Posted by Tom Napier on June 27, 2013 at 14:54:00 user Didymus.
In Reply to: Re: Right / Left posted by Martin Honor on June 27, 2013 at 12:01:34:
"...the more obscure items like the shapes displayed by a partially submerged object under tow!"
"Right," I said, "how often would an amateur sailor need that." Then I realized I had witnessed just such a situation at our local sailing lake a couple of years ago. Someone had managed to flood their sailboat. (I missed that part of the story.) It was being towed back to the marina by another sailboat using its outboard. The towed boat had its deck awash and was being held up by its flotation foam. I rather doubt if either boat was displaying the correct shapes. Getting back to dry land probably had a higher priority in everyone's mind.
For that matter, I have yet to see a sailboat under power displaying a black cone. I don't have one and my boat, unlike those of the S, A & Ds, doesn't even have a flag halyard I could hang one on.