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A short glossary of the boat
These words are not folklore. They are unambiguous where everyday language would not be, and they still work when the wind takes half your sentence away.
The boat
Bow is forward, stern is aft, port is left and starboard right, always from the boat and never from the observer. The guardrail is the rail you hold, the netting or wire below it is separate. The bilge is the lowest point inside, where water collects.
The cordage
There is no rope. A line makes fast or tows, a sheet trims a sail, a halyard hoists one, a tail is an end. Coiling means stowing it in neat turns, clearing means untangling, belaying means making fast.
The sails
Luff, leech and foot are the three edges, head, tack and clew the three corners. Reefing reduces the area, luffing means flapping, backed means held against the wind, as the jib is when hove to.
The weather
Windward is the side the wind comes from, leeward the other. Luffing up means turning closer to the wind, bearing away further from it. A gust is brief, a freshening lasts. Broad reaching is wind from well aft, close hauled is as near the wind as she will go.
Nautical language: where the words come from
Much of the vocabulary on board goes back to the seafaring languages of northern Europe: Old English, Dutch and the Scandinavian tongues. That is why a Dutch or Danish sailor often recognises an English nautical word that a landlubber at home does not. Keel, stern, starboard and many others have close relatives right round the North Sea.
These words survived because they work. Most are one or two syllables, carry over the wind and refer to exactly one thing. In everyday speech “at the back” can mean almost anything. On a boat “aft” always means towards the stern, wherever you happen to be standing.
Learning sailing terms is not about collecting folklore but about picking up a tool. You do not need every old word. It is enough to be sure of the ones used in manoeuvres and emergencies, and to add the rest as you go.
Port and starboard without hesitation
Starboard is the right hand side, looking forward. The word comes from the steering board, the oar that early ships carried on their right side. Port was not always port: the old name was larboard, and it was replaced because it sounded too much like starboard when shouted. Port is the side a ship with a steering board on the right would lie against the quay.
A simple memory aid links the colours: port is red, starboard is green, just like the sidelights. Some people remember that port wine is red, others that port and left both have four letters. At night, seeing only another vessel’s red light tells you that you are looking at her port side.
Both words run right through the rules. Under the collision regulations, for instance, a power-driven vessel that has another crossing on her own starboard side must keep out of the way. In the IALA A buoyage system used in Europe, red lateral marks are left to port when you follow the conventional direction of buoyage, which usually means coming in from sea.
Sailing terms for rig, sails and points of sail
The rig is everything that holds the mast up and carries the sails. The mast stands, the boom lies horizontally beneath the mainsail. Shrouds support the mast from the sides, stays from ahead and astern: the forestay at the bow, the backstay at the stern. Everything fixed is standing rigging. Everything you adjust, such as sheets and halyards, is running rigging.
Among the sails, the mainsail sets on the mast and the headsails on the forestay. A jib is a smaller headsail that ends ahead of the mast. A genoa is larger and overlaps the mast towards the stern. For downwind sailing there are big, full sails such as the spinnaker and the gennaker.
The points of sail have fixed names. Close hauled is as near the wind as the boat will go. On a beam reach the wind comes square across, on a broad reach from the quarter, and on a run from dead astern. No sailing boat can point straight into the wind, so to make ground upwind you beat in a zigzag of tacks.
Boat terms for hull, deck and engine
The hull is the part that floats. Below the waterline a sailing yacht has a keel or centreboard to stop her sliding sideways, and a rudder for steering, worked by a tiller or a wheel. Draught is the depth from the waterline to the lowest point, freeboard the height from the waterline up to the deck edge.
On deck you sit in the cockpit, and the companionway leads below. The flat after end of the hull is the transom, and many motor boats carry a bathing platform there. When you talk to a yard or a surveyor, precision is what counts: a crack in the transom is a very different matter from a crack at the keel joint.
For propulsion there is the outboard, which hangs on the transom, and the inboard engine built into the boat. An inboard drives the propeller through a shaft, a saildrive or, on many motor boats, a sterndrive. A bow thruster pushes the bow sideways when berthing. Seacocks are the valves on the through-hull openings, and everyone aboard should know where they are.
Frequently asked questions
Where do port and starboard come from?
Starboard comes from the steering board, the oar early ships carried on the right. The left side was once called larboard, but because it was too easily confused with starboard in the wind, port became the standard word.
How can I remember port and starboard?
Many sailors use colours: port is red and starboard green, as with the sidelights. Others say that port and left both have four letters. The surest way is to use the words out loud on board until they become automatic.
What is the difference between a jib and a genoa?
Both are headsails. A jib is smaller and stays ahead of the mast, a genoa is larger and overlaps it. In a strong breeze a smaller sail area is usually easier to handle.
What does standing rigging mean?
Standing rigging is the wire or rope that stays in place and holds the mast up: shrouds and stays. Running rigging is what you work, such as sheets, halyards and reefing lines.
Do these boat terms apply to motor boats too?
Most of them do. Bow, stern, port, starboard, hull, transom, draught and seacock exist on every boat. Rig and sails are, of course, only a matter for sailing boats.
Is it draught or draft?
In British English the depth of a hull below the waterline is spelt draught. Draft is the American spelling of the same word.
What this has to do with insurance
In a claim report these words are not style, they are precision. "The line parted" and "the halyard parted" are two different events, and naming the right one saves the follow up question and gets you a decision sooner.
