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A comment on Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left” and “right?”. Parent comment

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by jrockway on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @12:16PM (#35630012)
Yup, you're exactly right. I totally forgot about that. Thinking about it more, the rudder and tiller might be different things on ships too; I think a rudder you turn right to go right, and a tiller you turn left to go right, because of where the pivot point is?

It's a good thing I'm not at the helm ;)

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Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by willyt on Friday April 28, 2023 @11:46AM (#35742768)
On a boat the rudder is technically the blade that cuts through the water and the tiller is the thing that gives you enough leverage to apply force to control the direction of the rudder as it passes through the water; sometimes quite a lot of force is needed! Only quite small boats have tillers that you can directly manipulate. Larger boats typically have a wheel which controls hydraulic rams which manipulate the ‘tiller’
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