" but can be raised up on downwind courses to reduce drag. The centreboard prevents lateral motion and allows the boat to sail upwind. A boat with no centreboard will instead have a heavy permanent keel built into the bottom of the hull, which serves the same purposes.

Running

apparent wind.]] Sailing the boat within roughly 30 degrees either side of dead downwind is called a run. This is the easiest point of sail in terms of comfort, but it can also be the most dangerous. When sailing upwind, it's easy to stop the boat by heading into the wind, a sailor has no such easy out when running. Severe rolling is more likely as there is less rolling resistance provided by the sails, which are eased out. And loss of attention by the helmsman could lead the boat to jibe accidentally, causing injury to the boat or crew. It's always a good idea to use a preventer to prevent an accidental jibe. Alternately, if there is a sudden increase in wind strength, the boat can round up very suddenly and heel excessively, often leading to a capsise in smaller boats. This is called broaching.

Reaching

When the boat is traveling approximately perpendicular to the wind, this is called reaching. A 'close' reach is somewhat toward the wind, and 'broad' reach is a little bit away from the wind (a 'beam' reach is with the wind precisely at right angles to the boat). For most modern sailboats, reaching is the fastest way to travel.

Sailing upwind

preventer A basic rule of sailing is that it is not possible to sail directly into the wind. Generally speaking, a boat can sail 45 degrees off the wind. When a boat is sailing this close to the wind, it is close-hauled or beating (beating to weather). Since a boat cannot sail directly into the wind, but the destination is often upwind, one can only get there by sailing close-hauled with the wind coming from the port side (the boat is on port tack), then tacking (turning the boat through the eye of the wind) and sailing with the wind coming from the starboard side (the boat is on starboard tack). By this method, it is possible to reach that destination directly upwind. The heavier the wind, the rougher the seas, thus boat movement can be more uncomfortable. This can feel like the boat is beating its hull into the waves, hence the term beating. How close a boat can sail to the wind depends on the boat's design, sail trim, the sea state and the wind speed, since what the boat "sees" is the apparent wind, i.e., the vector sum of the actual wind and the boat's own velocity. The apparent wind speed is what the anemometer on top of the mast shows. A good analogy to this would be walking through an indoor room and feeling the "wind" on your face. The faster you walk, the more wind your feel. The apparent wind angle while sailing close hauled will be less that the true wind angle. A good, modern sloop can sail within 25 degrees of the apparent wind. An America's Cup racing sloop can sail within 16 degrees, under the right conditions. Those figures might translate into 45 degrees and 36 degrees relative to the actual wind, depending on boat speed.

Reducing sail

An important safety aspect of sailing is to adjust the amount of sail to suit the wind conditions. As the wind speed increases the crew should progressively reduce the amount of sail. On a small boat with only jib and mainsail this is done by furling the jib and by partially lowering the mainsail, a process called 'reefing the main'. Reefing means reducing the area of a sail without actually changing it for a smaller sail. Ideally reefing does not only result in a reduced sail area but also in a lower center of effort from the sails, reducing the heeling moment and keeping the boat more upright. There are three common methods of reefing the mainsail:
- Slab reefing, which involves lowering the sail by about one-quarter to one-third of its luff length and tightening the lower part of the sail using an outhaul or a pre-loaded reef line through a cringle at the new clew, and hook through a cringle at the new tack.
- In-mast (or on-mast) roller-reefing. This method rolls the sail up around a vertical foil either inside a slot in the mast, or affixed to the outside of the mast. It requires a mainsail with either no battens, or newly-developed vertical battens.
- In-boom roller-reefing, with a horizontal foil inside the boom. This method allows for standard- or full-length horizontal battens. Mainsail furling systems have become increasingly popular on cruising yachts as they can be operated shorthanded and from the cockpit in most cases, however, the sail can become jammed in the mast or boom slot if not operated correctly. Mainsail furling is almost never used while racing because it results in a less efficient sail profile. The classical slab-reefing method is the most widely used. Mainsail furling has an additional disadvantage in that its complicated gear may somewhat increase weight aloft. However, as the size of the boat increases, the benefits of mainsail roller furling increase dramatically.

