I got a kick out of XKCD 3193, it definitely hits that sweet spot that happens when you walk a certain side alley of trivia just a few steps too far.
In my all-too-brief, but enjoyable and lucky, sailing life, I definitely sailed both a Deckhand Obliterator as well as a Mastless Rig.
And my son once sailed a Keel Rig, early in his youth sailing academy days. (They called it "turtling" back then.)
But of course the nerd in me has to quibble a tiny bit with the floatover text: it's not the size of the sail on the mizzen mast that distinguishes a ketch from a yawl, it's the relative position of the mizzen mast and the rudder post.
When I was learning the basics, back in sailing school, I used to remember this as:
- They call it a yawl because the mizzen is yawl the way back.
Hey, the thing about a memory aid is that it aids your memory.
