What’s in a name?
When I first put this website together, I though I was pretty clever locking up svresolute.com. I couldn’t believe it was actually available given how many boats are named Resolute. The sv for stands for sailing vessel and I thought that was how I should refer to Resolute, given that she is a vessel and that she sails.
A few weekends ago, I was reading the materials to study for a US Coast Guard Captains license and I came across something that said a sailing vessel is actually a vessel for hire and the correct term for me would be a sailing yacht or SY. Alas I thought. Once again I thought I was clever only to find the truth lay elsewhere. As luck would have it, syresolute.com was also an available domain, and so I tied that one up too. I still don’t feel too clever, having been tricked too many times to fall for that feeling again so soon.
Now I’m trying to find the passage that I read that gave me the rules, and of course I can’t find it. Since I tend to read such things in bed, I am wondering now if I read it in the Coast Guard materials, or one of the many social media pages about sailing. While the former is more authoritative, the later is more commonly what is in practice. If I had to choose between the two, I’ll stick with the Coast Guard when it comes to my rules about boating thank you very much.
Reading through the various thoughts posted by others, it seems that American’s prefer SV and Brits and different flavors of near-Brits (Aussies, Kiwis, Canadians, etc) prefer SY. It’s interesting how vehemently people express their opinions. After all, it’s just a name right?
As it turned out, syresolute.com was also available, so I took that too. Now you can call us sv or sy. We are fine with either. Which do you prefer and why?