Sail trimming

mast As noted above, sail trimming is a large subject. Basic control of the mainsail consists of setting the sail so that it is at an optimum angle to the wind,(i.e. no flapping at the front, and tell tales flowing evenly off the rear of the sail). Two or more sails are frequently combined to maximise the smooth flow of air. The sails are adjusted to create a smooth laminar flow over the sail surfaces. This is called the "slot effect". The combined sails fit into an imaginary aerofoil outline, so that the most forward sails are more in line with the wind, whereas the more aft sails are more in line with the course followed. The combined efficiency of this sail plan is greater than the sum of each sail used in isolation. More detailed aspects include specific control of the sail's shape, e.g.:
- reefing, or reducing the sail area in stronger wind
- altering sail shape to make it flatter in high winds
- raking the mast when going upwind (to tilt the sail towards the rear, this being more stable)
- providing sail twist to cope with gusty conditions

Heeling

When a boat rolls over to one side under wind pressure, it's called 'heeling'. As a sailing boat heels over beyond a certain angle, it begins to sail less efficiently. Several forces can counteract this movement. air race 1998]]
- The buoyancy of that part of the hull which is being submerged tends to bring the boat upright.
- Raising the centreboard can paradoxically increase leeway, and therefore reduce heeling.
- A weighted keel, which can in larger boats be canted from side to side, provides additional force to right the boat.
- The crew may move onto the high (upwind) side of the boat, called hiking, changing the centre of gravity significantly in a small boat. They can trapeze where the boat is designed for this (see Dinghy sailing).
- The underwater shape of the hull relative to the sails can be designed to make the boat tend to turn upwind when it heels excessively: this reduces the force on the sails, and allows the boat to right itself. This is known as rounding up.
- The boat can be turned upwind to produce the same effect.
- Wind can be spilled from the sails by 'sheeting out', i.e. loosening the sail.
- Lastly, as the boat rolls farther over, wind spills from the top of the sail. Most of the above effects can be used to right a heeling boat and to keep the boat sailing efficiently: if however the boat heels beyond a certain point of stability, it can capsize. A boat is said to have capsized when the tip of the mast is in the water.

Sailing close to the wind

How close a boat can sail to the wind depends on the wind speed, since what the boat "sees" is the apparent wind, i.e., the vector sum of the actual wind and the boat's own velocity. The apparent wind is what the wind indicator on top of the mast shows. Because of this, people often talk about how close a boat can sail to the apparent wind. A good, modern sloop can sail within 25 degrees of the apparent wind. An America's Cup racing sloop can sail within 16 degrees, under the right conditions. Those figures might translate into 45 degrees and 36 degrees relative to the actual wind. The angles at which the wind meets the boat are described by the points of sail.

Sailing safety

First and foremost: # Learn to swim! # Wear a life vest! Sailing requires respect for the risks of being on the water. All sailors therefore should be sensibly prepared. Most jurisdictions have certain minimum regulations that must be met as to equipment. When engaged in publicly organized activities they may be required to take additional precautions, as detailed by the authority which regulates the training or racing. Safety measures may include:
- Appropriate floatation aids, including life preservers
- Provision of a safety boat for rescue purposes
- Appropriate first-aid and firefighting equipment
- Carrying of a knife suitable for cutting rigging or netting in an emergency Aside from what may be required by law or a sailing organization, real safety on the water comes from an informed awareness of risks involved and the exercise of reasonable steps to avoid dangers.
- Understanding and practice of man overboard procedures such as the Anderson turn, the Williamson turn, and the Scharnow turn. Also, know the 'rules of the road':
- Port tack gives way to Starboard tack (when the paths of two boats on opposite tacks cross, the boat with its port side to windward must give way)
- Windward gives way to the leeward, or downwind boat (if on the same tack)
- Overtaking boat gives way if above do not apply
- Non-Commercial Powerboats usually give way to sailboats (but be careful in shipping lanes, and use common sense)
- It is everybody's responsibility to avoid a collision, and avoiding action must be taken if these rules are ignored.

