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  3. Ships, Sailing, Maritime

à toucher ...

English translation: just touching...

09:35 Nov 17, 2018
French to English translations [PRO]
Tech/Engineering - Ships, Sailing, Maritime
French term or phrase: à toucher ...
Training manual (exam) for (maritime) pilots

Phrases like this occur many times in this document. They appear to be instructions about how to manoeuvre a ship relative to certain landmarks or other geographical features marked on charts.

For the record the location is somewhere on the French Atlantic coast.

"-Le chateau d'eau de X à toucher à gauche des grèves de Y"

"-La chute du Cap d'X à toucher la partie gauche de l'amas du Cap"

"-Le clocher de X à toucher à gauche de Y"

"Limite EST: le Grand chateau d'eau à toucher à droite du phare du X"

"-Le grand chateau d'eau de X à toucher à gauche du Y"
Mpoma
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:59
English translation:just touching...
Explanation:
In essence, it means 'lined up with', but it's expressed this way to avoid people mistaking it for 'bang in front of' — they seem in most cases to be saying things like "just touching the left-hand side of..." etc.


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Note added at 2 hrs (2018-11-17 12:30:15 GMT)
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I believe so, yes; possibly not 'shoreline', since that really means everything you are looking at from the boat! Without knowing the exact geography of this location, I suspect 'grève' here is probably something more distinctly identifiable from the sea, like 'beach'
And not, not really 'port / starboard' — those only refer to positions relative to the vessel: "Keep the Channel Buoy to port" is correct, but when referring to land marks, you would indeed use left and right.
Selected response from:

Tony M
France
Local time: 22:59
Grading comment
Thanks
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +1brushing
SafeTex
4skirting
Rajinder Arora
3just touching...
Tony M


Discussion entries: 3





  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
just touching...


Explanation:
In essence, it means 'lined up with', but it's expressed this way to avoid people mistaking it for 'bang in front of' — they seem in most cases to be saying things like "just touching the left-hand side of..." etc.


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2018-11-17 12:30:15 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I believe so, yes; possibly not 'shoreline', since that really means everything you are looking at from the boat! Without knowing the exact geography of this location, I suspect 'grève' here is probably something more distinctly identifiable from the sea, like 'beach'
And not, not really 'port / starboard' — those only refer to positions relative to the vessel: "Keep the Channel Buoy to port" is correct, but when referring to land marks, you would indeed use left and right.

Tony M
France
Local time: 22:59
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 150
Grading comment
Thanks
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks very much ... so "X water tower just touching the left-hand side of Y shoreline"... ? Something like that? NB I also wonder whether it should be "port" rather than "left", but OTOH bâbord and tribord also crop up in this text...


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  SafeTex: I think Tony's other idea (in line with) is actually much better as a starting point. I'm not sure that even sailors would say that "a water tower touches a lighthouse for instance".
2 hrs
  -> Yes, but when something has non-zero width, whether something is to the right or left or dead in the middle makes a vital difference; 'lined up with' is close, but not close enough. 'In line with' would translate a different term, but not this one.
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1 day 2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
skirting


Explanation:
situated by the side

Rajinder Arora
India
Local time: 02:29
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in HindiHindi

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Tony M: 'skirting' would tend to suggest 'passing close beside', which is patently not the case here.
44 mins
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1 day 2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
brushing


Explanation:
After having read Tony's remarks and very much inspired by Rajinder's answer, this sound best for me.

SafeTex
France
Local time: 22:59
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Tony M: Again, risks implying that there is relative movement between the 2 objects; in any case, it is not the term we'd use in maritime navigation.
21 mins
agree  GILLES MEUNIER: Obviously....
16 hrs
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