I was told that speedboat drivers sit on the right to counterbalance the
torque from the prop. Seemed to make sense to me at the time.
Keith
At 00:05 16-05-01, you wrote:
>Sailing vessels passing port to port or left side to left side has to do
>with ancient methods of steering ships. Originally ships did not have
>stern mounted rudders but a steering oar that was hung off the starboard
>(steering board or right) side by tradition. So as not to cause
>catastrophic steering damage if two ships should collide while passing bow
>to bow, they kept to the right to protect the steering oar.
>
>Since the steering oar was on the starboard (right) side, they would, of
>course, tie up at a pier on the opposite side of the steering oar or left
>side so as not to bang up the steering. Apparently the convention of
>calling the left side, Port, did not catch on widely, right away, however.
>The more common name for the left side was Larboard and persisted into the
>17th century or even later. I heard that they switched to the less common
>term, port, because of confusion generated by the terms starboard and
>larboard. After a few broadsides, in the heat of battle the sailors
>couldn't differentiate between 'lar' and 'star', often with disastrous results.
>
>Aloha
>Peter
>
>
>>From: Rick Grant <rgrant@cadvision.com>
>>Reply-To: lro@works.team.net
>>To: lro@works.team.net
>>Subject: Re: LRO: Which side? (was 2 Land Rover questions)
>>Date: Mon, 14 May 2001 20:43:35 -0600
>>
>>At 19:22 14/05/01 -0700, C. Marin Faure, wrote
>>>Here's another puzzle, though. In the US and Canada, railroad engine
>>>drivers sit on the right side of their cabs, and oncoming trains pass (on a
>>>double track mainline) to the left of each other.
>>
>>And another one to add to the list. Why do helicopter pilots
>>(pilot-in-command) sit on the right with their co-joes to the left while
>>aircraft PIC's sit on the left? And isn't there something about boat
>>drivers on the right as well?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Rick Grant
>>
>> 1959 Series II "88"
>> VORIZO
>>
>>
>>
>>Rick Grant Communications
>>Media and Crisis Management
>>Calgary Ottawa
>>www.rickgrant.com
>
>_________________________________________________________________
>Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
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