Sailing hulls and hull shapes

Scharnow turn] Sailing boats can have one, two, or three hulls. Boats with one hull are known as monohulls, while those with two or more are known as multihulls. Multihulls can be further subdivided into catamarans (two hulls), and trimarans (three hulls). A sailing boat is turned by a rudder which itself is controlled by a tiller or a wheel. Smaller sailing boats often have a stabilising, raisable, underwater fin called a centreboard (or daggerboard); larger sailing boats have a fixed (or sometimes canting) keel. As a general rule, the former are called dinghies, the latter yachts. However, up until the adoption of the Racing Rules of Sailing, any vessel racing under sail was considered a yacht, be it a multi-masted ship-rigged vessel (such as a sailing frigate), a sailboard (more commonly refered to as a windsurfer) or remote-controled boat, or anything in between. (see Dinghy sailing) Multihulls use flotation and/or weight positioned away from the centre line of the sailboat to counter the force of the wind. This is in contrast to heavy ballast that can make up to 1/3 of the weight of a monohulled sailboat. In the case of a standard catamaran there are two similarly sized and shaped narrow hulls connected by beams which are sometimes overlaid by a deck superstructure. Another catamaran variation is the proa. In the case of trimarans, which have an unballasted centre hull similar to a monohull, two relatively smaller amas are situated parallel to the centre hull to resist the sideways force of the wind. The advantage of multihulled sailboats is that they do not suffer the performance penalty of having to carry heavy ballast, and their relatively smaller hulls reduce the amount of drag caused by friction and inertia when moving through the water.

Types of sails and layouts

A traditional modern yacht is technically called a "Bermuda sloop" (sometimes a "Bermudan sloop"). A sloop is any boat that has only a single mast. The Bermuda designation refers to the fact that the sail which has its forward edge (the "luff") against the mast (the main sail) is a sail roughly triangular in shape. Addionally, Bermuda sloops only have a single sail behind the mast. Other types of sloops are gaff-rigged sloops and lateen sloops (sometimes called a junk-rig). Gaff-rigged sloops have quadrilateral mainsails with a gaff (a small boom) at their upper edge (the "head" of the sail). Gaff-rigged vessels may also have another sail, called a topsail, above the gaff. Lateen sloops have triangular sails with the upper edge attached to a gaff, and the lower edge attached to the boom, and the boom and gaff are attached to each other via some type of hinge. It is also possible for a sloop to be square rigged (having large square sails like a Napoleonic Wars-era line-of-battle ship). Note that a "sloop of war," in the naval sense, may well have more than one mast, and is not properly a sloop by the modern meaning. If a boat has two masts, it may be either a schooner, a ketch, or a yawl, if it is rigged fore-and-aft on all masts. A schooner may have any number of masts provided the second from the front is the tallest (called the "main mast"). In both a ketch and a yawl, the foremost mast is tallest, and thus the main mast, while the rear mast is shorter, and called the mizen mast. The difference between a ketch and a yawl is that in a ketch, the mizen mast is forward of the rudderpost (the axis of rotation for the rudder), while a yawl has its mizen mast behind the rudderpost. In modern parlance, a brigantine is a vessel whose forward mast is rigged with square sails, while her after mast is rigged fore-and-aft. A brig is a vessel with two masts both rigged square. As one gets into three or masts the number of combinations rises and one gets barques, barquentines, and three-masted brigs. A spinnaker is a large, full sail that is only used when sailing off wind either reaching or downwind, to catch the maximum amount of wind. See also Sail and sail-plan.

Sailing terminology

Sailors use many traditional nautical terms for the parts of or directions on a vessel; starboard (right), port (left), forward or fore (front), aft (rearward), bow (forward part of the hull), stern (aft part of the hull). Vertical spars are masts, horizontal spars are booms (if they can hit you), gaffs (if they're too high to reach) or poles (if they can't hit you).

