Shiver me timbers. Where’s our nautical language gone? Use it properly and it grows on you.
Surely that should be “Cable grows Green 30, short/medium/long stay.”
In my (shorter) ship they just point. No words needed.
On a U.S. flag tanker, that would make as much sense as “mambo dogface to the banana patch.”
I tried using the Point system some as a junior officer on US ships and tugs. Everyone was like WTF? So I just reverted to using the clock system for anchor strain direction. Broad on the bow, just abaft the beam, dead astern, etc for objects spotted at sea. Point system may be a relic of the US merchant academy system, it seems. Oh and yes, US tug and OSV crewman definitely DO NOT use the point system, in my experience. 
I hope this is a dated, anecdotal story about OSV/tug mariners & no longer the case. 20+ years ago when picking up the anchor neither the point system nor the o’clock method was used. Many times it was just a deckhand on the bow giving hand signals, or more accurate, forearm signals. The direction the forearm was pointed was the direction the anchor chain was pointed. When the winch didn’t pick up fast enough, or the vessel was going too fast, the guy giving the arm signal would point his arm down in an awkward backwards direction indicating the vessel was overriding the chain. Since DP is so prevalent nowadays, I suspect anchors are seldom dropped on OSV’s anymore.
The entry for "Points " In The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea (1976) explains compass points (11° 15’)and then says because of lack of accuracy, points have been replaced by courses in degrees for navigation.
It goes on to say the point system is still used by the lookout to report other vessels at sea.
Then It goes on to say:
But even this use of the term is gradually dying out with the growing tendency to report such positions in relations to red (port side) and green (starboard side) and a report, for example, of a vessel bearing Green 45 is rapidly taking the place of its equivalent of four points on the starboard bow
Nothing said about anchoring but this shows that less efficient methods tend be replaced by more efficient ones.
So exact, precise reporting of an inexact estimate made by eye?
Presumably if the report starts with red or green that implies less precision (nearest 10 °) than a course given in degrees.
The clock system lacks port / starboard symmetry. To starboard it starts at 12 next 1, 2, 3 etc. To port it starts at 12 and goes 11,10,9 etc.
So, points? Seems approriate notwithstanding that “boxing the compass” may now be interpreted to mean getting it ready for shipment by UPS or FedEx.
"Our assignment here is “Clock vs Point System”. Put me down for the clock system, simpler more efficient to communicate.
By those standards the Red / Green nearest 10 degree system is better than the clock system.
Nope, this is still often the case. It’s a damn miracle that needs investigation by the Vatican that they can pass their classes to get their AB ticket. Don’t even get me started on some of the Captains.
DP burns fuel that the majors don’t want to pay for. It is true though that anchors are seldom dropped (at least in the Gulf of Mexico), especially with drilling moving into deeper and deeper waters where you’ll be running weather patterns instead. Now in South America and elsewhere it’s a lot more common to anchor while you wait for dock space still.
I learned points as a young lad and find it to be arcane knowledge now, few seem to learn it anymore. Airplanes are clocks, traffic 3 o’clock high.
For anchor chain stuff it is all silent, we use hand/arm signals for speed up/down/reverse/ and direction.