Glossary

ABAFT– Astern of; behind; at the rear of; toward the stern.

ABEAM– At right angles to the keel.

ADRIFT– Loose from moorings.

AFT– Toward or near the stern.

ASTERN– To the rear or behind.

BACK– To back a sail is to pull it to the windward side of the vessel. The wind is said to back when its direction shifts in a counterclockwise direction; it is the opposite of veer.

BACKWIND– When the wind hits the ordinarily leeward side of a sail.

BATTEN DOWN– To secure or to make watertight.

BEAM– The point of a vessel’s greatest breadth.

BEAM ENDS– A boat is said to be on its beam ends when it is knocked over onto its side.

BEAT– To sail to windward; tack.

BEND– To bend on sails is to attach them to the vessel, before hoisting, so they are ready for use.

BILGE– The inside of a vessel near the keel where water may collect.

BLOCK– A pulley; a frame enclosing one or more sheaves or rollers over which lines are run.

BOOM– A spar at the foot of a fore–and–aft sail.

BOOM CRUTCH (OR CRADLE OR CROTCH)– A prop that lifts the boom off the deck and holds it secure when it is not in use.

BOW– Forward part of a boat.

BROACH– A vessel broaches when it swings broadside to the wind and waves when running free.

BULKHEAD– A partition or wall below decks.

BUOY– A floating object anchored to show position.

CENTERBOARD– A pivoted board–like device that can be lowered to provide lateral resistance to the water in shoal draft vessels.

CLEW– Aftermost corner of a sail.

COAMING–Raised protection around a cockpit.

COCKPIT– Space within the coaming where the helmsman sits. A self–bailing cockpit has drains to allow water to run out of it.

COME ABOUT– To bring the boat from one tack to the other when sailing into the wind.

DAGGERBOARD–KEEL– Heavy, board–like surface used to provide lateral resistance to the water, raised and lowered vertically.

DEAD RECKONING– Determining a vessel’s position by the course sailed and the distance covered.

DINGHY– A small rowboat that sometimes is rigged with a sail. Also called tender or dink.

DOUSE– To take in or lower a sail.

DRIFT– The leeway of a boat.

DROGUE– A canvas bucket or conical–shaped device used to provide resistance in the water and slow a vessel or keep its bow pointed into the wind and waves.

DYE MARKER– Capsule of dye used to color a patch of water to help searchers find a boat or person.

EASE– To let out the sheet so as to relieve the pressure on the sail and possibly spill some wind.

ENSIGN– A national flag flow on a boat.

FEND– To push off.

FOOT WELL– Central area of cockpit designed to accommodate helmsman’s feet.

FORE– In or toward the bow of a boat.

FORE–AND–AFT– Parallel to the keel.

FORESTAY– Wire used to support mast, leading to the bow.

FREEBOARD– The distance from the top of the hull to the water.

GAM– Visiting or conversation carried on between persons from separate ships at sea.

GENOA– Large, overlapping jib. Also called a genny.

GHOST–To make headway when there is no apparent wind.

GRAB RAIL– Railing, usually on cabin top, used as handhold.

GREENWICH MEAN TIME– Time as measured at the meridian of Greenwich, England.

GUDGEON– An eye fitting into which the rudder’s pintles are inserted.

GUNKHOLING– Shallow–water sailing and anchoring in out–of–the–way places.

HALYARD–A line used to hoist a sail. Also spelled halliard.

HATCH– An opening in a deck with a cover.

HEAD– The upper corner of a sail. Also, a boat’s toilet.

HEAVE TO– To stop a vessel’s progress by putting out a sea anchor or drogue, or hauling a headsail to windward.

HEAVING LINE– Line with a weighted end to facilitate throwing it ashore or to another vessel.

HEEL– The tilt, tip, listing or laying–over of a boat, usually due to the force of the wind.

HELM– The tiller by which the rudder is controlled.

HULL– The main body of a boat.

IN IRONS– A boat in the wind’s eye which, having lost all headway, will not go off on either tack.

JIB– A triangular sail set forward of the mast.

JIBE– When running, to bring the wind on the other quarter so that the boom swings over. Also spelled gybe.

JIB SHEET– The line leading from the lower aft end of the jib to the cockpit and by which the set of the jib is controlled.

JIGGER– Another name for the mizzen or aft sail on a ketch or yawl. Such a sail was improvised on Tinkerbelle to help her ride better to a sea anchor.

KEEL– The backbone of a boat running fore–and–aft.

KNOT– Measure of distance; one nautical mile, 6,080 feet. Measure of speed: one nautical mile per hour.

