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traduction français vers anglais [PRO] Tech/Engineering - Navires, navigation, marine / parts of a schooner
Terme ou expression en français :prendre un ris dans la grand-voile
L’oncle compréhensif envoya Gwendal, le teint vert pâle, se reposer dans le poste avant, pendant que les autres ****prenaient un ris dans la grand-voile****.
______
This is last part of a Breton "conte", where the young hero has embarked on his first ever voyage (from Brittany to Scandinavia) aboard his uncle's schooner. He has just thrown up over the side, and his uncle sends him to recover whilst the rest of the crew are otherwise occupied with "prendre un ris dans la grand-voile". I've found "take a reef in on the mainsail" (or "main sheet"), but, as this means virtually nothing to me, I need confirmation that this is suitable from someone with boating knowledge.
I'd be very grateful for any help from anyone who knows about these things - many thanks!
Explication : oh gawd, too much to read in the yachting fraternity's discussion above but I'm sure they've got to the bottom of this already
in this context, a reef is a portion of the sail which is rolled up and there could be several reefs on the same sail
evidently the Bretons only took in ONE reef
the OED says it all:
1.1 Naut. One of the horizontal portions of a sail which may be successively rolled or folded up in order to diminish the extent of canvas exposed to the wind; they are usually three or four in number, and situated at the top of square sails and at the bottom of fore-and-aft sails. Freq. in phr. to take in a reef (also in fig. context).
And here's an example in use:
CF 180 Portsmouth – Gran Canaria | Tall Ships Adventures tallships.org/.../cf-180-portsmouth-gran-canaria/ At the Dog Watch at 1600, all crew were on deck while the skipper, mate and watch leaders showed how to take in a reef on the mainsail.
many thanks everybody! I don't think any of the answers were wrong, but this suits my purposes perfectly, with the rather fortuitous "... sent Gwendal to take a rest in the fo'c'sle while the others took in a reef on the mainsail", which has a good ring to it. This was originally posted as a Literary/Poetry question. 4 points KudoZ ont été attribués à cette réponse
You are right to get back to the original which does say, after all, "prendre un ris". That would make it :"were busy taking a reef in the main". (Like you, psent more time with French yachties than GeeBee yellow wellies. Not surprising though as I did marry a French professional yello wellie).
I agree (more or less...) with Nikki. "To reef in" is unfamiliar to me, but maybe I spend too much time with French-speaking yachties. IMHO, "to reef in the main" is less common parlance than "to take a reef" or "to take a reef in the main" - as in the old saying, "It's easier to shake out a reef when you're bored to death than to take in a reef when you're scared witless..." (quoted recently in the Moody Owners Association magazine "Compass"). Drmanu49's answer, though technically correct, is too general: the phrase is "prendre UN ris...", and when you reef the mainsail, you might take in one, two or three reefs, depending on how well you anticipated the worsening conditions that make the manoeuvre necessary..
I didn't say it wasn't used, just much less frequently. And my sailing in Scotland, Brittany, the Solent too and Rhode Island , well, we "reefed the main". The main thing is (no pun intended!), we'd all do the same thing and get the same result... and deserve a beer afterwards!
No, I'm not getting confused; perhaps the term is less fashionable in these modern, abbrevaited days... but in the nautical environment of my youth (many moons ago!) it was a very common way of expressing it; nautical jargon is full of oddly phrasal verbs, each of which may bring a nuance of meaning or at least a richness of language that it would be a shame to lose.
I well remember in my younger days being entranced by long conversations I had with an elderly mariner (he deprecated the term 'sailor'!) who had actually been at sea in what were to be the last of the 'windjammers'. Captivating stuff!
With the term 'to reef (in) the main(sail)', the number of reefs (i.e. slabs) taken/made is unclear. In the context given by Carol however, it's clearly only one reef. So, I would favour: 'take a reef in the main[sail]'.
@ Tony : my point is that "reef in" is not often used as a phrasal verb. It is more common to describe the fact that there is a reef in the sail.
