Real-Life Communication
You are a naval architect looking over an old sailboat with a client.
The boat is in very poor shape. Rather than restore it, the client would like
you to rebuild an exact replica of the boat.
You look over the boat,
write up a report and then discuss it at the next meeting with the client.
"We
definitely have to do a lot of reading and writing," says Pat Bray, a naval
architect. "Papers are put out that are shared between naval architects. In
addition, we are always writing up reports for boat designs for our clients.
If you can't spell or write clearly, your client may think that you can't
design well either."
You start to discuss your findings with the client,
but just as you begin to talk about the hull, the client confesses that he
isn't a sailor and doesn't know the terms you are using. Rewrite the excerpt
below, explaining the terms to the client as you go:
Excerpt from your
report:
If you look at the original hull, you can see the
old paint still clinging to the boat. I could make out where the painted waterline
was. This is where the design waterline should be on the new boat. Of course,
the loaded waterline will be different.
I am impressed with the shape
of the hull of this monohulled boat. I think that its hull speed should be
quite good, almost as fast as the boat sitting next to it in the marina.
Of
course, a monohulled boat can't go faster than its hull speed, and so longer
boats are faster. Once the boat is planing, it's a different matter!
Vocabulary
- Waterline: line where the water comes to on the hull of a boat
- Design waterline: line where the water is designed to be on the
hull
- Painted waterline: the paint line that shows where the waterline
should be on the hull
- Load waterline: where the waterline is when the boat is loaded
- Hull: structural body of the boat
- Hull speed: speed that a boat can travel without planing
- Planing: when the boat rises slightly out of the water so that
it glides over the water rather than through it
- Monohull: boat with only one hull
- Multihull: boat with many hulls, such as a catamaran