Rope & line

port Actually, only a few of the "ropes" on a boat are called ropes, most are called lines or cables. Generally a very thick line would be considered a cable. Ropes or wires that hold up masts are collectively known as standing rigging and are called shrouds or stays (the stay connecting the top of the mast to the bow is called the forestay or headstay). Ropes or wires that control the sails are known collectively as running rigging or lines. Those that raise sails are called halyards while those that strike them are called downhauls or cunninghams. Ropes that adjust (trim) the sails are called sheets. These are often referred to using the name of the sail they control (e.g. "main sheet", or "jib sheet"). Alternately, the trim may be controlled with a smaller set of sheets attached to the forward section of the boom called the vang, or the kicker in the United Kingdom. Ropes used to tie the boat up when alongside are called docklines or dockingcables. There are some ropes: A few examples, the bell rope (to ring the bell), a bolt rope (attached to the edge of a sail for extra strength), a foot rope (on old square riggers for the sailors to stand on while reefing or furling the sails), and a tiller rope (to temporarily hold the tiller and keep the boat on course). A rode is what keeps an anchor attached to the boat when the anchor is in use.

Other terms

Walls are called 'bulkheads' or 'ceilings', while the surfaces referred to as 'ceilings' on land are called 'overheads'. Floors are called 'soles' or 'decks'. The toilet is traditionally called the 'head', the kitchen is the 'galley'. In sailing lines are rarely tied off, they are almost always 'made fast' or 'belayed.' Sails in different sail plans have unchanging names, however. For the naming of sails, see sail-plan. Sailing terms have entered popular language in many ways. "Broken up" was the fate of a ship that hit a "rocky point" or was simply no longer wanted. "Poop" refers to the aftermost deck of a ship, taken from "puppis" the Latin word for "stern". "Pooped" refers to a wave breaking over the stern and filling the cockpit with water. "In the doldrums" referred to being becalmed, windless, especially in the narrow band of hot windless water "the doldrums", near the equator. "Adrift" meant literally that a ship's anchor had come loose, and the ship was out of control near land and therefore in serious danger. "Keel-hauled and hung out to dry." was the rather nasty process of attaching a sailor to a rope, and drawing him under the sailboat while underway, and then hanging him from a yard-arm (under his shoulders usually, not by his neck), where officers and crew could mock him. This was a particularly unpleasant punishment; apart from the risk of drowning, the sailor would be lacerated by the barnacles on the ship's hull.

Sailing regulations

There are two very basic rules for avoiding a collision at sea: 1) Power gives way to sail 2) Port gives way to starboard. This second point means that boats who have their sails set for a breeze coming from the left hand side of the boat (port) must give way to yachts that have their sails set for a breeze coming from the right side of the boat (starboard). If both boats have their sails set on the same side of the boat, then the boat closer to where the wind is coming from (the windward boat) must give way to the leeward boat. However there are many other rules besides and sailors are expected to know the essentials of boating safety which include;
- The rules of the road or International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea set forth by the International Maritime Organization are particularly relevant to sailors because of their limited maneuverability compared to powered vessels.
- The IALA International Association of Lighthouse Authorities standards for lateral marks, lights, signals, and buoyage and various rules designed to support safe navigation.
- The SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) regulations place the obligations for safety on the owners and operators of any boat. These regulations specify the safety equipment needed and emergency procedures to be used.
- When racing, all sailing vessels are expected to follow the Racing Rules of Sailing promulgated by the International Sailing Federation as well as any prescriptions (additional rules) given by the national governing body. This holds true even if two boats are racing in separate races, or a racing boat encounters another vessel!

Sailboat racing

International Sailing Federation Sailboat racing ranges from single person dinghy racing to large boats with 10 or 20 crew and from small boats costing a few hundred dollars to multi-million dollar Americas Cup campaigns. The costs of participating in the high end large boat competitions make this type of sailing one of the most expensive sports in the world. However, there are relatively inexpensive ways to get involved in sailboat racing, such as at community sailing clubs, and in some relatively inexpensive dinghy and small catamaran classes. Under these conditions, sailboat racing can be comparable to or less expensive than sports such as golf and skiing. Sailboat racing is one of the few sports in which people of all ages can regularly compete with and against each other. Although most sailboat racing is done in sheltered coastal or inland waters, in terms of endurance and risk to life, ocean racing, from 100 mile races between two ports to around the world races such as the Volvo Ocean Race and the non-stop solo Vendée Globe, rate as some of the most extreme and dangerous sporting events. Not only do participants compete for days with little rest, but an unexpected storm, a single equipment failure, or collision with an ice flow could result in the sailboat being disabled or sunk hundreds or thousands of miles from search and rescue. The sport of Sailboat racing is governed by the International Sailing Federation ([http://www.sailing.org/ ISAF]), and the rules under which competitors race are the Racing Rules of Sailing, which can be found on the ISAF web site.