Oxford A-Z of Sailing Terms : "to reef" = to shorten sail by reducing sail area exposed to the wind. Are you not oncufsing it with the verb "to sheet" or "to sheet in"?
@Agree that "take a reef in a sail" is common. Same Oxford dico : "topsails normally carried two rows of reef-points , enabling to reefs to be taken in".
Le Dictionnaire de la Plaisance, Guides Glénans, Seuil : "prendre un ris" : take in a reef. Dictionnaire technique maritime, La Maison du Dictionnaire, Alain CLOUET : "reef a sail" = prendre un ris.
sailing.about.com/od/.../How-To-Reef-Mainsail.ht... - Traduire cette page Knowing how to reef the mainsail when the wind picks up is a critical skill for all sailors. The traditional slab reefing system is easy to install and use. Here's how ...
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 15 minutes (2012-06-10 11:33:26 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
www.bethandevans.com/pdf/WhenReefing.pdf - Traduire cette page Format de fichier: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - Afficher taking a reef. This will keep the boat on her feet while still sailing fast. De-powering the sails begins with flattening the mainsail and jib by tensioning the main ...
Drmanu49 France Local time: 04:48 Spécialisé dans le domaine Langue maternelle : anglais, français Points PRO dans la catégorie : 174
Notes au répondeur
Demandeur : Thanks very much for the confirmation Drmanu!
35 minutes confiance : approbation des pairs (net) : +1
to reef in the mainsail
Explication : I would say that the version with 'in' is slightly more natural nautical language.
Your proposal of 'to take a reef in on the mainsail' is perfectly correct technical language as a technical description of the activity — but is probably unnecessarily clumsy for your specific context.
I do, however, strongly feel that the term does need to include 'reef in'.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 51 mins (2012-06-10 12:09:56 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Your version is fine in a technical context, but a bit 'heavy' for a purely literary one. ;-)
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 4 hrs (2012-06-10 16:05:51 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
'to reef in' is a bit like 'to rein in' — it has the idea of reducing or restricting; of course, you can't 'reef out', but then not every phrasal verb is obliged to have a symmetrical antonym! However, we do 'let out' a reef, so I think the in/out doublet is justified.
Tony M France Local time: 04:48 Spécialisé dans le domaine Langue maternelle : anglais Points PRO dans la catégorie : 150
Notes au répondeur
Demandeur : sorry Tony - I was sure I'd already posted a thank-you message here! Anyway, many thanks, and no doubt my original version is unnecessarily clumsy!
8 heures confiance : approbation des pairs (net) : +4
to take in a reef on the mainsail
Explication : oh gawd, too much to read in the yachting fraternity's discussion above but I'm sure they've got to the bottom of this already
in this context, a reef is a portion of the sail which is rolled up and there could be several reefs on the same sail
evidently the Bretons only took in ONE reef
the OED says it all:
1.1 Naut. One of the horizontal portions of a sail which may be successively rolled or folded up in order to diminish the extent of canvas exposed to the wind; they are usually three or four in number, and situated at the top of square sails and at the bottom of fore-and-aft sails. Freq. in phr. to take in a reef (also in fig. context).
And here's an example in use:
CF 180 Portsmouth – Gran Canaria | Tall Ships Adventures tallships.org/.../cf-180-portsmouth-gran-canaria/ At the Dog Watch at 1600, all crew were on deck while the skipper, mate and watch leaders showed how to take in a reef on the mainsail.
Graham macLachlan Local time: 04:48 Spécialisé dans le domaine Langue maternelle : anglais Points PRO dans la catégorie : 352
Grading comment
many thanks everybody! I don't think any of the answers were wrong, but this suits my purposes perfectly, with the rather fortuitous "... sent Gwendal to take a rest in the fo'c'sle while the others took in a reef on the mainsail", which has a good ring to it. This was originally posted as a Literary/Poetry question.
approbation des pairs (net) : +2
