A yawl is a sail boat with a mizzenmast stepped aft of the steering post. Not to be confused with a ketch, where the mizzen is stepped forward of the steering post. The two do, however, share common gear, such as their boarding device:
the ketch-yawl ladder.
A yawl is indeed a sail boat with the mizzen stepped aft of the rudder. And
y'all is a southern term used when addressing more than one person in an informal and inclusive manner. Capice? :)
A ketch and a yawl also sometimes share another common feature: the yankee in his Sperry Gold Cup topsiders who can't tie his fabric covered fenders to the lifelines with a proper clove hitch. Myself, I prefer a sloop built in the lightest possible design, rigged with Dacron sails and the only additional ballast allowed aboard beyond spares and crew is the cooler stocked with beer and rum, which will be placed below, amidships, and stowed properly so as not to get in the way of quick sail changes when rounding a mark or tacking under a competitor. But that's just me.
And yep, I picked up on the threadjacking real quick and find that it appeals to my own ADD and short attention span tendencies. As does being cute and cuddly with razor sharp teeth.