Sailing traditions and etiquette

There are many, more esoteric, etiquette rules, traditions, and customs that will demonstrate to others advanced knowledge of boating protocol. Fenders should be pulled up outside ports, the flag of the host country should be shown, a boat should fly the yacht ensign of its nation of registry, flags are to be taken down at night, etc.

External links

- [http://www.sailr.com/ Sailr, A community run sailing news website]
- [http://www.wb-sails.fi/news/98_11_PerfectShape/Main.htm Quest for the perfect sail shape]
- [http://www.sailinglinks.com/glossary.htm Online glossary of sailing terms]
- [http://terrax.org/sailing/glossary Another online glossary]
- [http://www.apparent-wind.com/sailing-page.html Mark Rosenstein's extensive list of sailing links]
- [http://dmoz.org/Recreation/Boating/Sailing/ Open Directory Project - Sailing]
- [http://dir.yahoo.com/Recreation/Outdoors/Boating/Sailing/ Yahoo! - Sailing]
- [http://www.sailing-news.net/ Sailing news]
- [http://www.boatingcollection.com/ Sailing Magazines]
- [http://sailnet.com/ Sailing articles and information at sailnet.com]
- [http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ Sailing Scuttlebutt daily news about sailboat racing]
- [http://www.sailinganarchy.com/ Sailing Anarchy website with news and forums about sailboat racing and other topics]
- [http://web.mit.edu/sailing/www/SailingBooklet/ Sailing and the Tech Dinghy -- MIT's dinghy sailing instruction booklet] Category:Sailing

Pond

A pond is a body of water smaller than a lake. However the difference between a pond and a lake is subjective. Pond usually describes small bodies of water, generally smaller than one would require a boat to cross. Another definition is that a pond is a body of water where even its deepest areas are reached by sunlight or where a human can walk across the entire body of water without being underneath. In some dialects of English, pond normally refers to small artificially created bodies of water. Though not generally accepted, some regions of the United States define a pond as a body of water with a surface area of less than 10 acres (40,000 m²). Typically, a pond has no surface outflow draining off water and ponds are often spring-fed. Hence, due to the closed environment of ponds, such small bodies of water normally developed self contained eco-systems. Ponds in heavily vegetated areas also display the formation of "scum", which is a common term for dead and decaying vegetation condensing on the water skin of the pond. A contributor to this is the presence of algae, which multiplies quickly in a nutrient-rich pond exposed to strong daylight. Decaying flora provide significant amounts of such nutrients. In medieval times in Europe, it was typical for many monasteries, castles, etc. (small, partly self-sufficient communities) to have fish ponds. These are still common in the East Asia (notably Japan), where koi carp may be kept. The term is also used for temporary accumulation of water from runoff (ponded water). See also: garden pond (see water garden), engineered treatment features (see treatment pond), and field units in agriculture (for example, "pondfields" for rice or taro culture) and aquaculture. There are various regional names for naturally occurring ponds, e.g. in Scotland, one of the terms is lochan. The word "pond" is sometimes also used to refer to the Atlantic Ocean in the expression "across the pond" (a deliberate idiomatic understatement).

City

:For alternate meanings see city (disambiguation) A city is an urban area that is differentiated from a town, village, or hamlet by size, population density, importance, or legal status.

Introduction

In most parts of the world, cities are generally substantial and nearly always have an urban core, but in the United States many incorporated areas which have a very modest population, or a suburban or even mostly rural character, are designated as cities. City can also be a synonym for "downtown" or a "city centre". A city usually consists of residential, industrial and business areas together with administrative functions which may relate to a wider geographical area. A large share of a city's area is primarily taken up by housing, which is then supported by infrastructure such roads, streets and often public transport routes such as a subway or a metro rail system. Lakes and rivers may be the only undeveloped areas within the city. The study of cities is covered extensively in human geography. "The city is a human habitat that allows people to form relations with others at various levels of intimacy while remaining entirely anonymous." (This definition was the subject of an exhibition at the Israeli pavilion at the 2000 Venice Biennale of architecture)

