# tippy - if a boat capsizes easily?



## cirrus

Hello there. I am trying to describe a boat that's a bit tippy. This means a boat where you really need to concentrate on your balance and the trim otherwise you end up having a swim. 

In the Chocó rainforest I remember tippy thin dug outs being described as celoso but I don't know whether this is just local usage. The sort of sprint canoes as in this ***edited-sorry, links to youtebe are not allowed (Rule 4)*** are famously tippy. Si un barco resulta poco estable cómo lo describirían? 

Any help or input you can offer is always gratefully received.


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## Joaqin

There are boats called _piragua, _in Colombia, that match your description, but they aren't called _piragua_ because being unstable.


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## Joaqin

Here you are, from the RAE:

Celosa:

*3. *adj._ Mar._ Dicho de una embarcación: Que por falta de estabilidad suficiente aguanta poca vela.


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## cirrus

Joaqin said:


> There are boats called _piragua, _in Colombia, that match your description, but they aren't called _piragua_ because being unstable.



Acaso no expliqué muy bien. Me refiero a la característica del barco en vez de un tipo específico.


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## ptak30

Tippy: Nervioso, inquieto... (a veces se leen textos en inglés en los que se menciona que un kayak es un poco "tippy" para el principiante,  esto se relaciona directamente con la inestabilidad o lo "nervioso" que  se siente un kayak...).


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## Joaqin

cirrus said:


> Acaso no expliqué muy bien. Me refiero a la característica del barco en vez de un tipo específico.


 Perdóname. No lo vuelvo a hacer.


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## Joaqin

cirrus said:


> Acaso no expliqué muy bien. Me refiero a la característica del barco en vez de un tipo específico.


¿Acaso no sabes que hay un Diccionaria de la Real Academia de la Lengua Española? Mira lo que dice:

*3. *adj._ Mar._ Dicho de una embarcación: Que por falta de estabilidad suficiente aguanta poca vela.


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## Joaqin

cirrus said:


> ¿Acaso no expliqué muy bien? Me refiero a la característica del barco en vez de un tipo específico.


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## ptak30

> Originally posted by *Joaqin*
> Acaso no sabes que hay un Diccionaria de la Real Academia de la Lengua Española? Mira lo que dice:
> 
> *3. *adj._ Mar._ Dicho de una embarcación: Que por falta de estabilidad suficiente aguanta poca vela.


Es que estas kayakas no tienen vela. No creo que la definición del WR de "celosa" se aplique completamente a ellas.


> Originally posted by *cirrus
> *
> Hello there. I am trying to describe a boat that's a bit tippy. This means a boat where you really need to concentrate on your balance and the trim otherwise you end up having a swim.
> 
> In the Chocó rainforest I remember tippy thin dug outs being described as celoso but I don't know whether this is just local usage. The sort of sprint canoes as in this **edited-sorry, links to youtebe are not allowed (Rule 4)** are famously tippy. Si un barco resulta poco estable cómo lo describirían?
> 
> Any help or input you can offer is always gratefully received.


From that Spanish kayaking site they don't seem to have a single word like "celoso". They go through an explanation of primary stability and secondaru stability. One English site said that true mariners would rather say "tender" for "tippy" (the opposite being "stiff").


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## cirrus

Tippy is a relatively common term. It is used pretty regularly for kayaks and canoes and could also be used with small sailing dinghies. A mariner (an old fashioned word that, to my mind at least, brings up images of someone wearing a sou' wester and smoking a pipe) probably wouldn't use the word. Thinking about it, a mariner probably wouldn't be seen dead in a small boat and certainly nothing without a fixed keel.


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## Mexico RV'er

While "tippy" is a word we use often, it is not in my dictionary. However, any boat that is "tippy' is a boat that is "unstable." I think I would go with "inestable."


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## UZIKATKILLKILL

*Inestable, *para mí también, quizás no exista un termino náutico como ¨tippy.


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## cirrus

Mexico RV'er said:


> While "tippy" is a word we use often, it is not in my dictionary.



Try Merriam Webster. It gives this: "liable to tip <a tippy boat>"


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## Mexico RV'er

Thanks Cirrus. I should have said it is not in my Oxford Spanish-English dictionary. I didn't look elsewhere because I use and understand the word. I was just hoping to find a Spanish translation for it.


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## jilar

Mexico RV'er said:


> However, any boat that is "tippy' is a boat that is "unstable." I think I would go with "inestable."


Sin ninguna duda, _tippy_ = inestable.

