rogerbaker Jun 23, 2010:

No problem, Juliet. Gladd to be of help.

Juliet Halewood (X) (asker) Jun 23, 2010:

Thanks, Roger. I think you could be right about "coperta" and "ponti". I couldn't work out why "ponti" was in inverted commas, but this must be the reason. Thanks to everyone else for their useful comments!

rogerbaker Jun 22, 2010:

"Ponti" One question raised in my head, the usual word I have met for the English deck in sailing- boats at any rate is "coperta". Without reading some litreature maybe all the extra decks on powerboats (fly-bridge, etc) are called "ponti" as they are not the main "coperta", so maybe the inverted commas are because the "ponti" do not totally equate to the one "coperta" - deck of a sailing-boat. In fact read http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coperta_(nave) which explains that "coperta" is the ponte which runs the whole lenght of the boat (in effect the only deck on a sailing-boat), as opposed to all the decks on a motor-boat

patricia richards Jun 22, 2010:

could be ' the same number of decks as'

rogerbaker Jun 22, 2010:

I agree with Juliet – a sailing yacht can only have one deck whereas the modern moter yacht piles on several layers up to the flydeck, so that it could be saying that a sailing yacht, although it cannot have as many decks as a motor yacht of equivalent length, can offer the same standard of comfort, etc ?

Mr Murray (X) Jun 21, 2010:

That's a possibility... Sure, I could read it that way - a simple ship with only one deck - in the context of the whole long sentence.

Juliet Halewood (X) (asker) Jun 21, 2010:

I mean, one deck above the water line

Juliet Halewood (X) (asker) Jun 21, 2010:

Could it mean that a sailing yacht of a particular length can only have one deck, whereas a motor boat of the same length can have several?