The difference between towns and cities

The difference between towns and cities is differently understood in different parts of the English speaking world. There is no one standard international definition of a city: the term may be used either for a town possessing city status; for an urban locality exceeding an arbitrary population size; for a town dominating other towns with particular regional economic or administrative significance. Although city can refer to an agglomeration including suburban and satellite areas, the term is not appropriate for a conurbation (cluster) of distinct urban places, nor for a wider metropolitan area including more than one city, each acting as a focus for parts of the area. In the United Kingdom, a city is a town which has been known as a city since time immemorial, or which has received city status by royal charter — which is normally granted on the basis of size, importance or royal connection (traditional pointers have been whether the town has a cathedral or a university). Some cathedral cities, for example St. David's in Wales, are quite small, and may not be known as cities in common parlance. (See the City status in the United Kingdom.) A similar system existed in the medieval Low Countries where a landlord would grant settlements certain privileges (city rights) that settlements without city rights didn't have. This include the privilege to put up city walls, hold markets or set up a judicial court. In Australia and New Zealand, city is used to refer both to units of local government, and as a synonym for urban area. For instance the [http://www.southperth.wa.gov.au City of South Perth] is part of the urban area known as Perth, commonly described as a city. On the other hand, Gisborne in New Zealand is known as the first city to see the sun, despite being administered by a district council, not a city council. An interesting phenomenon in American English is the generalisation of the term city to all settlements. Britons may be bemused by forms with fields headed, not Town and Postal code, but City and ZIP, even though the person needing to fill it in could be living in a city, a town without city status, or even a village or hamlet. In turn, many Americans often talk of "City Halls" when referring to town halls in quite small European towns and villages. Strangely, even though Americans are well aware that "village" means something smaller than a town, the word has often been co-opted by enterprising developers to make their projects sound welcoming and friendly. The result are so-called villages with 20 and 30-story high-rises, like Westwood Village in Los Angeles.

Geography

Westwood Village, of around 1550. The city is completely surrounded by a city wall and defensive canal. The square shape is inspired by Jerusalem.]] The geographies of cities, both physical and human, are diverse. Often cities will either be coastal and have a harbour or be situated near a river giving economic advantage. Water transports on rivers and oceans were (and in most cases still are) cheaper and more efficient than road transport over long distances. Older European cities often have historically intact central areas where the streets are jumbled together, seemingly without a structural plan. This quality is a legacy of earlier unplanned or organic development, and is often perceived by today's tourists to be picturesque. Modern city planning has seen many different schemes for how a city should look. The most commonly seen pattern is the grid, almost a rule in parts of the United States, and used for thousands of years in China. Derry was the first ever planned city in Ireland, begun in 1613, with the walls being completed 5 years later in 1618. The central diamond within a walled city with four gates was thought to be a good design for defence. The grid pattern chosen was subsequently much copied in the colonies of British North America [http://worldfacts.us/UK-Londonderry.htm]. However, the grid has been used for a long time in history. The Greeks gave their colonies around the Mediterranian often with a grid. One of the best examples around is the city of Priene. This city even had it's different districts. Much like modern city planning today. Also in de Medival times we see a preference for lineair planning. Good examples are the cities establish in the south of France by various rulers. And city expantions in old Dutch and Flanders cities. Other forms may include a radial structure in which main roads converge on a central point, often the effect of successive growth over long time with concentric traces of town walls and citadels - recently supplemented by ring-roads that take traffic around the edge of a town. Many Dutch cities are structured that way: a central square surrounded by a concentric canals. Every city expansion would imply a new circle (canals + town walls). In cities like Amsterdam and Haarlem this pattern is still clearly visible.

