Chapter 2

Boating Terms

The language of boating hits landlubbers in their ears with the same amount of sense as would be the case if Ubangi were being tossed into the air. Starboard tacks have points but only sails have heads. A sheet is a rope, not a sail— and a rope isn't a rope, but is a line. A pulley is a block and a cringle has nothing to do with Santa Claus. You have a reef in your sail, which is where it should be, but a reef under your keel is bad medicine. Tell a skipper that he is a heel and you'll have to fight, but tell him his boat heels beautifully and he will invite you home for chow. To wear ship doesn't wear her out and an earring doesn't go in an ear. 'Tis a strange sort of lingo and you must know at least a bit of it before you get any farther in this tossed salad of seagoing sense.

Most publishers put glossaries of terms into the backs of books so the curious readers wear both paper and temper thin before they can understand what the writers are yelping about. We prefer to dunk you into some nautical lingo right from the start. Human nature being what it is, you will probably try to duck around this chapter as being as palatable as dry toast sprinkled with shop sweepings. Pass it up if you will, but don't come screaming for your money back if, later on, you run up against such things as luffing, being on or off the wind, fishing a boomkin with a berth slat, hiking to windward, or casting off the lee runners.

Of course, you may know it all. In which case you are wasting your time anyway and had better tune in on Arthur Godfrey to find out how to make chicken-noodle soup or cozy up to a dancing doll.

Glossary Of Boating Terms

ABACK: With the wind on the forward sides of the sails instead of the after sides. ABAFT: Toward the stern in relationship to some other part of the boat. See AFT.

ABEAM: Directly at right angles to the fore-and-aft center line of the boat.

ABLOCK: When a tackle has been taken up to the point where both of its blocks come together.

ABOUT: A boat comes about when her bow is steered across the eye of the wind so that the wind is striking the sails from the opposite side.

ABOVE: The nautical equivalent of upstairs.

AFOUL: Tangled or snarled up in any way.

AFT: Toward the stern. You walk aft, going from bow to stern, but the tiller is abaft the cabin.

ALEE: On or toward the side of a boat that is farthest from the point from which the wind is blowing.

ALOFT: Up on the mast or in the rigging.

AMIDSHIPS: The halfway point between bow and stern; sometimes used to indicate the center of the boat from side to side.

APORT: Toward the left side of the boat.

ASTERN: Behind the vessel. This word does not apply to anything within the boat itself. Note the differences between ABAFT, AFT, and ASTERN.

ATHWARTSHIPS: From side to side of the boat; at right angles to fore and aft.

AUXILIARY: A sailing boat that has an engine so she can be propelled by power when desired; also the engine installed in an auxiliary.

AWEATHER: Opposite to alee. In the direction from which the wind is blowing.

BACKSTAY: A stay running from the masthead aft. A back runner is similar but is arranged to be slacked off upon occasion.

BALLAST: Weight added to stabilize a boat. Inside ballast consists of lead, iron, or concrete placed inside the boat below the flooring. Outside ballast is of lead or iron and it is attached to the lower part of the keel.

BATTEN: A thin strip of wood placed in a pocket at the after edge of the sail to keep it in shape.

BEAM: The breadth of a boat at the widest part.

BEAT: To sail as closely as possible toward the direction from which the wind blows.

BELAYING PIN: A pin around which a line may be tied to make it fast.

BELOW: The nautical equivalent of downstairs.

BILGE: The space inside a boat below the flooring.

BLOCK: A pulley.

BOOM: The horizontal spar to which the bottom edge of a sail is laced.

BOOMKIN: A spar attached to and extending beyond the stern.

BOW: The forward part of the boat.
 
BOWSPRIT: A spar attached to and extending beyond the bow.

BUNT: The loop of a line or bagging portion of a sail that is hanging loosely.

CAMBER: The transverse curvature of a deck or cabin roof.

CAN: A cylindrical black buoy bearing an odd number; found on the port side of a channel as you proceed away from the ocean.

CENTERBOARD: A movable plate of wood or metal that is lowered through the keel of a boat to prevent the boat being shoved sideways by the wind pressure.

CHINE: The corner where a flat or V-bot-tom boat's side and bottom meet.

CLEAT: A two-armed device to which a line can be made fast.

CLEW: The after lower corner of a sail.

CLUB: A boom-like light spar at the bottom of a jib.

COAMING: The low railing around the edge of a cockpit.

COCKPIT: Any opening in which the crew can sit.

COME ABOUT: To change the course of a sailboat so the wind is coming from the opposite side.

COMPANION: The hatchway at the entrance to a cabin.

CROTCH: A device set up on deck to support a boom when the sail is furled.

CRUISER: Any boat having arrangements for living abroad.

CUDDY: A cabin large enough for shelter and stowage but not large enough to allow the boat to be rated as a cruiser.

DAGGER: A type of centerboard shaped like, or suggesting, a dagger.

DEADWOOD: A heavy keel projecting below the bottom of the boat, usually refers to the after portion of such a keel.

DEPTH: The vertical dimension between the sheer line and the top of the keel amidships.

DINGHY: A small, open boat, usually rowed but sometimes sailed.

DORY: A flat-bottom boat with widely flaring sides, a narrow stern, and an overhanging bow.

DRAFT: The vertical distance between the water line and the lowest portion of the underbody; the minimum depth of water in which a boat can be used.

DRAG: The downward slope of the bottom of a keel.

EBB: The outgoing tide.

ENTRANCE: The forward underbody.

EYEBOLT: A heavy screw-eye to which rigging is attached.
 
EYE OF THE WIND, IN THE: Directly toward the direction from which the wind is blowing.

EYE SPLICE: A small loop spliced in the end of a line.

FAIRBODY: The line formed by the out-Side bottom edge of the planking as it touches the keel.

FAST: Securely attached, as a line to a cleat or similar fitting.

FID: A wooden or metal cone used to open the strands of a line when splicing.

FISH: To mend a spar, which has been broken, by lashing pieces of wood or metal across the break.

FLAM: A quick outward curvature of the sides of a boat near the deck.

FLARE: A gradual outward curvature of the sides of a boat.

FLOOD: The incoming tide.

FLUKY: Uncertain; unsteady; as, a fluky wind.

FLY: A light piece of cloth at a masthead to indicate the direction of the wind.

FOOT: Similar to BEAT. To sail close to the direction from which the wind is blowing.

FORE: In or toward the bow of a boat.

FOREFOOT: The amount of a boat below water at the bow.

FORE REACH: The momentum of a boat that causes her to still move ahead as she is brought about or when the sails have been luffed.

FORWARD: The opposite of ABAFT.

FRAMES: The members to which the planking is attached and which maintain the shape of the hull. Often erroneously called ribs.

FREEBOARD: The distance from the water line to the sheer line.

GAFF: The spar that supports the upper edge of a four-sided mainsail.

GALLEY: Same as the kitchen ashore.

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