"No, they're not," Alfred said, shaking his head but keeping his smile in place. He could not really expect Evander, of all people, to know the first thing about sailing, and he probably didn't much care about the difference. That was the whole reason they'd come out here today; because Evander knew nothing whatsoever and wanted to learn. On another day Alfred might have mumbled something vaguely derogatory and chosen for them so that they could get on with it, but he was supposed to be teaching — and he was in a good mood.

"Most of these are cutters or sloops, but the sails they're fitted with are different," he explained. "You can't tell so much when they're rolled, but they're shaped differently and they catch the wind in a different way. See the red tag on that one?" he continued, pointing to the main sail on the nearest boat. "This'll be a racing boat. The sail's built for speed. This yellow one is more responsive. If you know what you're doing, you can get her in and out of some tight spots, but if you don't you're likely to tip her if the wind gets too heavy. This blue tag here'll be the standard sail. That's probably what you want," he supplied. Without waiting for a confirmation from his brother, he climbed aboard, using the lines to effortlessly transfer from pier to ship. From his higher vantage point at the bow he could see the whole length of the pier, and he couldn't help but continue in a tone of great excitement: "Do you see that one all the way at the end, that looks like two boats put together? That's a catamaran. They're new. Not many people know how to handle them properly. They're so fast you're actually not allowed to sail them in competitions against single-hulled ships," he concluded, with a wide smile. New was a relative term; they'd been invented over twenty years ago, but compared to the whole history of sailing this was very new indeed.