History of cities

Towns and cities have a long history, although opinions vary on whether any particular ancient settlement can be considered to be a city. The first true towns are sometimes considered to be large settlements where the inhabitants were no longer simply farmers of the surrounding area, but began to take on specialized occupations, and where to trade, food storage and power was centralized. Societies that live in cities are often called civilizations. By this definition, the first towns we know of were located in Mesopotamia, such as Ur, and along the Nile, the Indus Valley Civilization and China. Before this time it was rare for settlements to reach significant size, although there were exceptions such as Jericho, Çatalhöyük and Mehrgarh. The growth of ancient and medieval empires led to ever greater capital cities and seats of provincial administration, with ancient Rome, its eastern successor Constantinople and successive Chinese and later Indian capitals approaching or exceeding the half-million population level. It is estimated that ancient Rome population exceeded one million people by the end of the last century BCE, which is considered the only city to reach that number until the Industrial Revolution, however, Alexandria population was close to one million at the same time. Similar large administrative, commercial, industrial and ceremonial centres emerged in other areas, though on a smaller scale. During the European Middle Ages, a town was as much a political entity as a collection of houses. City residence brought freedom from customary rural obligations to lord and community: "Stadtluft macht frei" ("City air makes you free") was a saying in Germany. In Continental Europe cities with a legislature of their own wasn't unheard of, the laws for towns as a rule other than for the countryside, the lord of a town often being another than for surrounding land. In the Holy Roman Empire (i.e. medieval Germany and Italy) some cities had no other lord than the emperor. In exceptional cases like Venice, Genoa or Lübeck, cities themselves became powerful states, sometimes taking surrounding areas under their control or establishing extensive maritime empires. Similar phenomena existed elsewhere, as in the case of Sakai, which enjoyed a considerable autonomy in late medieval Japan. Most towns remained far smaller places, so that in 1500 only some two dozen places in the world contained more than 100,000 inhabitants: as late as 1700 there were fewer than forty, a figure which would rise thereafter to 300 in 1900. A small city of the early modern period might contain as few as 10,000 inhabitants, a town far fewer still. While the city-states, or poleis, of the Mediterranean and Baltic Sea languished from the 16th century, Europe's larger capitals benefited from the growth of commerce following the emergence of an Atlantic economy fuelled by the silver of Peru. By the 18th century, London and Paris rivalled the well-developed regionally-traditional capital cities of Baghdad, Beijing, Istanbul, Kyoto and Venice. The growth of modern industry from the late 18th century onward led to massive urbanization and the rise of new great cities, first in Europe and then in other regions, as new opportunities brought huge numbers of migrants from rural communities into urban areas. In the Great Depression of the 1930s cities were hard hit by unemployment, especially those with a base in heavy industry. Today the world's population is about half urban, with millions still streaming annually into the growing cities of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Modern conceptions

Traditional approach

A universal linear approach to cities has been in place and accepted for a long time. As this approach falls short of explaining a number of aspects of city life, such as the diversity between cities, new ways have been sought. Influenced by post-structuralist thinking a new approach was born: using spatial thinking it is possible to not only fill the gaps, but indeed replace the old completely. Three characteristics have been identified as defining a city: the number of people to area (density), the networks of the city, as well as a particular way of life. None of these characteristics alone is enough to make a place a city. Until recently cities were almost exclusively viewed as part of a single, linear line of development. Starting with the Greek city-state, this linear approach placed each city somewhere, and it was believed that it was only a matter of time until the next stage along the prescript path of advancement was reached. For each stage an exemplar was identified. Step by step from Athens onwards to Venice and London, Los Angeles seemed to be the ultimate stage of a postmodern city. Such an approach regarded a city as a single static entity, which could be studied disconnected in time and space. This leads to a theoretical framework with little connection to real cities, but these were simply seen as less clear examples. In spite of apparent shortcomings, this approach is still very commonplace in respected and popular publications.

