[Low-Tech] Boating vs Shiphandling

[Dalillama]

What is the cutoff between the Boating (Sailboat) and Shiphandling skills? In Low-Tech, vessels up to the size of the 50' brig are listed as using Boating (Sailboat), but in LTC 3 the 30' dhow and fishing junk are both listed as using Shiphandling. I had supposed that Boating pretty much only applied to vessels that one could at least theoretically singlehand, and Shiphandling/Crewman was needed for vessels that need a multi-person crew, but this appears to not be the case, since there's no way that one person can run a 50' brig, for instance.

[gruundehn]

I think the cutoff is not the size of the vessel but crew. If it requires a crew it requires shiphandling.
Whoops: Just noticed your comment about the brig. Maybe it is the size of the crew?

[Humabout]

You might check this thread. I think there was a discussion or something in there.

[Dalillama]

That thread appears to initially agree with me, gruundehn and LTC3, and then bogs down into a wrangle about what skill would be used specifically to be the helmsman of a ship run with Shiphandling (I'd call it Seamanship, personally).

[Ulzgoroth]

My theory would be that the skill for the brig is in error.

Originally Posted by Dalillama

That thread appears to initially agree with me, gruundehn and LTC3, and then bogs down into a wrangle about what skill would be used specifically to be the helmsman of a ship run with Shiphandling (I'd call it Seamanship, personally).

Isn't that explicit in the rules?

[Humabout]

Originally Posted by Dalillama

That thread appears to initially agree with me, gruundehn and LTC3, and then bogs down into a wrangle about what skill would be used specifically to be the helmsman of a ship run with Shiphandling (I'd call it Seamanship, personally).

Well, threads usually bog down in some minutia or another. I was pretty sure some sort of distinction was made before it got totally threadjacked into the never never.

My own feeling has always been that Boating is for individual boathandling, and Shiphandling was for managing a crew. I'd go so far as to say that LT is in error with regard to a Brig, unless one can be feasibly sailed by one person (I'm not sailor of any sort). But that's where I draw the line in the game at any rate.

[Phil Masters]

I will just say that any interpretation that requires the cox of a rowing eight to take Shiphandling skill jars with me very badly for aesthetic reasons...

[gruundehn]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

I will just say that any interpretation that requires the cox of a rowing eight to take Shiphandling skill jars with me very badly for aesthetic reasons...

Never paid that much attention to rowing crews, does the cox of a rowing 8 steer or is that race just straight line?

[Anders]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

I will just say that any interpretation that requires the cox of a rowing eight to take Shiphandling skill jars with me very badly for aesthetic reasons...

He could take Sports (Rowing) and get a reasonable default to "real" rowing skills.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

I will just say that any interpretation that requires the cox of a rowing eight to take Shiphandling skill jars with me very badly for aesthetic reasons...

True for me, too. I take "boat" to mean all sorts of small craft, not just craft that one person can handle.

The brig in LT is debatable; at best it's at the upper end of anything that could be handled with Boating, and there's a fair case that it ought to require Shiphandling and Seamanship. There does seem to be a plausible zone of overlap, where big boats may sometimes be bigger than the smallest ships. It's a matter not of absolute size but of the organization of work.

Bill Stoddard