🔍 Key Concepts
• Motion of a vessel or tow around its vertical axis (turning left/right at the bow)
• Difference between lateral movement (sideways as a whole) vs. the bow swinging side to side
• Normal ship motions: pitch, roll, yaw, surge, sway, heave
💭 Think About
• Think about what happens when the bow of the tow swings off to one side and then back on the end of a towline. Which standard motion term describes that?
• Which option refers to the vessel’s whole body sliding sideways without turning, and which refers specifically to turning left/right about a vertical axis?
• On a towline, when the tow veers from side to side, is it mostly rotating or just moving straight sideways?
✅ Before You Answer
• Match each choice to the standard 6 degrees of freedom: surge (fore‑and‑aft), sway (sideways), heave (up‑and‑down), roll, pitch, yaw.
• Ask yourself: is the question describing a turning/veering motion of the bow or a uniform sideways drift of the entire tow?
• Eliminate any term that clearly refers to fore‑and‑aft motion or to a motion that is not side‑to‑side at the end of a towline.