Donald Launer first recognized the need for a reference guide of nautical abbreviations and acronyms when he came across a term with which he was not familiar. Although I have had a USCG captain's license for 25 years and I have written over 300 articles for recreational boating magazines, He writes in the introduction, I was stumped. With his Dictionary of Nautical Acronyms and Abbreviations, Launer provides a comprehensive work, which attempts to translate industry and government abbreviations into everyday speech.
The book is made up of two parts: Part I, Common Acronyms and Abbreviations, is an alphabetical list of definitions of about 650 abbreviations, some with accompanying illustrations. For example, Dev, the abbreviation for deviation, is defined as the difference between a vessel s compass bearing and its true magnetic bearing it s different for every boat, and changes depending on the boat s heading and angle of heel. Below the definition, an example of a typical deviation chart further illustrates how the deviation is calculated, with an S-shaped line curving east then west.
Part II is a truncated version (around 500 entries) of NOAA s Chart No. 1, United States of America: Nautical Chart Symbols, abbreviations, and Terms, and is especially useful as the NOAA document is no longer in print, points out Launer. Examples include COL REGS defined as collision regulations, and LWF & C, or low water full and charge.
SYWNTB. After paging through Dictionary of Nautical Acronyms and Abbreviations, by Donald Launer, that s my new acronym for Someday You Will Need This Book. Count on it.
This book, published by Sheridan House, may keep you and your boat out of trouble if you don t recognize an unusual notation on a nautical chart. Or it may end an argument regarding the true meaning of a familiar and overused acronym. If nothing else, it will expand your nautical gray matter with useful and trivial tidbits.
Donald Launer compiled all the relevant nautical acronyms and abbreviations because he wanted a reference of this type for his own use. And he was kind enough to share it with the rest of us.
Don says, today, abbreviations, acronyms, and truncations are being used with increasing frequency. This is partly due to the widespread use of more sophisticated equipment on board, along with their associated complexities, and partly due to the sometimes mistaken belief that these abbreviations simplify explanations and identifications.
For those new to boating, he continues, this problem is especially daunting, since it seems as if they are listening to or reading a foreign language. While many nautical terms, in themselves, can be confusing, some of the acronyms and abbreviations can be bewildering, and the many new abbreviations dealing with modern electronics can be mystifying, even for old salts.
This book is organized in two parts. The first is an alphabetical listing of acronyms and abbreviations, as you would expect. It includes NOAA chart notations (in a much more convenient organization than the one offered by NOAA, which requires you to search for a notation such as dk or bu section by section). The dk means dark, by the way, and bu means blue. Black had already taken bl. Don lists these notations in italic type, as shown here, according to NOAA chart protocol.
The second part of this book is an annotated version of Chart No. 1, in case you really do prefer to search for dk section by section.
This book provides helpful illustrations as well for abbreviations such as CB for center of buoyancy of a boat or Dec for declination of a celestial body. What do the words really mean? The illustrations will come in very handy. In fact, this entire book will come in very handy when you need it. What did I say? SYWNTB. Someday You Will Need This Book.
World-speak it seems, is becoming nothing more than a series of acronyms, and maritime lingo is no different. It is simply loaded with abbreviations. Hence this reference book.
I mean, we all know that ABYC is Algoa Bay Yacht Club, don t we? Or that AGM stands for Annual General Meeting? Or that GP is what happens in the likes of Monaco each year?
Wrong. In this American publication, you ll find American Yacht and Boat Council, Absorbed Glass Mat (a storage battery feature), and Geographical Positioning. And although there are many acronyms or abbreviations with which we are, indeed, quite familiar, there are some in this publication that are pretty obscure.
Still, if you are into Acro-speak, you ll find this compilation interesting. If not, well...
Donald Launer first recognized the need for a reference guide of nautical abbreviations and acronyms when he came across a term with which he was not familiar. Although I have had a USCG captain's license for 25 years and I have written over 300 articles for recreational boating magazines, He writes in the introduction, I was stumped. With his Dictionary of Nautical Acronyms and Abbreviations, Launer provides a comprehensive work, which attempts to translate industry and government abbreviations into everyday speech.
The book is made up of two parts: Part I, Common Acronyms and Abbreviations, is an alphabetical list of definitions of about 650 abbreviations, some with accompanying illustrations. For example, Dev, the abbreviation for deviation, is defined as the difference between a vessel s compass bearing and its true magnetic bearing it s different for every boat, and changes depending on the boat s heading and angle of heel. Below the definition, an example of a typical deviation chart further illustrates how the deviation is calculated, with an S-shaped line curving east then west.
Part II is a truncated version (around 500 entries) of NOAA s Chart No. 1, United States of America: Nautical Chart Symbols, abbreviations, and Terms, and is especially useful as the NOAA document is no longer in print, points out Launer. Examples include COL REGS defined as collision regulations, and LWF & C, or low water full and charge.