Shortcomings

Despite its wide acceptance this traditional approach to cities had serious shortcomings. Firstly, leaving the latest stage aside, it was completely eurocentric. It was believed that every city in the world could be compared with a past stage in the history of one European city. Secondly, there was no real explanation when and how changes occurred, how another stage in the line of development was achieved. There seemed no need to follow the changes of one city, but instead attention was turned to another exemplar. Thirdly, the disconnected view of cities is problematic. It implies that history, culture and connections of a place do not influence a place, which is questionable. Some thinkers argue that a history ignoring connections is necessary incomplete. Fourthly, the traditional approach failed to define what makes a city. It is unclear why one place is regarded as a city while another one is not. Lewis Mumford argued in 1937 for a social dimension, describing cities as geographical plexuses. Finally, viewing cities as a single body misses modern conceptions that there is more than one story to a place. The city of an aristocrat will surely differ from that of a slave. This also reflects a shift away from one single history of the powerful élites (often referred to as city élites) to a multidimensional perception of history. The notion of city rhythms has been introduced to highlight the different aspects of city life... The term city can be used to mean either an area of contiguous urbanization or a particular municipality (an [http://www.demographia.com/db-world-muni.htm area within the political borders of an incorporated municipality]). There is a substantial variation in municipalities around the world. The largest municipality, Chongqing, is approximately the same size as the state of Indiana and contains much more rural territory than continuous urbanization. In most cases, however, the continuous urbanization popularly thought of as the city extends well beyond the boundaries of the core incorporated city.

Modern approach

As a modern approach to cities, urban thinking analyzes various issues that arise in urban areas. It focuses largely upon connections and internal divisions which helps create a better understanding of the dynamics of cities. Using such spatial thinking, it is possible to understand various aspects for which the traditional approach did not provide an adequate explanation. One important aspect of spatial thinking is looking at the connections of a city. Such connections allow one to understand the unique character of a place. Rather than treating all cities the same, places are seen as interconnected through networks of culture, economics, trade or history. So while London and Tokyo are economically linked through stock markets, Graz and Stockholm are linked via the Cultural Capital of Europe. These networks overlap and are concentrated in cities. Arguably this concentration of networks creates a unique feeling of a place. Such networks, however, do not only link cities with cities, but also a city to its surroundings. The notion of a city footprint reflects the idea that a city on its own is not sustainable: it depends on produce from its surroundings, it needs trade links and other connections for economic viability. Looking at networks, it becomes possible to explain the rise and fall of cities. This has to do with the changing importance of connections and is maybe best illustrated with the arrival of Spanish colonizers in America. Within a short time, connections to Madrid became more important than connections to the former centre Tenochtitlán. The concentration of networks in cities can be used as an explanation of urbanization. It is the access to certain networks that attracts people. As various networks spatially run together in a confined area, people gather in cities. At the same time, this concentration of people means the introduction of new networks, such as social links, increasing the creation of new possibilities within cities. Urban social movements are a direct result of this possibility of making new connections. It is this openness to new connections that makes cities both attractive and to a certain degree unpredictable. Another important aspect of modern urban thinking is looking at the divisions within a city. This internal differentiation is linked to the external connections of a city. As places of meeting histories, cities are hybrid and heterogeneous. Hybrid they are as the connections which link places are bilateral, involving giving and taking in both directions. Heterogeneous they are because of the dynamism of cities. New encounters are ongoing processes where social relations and differences are constantly negotiated and shaped, reflecting the unequal power involved. Neither the internal differentiations nor the connections and networks of a place on their own define a city. Internal divisions are caused by external links, while at the same time connections to the outside open up the possibility of new social divisions. Divisions and connections in every city are intertwined, and only by considering both aspects of spatial thinking the complexity of cities is approachable. Immigration illustrates this interconnection of external networks and internal divisions well. The networks concentrated in the core of the city attract immigrants. As they immigrate, the newcomers bring along their histories, bringing new networks or enforcing existing ones. At the same time, their history offers opportunities to identify with or likewise exclude. Division and connection come hand in hand. Rather than attempting to eradicate such tensions and contradictions in the theoretical framework, modern urban thinking – influenced by poststructuralist thought – accounts for both sides. Static universal bodies are replaced by multidimensional networks, allowing for fluidity and dynamism.

Global cities

A global city, also known as a world city, is a prominent centre of trade, banking, finance, innovations, and markets. The term "global city", as opposed to megacity, was coined by Saskia Sassen in a seminal 1991 work. Whereas "megacity" refers to any city of enormous size, a global city is one of enormous power or influence. Global cities, according to Sassen, have more in common with each other than with other cities in their host nations. Bangkok, Beijing, Brussels, Chicago, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, London, Moscow, Mumbai, New York, Los Angel

Boating

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City

Introduction

The difference between towns and cities

Geography

History of cities

Modern conceptions

Traditional approach

Shortcomings

Modern approach

Global cities