LAPSTRAKE– Overlapping plank of a boat.

LAZARETTE– A stowage compartment in the stern.

LEE SHORE– A shore on the side of the boat away from the wind.

LEE SIDE– The side of the boat away from the wind.

LEEWARD– In the direction away from the wind.

LIFELINE– Line by which person is attached to boat.

LINE– Nautical term for rope used for riggings, anchoring, tying up, etc.

MAINSAIL OR MAINS’L– The large sail set abaft the mast.

MAINSHEET– The line that controls the mainsail.

MASTHEAD– Top of the mast.

MOOR– To secure a vessel to an object such as a dock or buoy.

PINTLE– Metal braces or hooks upon which the rudder of a boat swings.

POINT– To sail as close as possible to the wind.

PORT– Left side of a boat, facing toward the bow.

PORT TACK– Boat sailing with the wind coming over the portside.

QUARTER– The after part of a boat’s side; that part of a craft which is within forty–five degrees from the stern, known as the port quarter or starboard quarter.

RADAR REFLECTOR– Metallic contrivance which reflects radar beams.

REACH– Points of sailing between running and pointing close–hauled. Close reach, sailing nearly close–hauled. Beam reach, sailing with the wind abeam. Broad reach, sailing with the wind abaft the beam.

REEF– To reduce sail area by partly lowering sail and securing the surplus material to the boom.

RUBBING STRAKE– Outer plank of hull designed to protect hull from docks.

RUB RAIL– Same as rubbing strake.

RUNNING–Sailing before the wind.

RUNNING LIGHTS– Lights carried by a vessel under way.

SEA ANCHOR– A drag device (usually a conical canvas pocket held open by a metal hoop, but a canvas bucket in Tinkerbelle‘s case) used to keep the boat headed into the wind and waves while it is not under way, especially during heavy weather.

SECURE– To make fast; to tie or lock into position.

SELF–BAILING COCKPIT– A cockpit provided with drains to allow water washed into it to return to the sea.

SEXTANT– Instrument used to determine the altitude of the sun or stars used in navigation.

SHACKLE– A U–shaped piece of metal with a removable pin across the open end. Shackles are attached to the ends of a boat’s halyards and used to link the halyards to the heads of the sails for hoisting.

SHEAVE– The wheel in a block or at the masthead.

SHOAL– Shallow.

SHROUD– Standing rigging, usually of stainless–steel wire, running from the mast to the sides of a boat to support the mast. The masts’ principal lateral stays.

SLOOP– A sailing vessel with one mast and one sail (a jib) before the mast.

SPAR– General term for masts, booms, whisker poles, etc.

STANDING RIGGING– The shrouds and stays and other rigging not moved in working the boat.

STARBOARD– The right side of a vessel, looking toward the bow.

STARBOARD TACK– Sailing with the wind coming over the starboard side.

STAY– Rigging, usually wire, used to support a mast.

STEERAGEWAY– The amount of a forward movement necessary to make a vessel’s rudder effective.

STEM PLATE– The plate at the bow to which the jibstay (forestay) is attached.

STERN– The after part of a boat.

STIFF– A boat is said to be stiff when it is not easily heeled.

STORM SAILS– Small sails of heavy canvas for use in heavy weather.

STOW– To put away.

SQUARE SAIL– A rectangular sail attached to a spar suspended at the middle from a mast.

SWELL– The waves that continue after the wind that created them has changed in direction or vanished.

SWING THE BOAT– To rotate the vessel to check the compass on known courses.

TABERNACLE– A hinge at the base of a mast which allows the mast to be lowered easily.

TACK–The lower forward corner of a sail. Also, to sail to windward in a series of zigzags.

TILLER– A bar connected with the rudderhead and by which the rudder is moved to steer the boat.

TOPPING LIFT– A line attached at one end to the masthead and at the other to the aft end of the boom, which support the boom while the sail is being set.

TROUGH– The valley between the peaks of successive waves.

TRYSAIL– Small storm sail set in lieu of the mainsail.

UNSHIP– To remove or detach.

VEER– Wind shift in a clockwise direction.

WAKE– The foamy path of disturbed water left behind a moving boat.

WATERLINE– The line painted on a boat’s side indicating the proper trim.

WEATHER HELM– A sailboat in which the tiller must be pulled (usually only slightly) toward the wind to keep it on course.

WEATHER SIDE– Windward side of a sailboat.

WHISKER POLE– A light spar positioned between the mast and the clew of the jib to hold out the sail when running before the wind.

WINDWARD– Toward the wind.