Podemos decirlo empleando otras expresiones, aunque más coloquiales o informales, por ejemplo: bailón (que baila (se mece) con facilidad), pero la idea final es la de "inestabilidad" que es el término más formal o técnico.
tippy kayak - Buscar con Google
kayak inestable bailón - Buscar con Google


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## Oujmik

jilar said:


> Sin ninguna duda, _tippy_ = inestable.



Agreed. I'd never encountered the word 'tippy' and although I could easily have guessed the meaning I would have assumed it was something a little old-fashioned or vernacular and would have used 'unstable' if I had to describe said boat subsequently. Certainly I think 'unstable' would be more widely understood even in English and especially in Spanish.


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## cirrus

If you are sailing dinghies, or using small boats, kayaks or canoes; tippy isn't slang, it is everyday language. Look at these examples (1: canoe wales) 
* "SPRINT AND MARATHON*
In some ways, sprint and marathon paddling are very similar. They're both flat-water disciplines that use very narrow and tippy, but very fast, boats, racing over a course against the clock. Ultimately, they're both about speed and fitness"
or here talking about a viper racing dinghy (2: sailing world)
"The class’s technical committee decided to do something about what VanValkenburgh says was “an undeserved reputation as a wet and tippy boat.”


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## Oujmik

cirrus said:


> If you are sailing dinghies, or using small boats, kayaks or canoes; tippy isn't slang, it is everyday language. Look at these examples (1: canoe wales)
> * "SPRINT AND MARATHON*
> In some ways, sprint and marathon paddling are very similar. They're both flat-water disciplines that use very narrow and tippy, but very fast, boats, racing over a course against the clock. Ultimately, they're both about speed and fitness"
> or here talking about a viper racing dinghy (2: sailing world)
> "The class’s technical committee decided to do something about what VanValkenburgh says was “an undeserved reputation as a wet and tippy boat.”



Indeed, but being jargon (an anglo-saxon based jargon at that) it's unlikely that there is any better translation than 'inestable'. My point was that most native speakers outside the boating community would probably guess the meaning but would think it was a little 'cute' or vernacular. For example if I said "I like my new car, but it's a bit wibbly" you'd probably guess what I mean but you'd probably think I was a bit ditsy (until I told you 'wibbly' was a established term in motoring circles).


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## jilar

cirrus said:


> If you are sailing dinghies, or using small boats, kayaks or canoes; tippy isn't slang, it is everyday language. Look at these examples (1: canoe wales)
> * "SPRINT AND MARATHON*
> In some ways, sprint and marathon paddling are very similar. They're both flat-water disciplines that use very narrow and tippy, but very fast, boats, racing over a course against the clock. Ultimately, they're both about speed and fitness"
> or here talking about a viper racing dinghy (2: sailing world)
> "The class’s technical committee decided to do something about what VanValkenburgh says was “an undeserved reputation as a wet and tippy boat.”


Yo lo considero slang, pero con esta definición de slang:
the jargon of a particular class, profession, etc.
slang - WordReference.com Dictionary of English

Que es como interpretamos jerga en español:
*1.* f. Lenguaje especial y familiar que usan entre sí los individuos de ciertas profesiones y oficios, como los toreros, los estudiantes, etc.
http://lema.rae.es/drae/?val=jerga

Es decir, son términos que usan las personas en esos ambientes, quienes navegan en botes, quienes usan canoas o kayaks, etc ...

Por ejemplo jerga sería, en el mundo del kayak, decir "esquimotar" o "rolar" para lo que en inglés es "to roll (the kayak)".
Que no es más que lo que "formalmente" se conoce, quizá en otros ambientes (barcos, navegación, construcción naval, ...) más, como "adrizar".
Hacer que la embarcación recupere su correcta posición sobre el agua, porque ha volcado anteriormente.

En este caso, "tippy", yo estoy en el ambiente del kayak y, como he señalado antes, podríamos decir "inestable" formalmente, pero otras maneras de decirlo, aunque más informales o más de ese mundillo (escena del kayak) o sea, un término más de nuestra jerga, sería:
*bailón* o *juguetón*, o incluso "*movidito*", sí, así, con el diminutivo -ITO, y nunca "movido".

Por ejemplo:
Tengo un kayak nuevo, acabo de estrenarlo, pero lo noto muy movidito.
Idem ------------------------------------, aunque es bastante bailón.

Esa persona está dando a entender que ese kayak es inestable, o así lo nota él al menos.

Porque la inestabilidad, navegando en una pequeña embarcación (kayak, canoa, ...), es un concepto muy subjetivo, la verdad.
Paddling and Sailing: Is your kayak too tippy?
Aunque hay mucha ciencia al respecto
Kayak Stability - What keeps a kayak upright | Guillemot Kayaks - Small Wooden Boat Designs


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