CONTENTS

Preface
Introduction
Note
A A-bracket to Azimuth
B Babystay to By the stern
C Cabin cruiser to Cyclone
D Dacron to DZ
E Earings to Eyes
F Fair wind to Futtocks
G GA to GZ curve
H Half-breadth plan to Hydrographer
I IALA buoyage system to IYRA
J Jack to Jury
K Kedge to Knuckle
L Lacing eye to LWL
M Magnetic to Mylar
N Nacelle to Nun buoy
O Oakum to Overtaking light
P P-bracket to Pyrotechnic
Q Quadrant to Quick flashing light
R Race to RYA
S Saddle to Syntactic foam
T Tab to Tyfon
U Una rig to Up starboard
V Vacuum bagging to VRM
W WAAS to Wykeham-Martin gear
X XTE to XTK
Y Yacht to Yuloh
Z Z-drive to Zylon
PREFACE
Boatwords was originally compiled by the late Denny Desoutter, the
founding editor of Practical Boat Owner magazine. Since then, it has
helped many first-time sailors decode the mysterious language of the
sea, and been a valued aide-memoire for the more seasoned
yachtsman. But two decades after its most recent revision, it was
time for an update.

Anyone who is baffled by the latest boating books and magazines

knows that arcane and obscure nautical words are not confined to
the past. New words created by advances in technology can need
just as much explanation. So in this new edition, updated by
Practical Boat Owner’s current editorial team, you’ll find the
meanings of words as historic in origin as baggywrinkle and steeve,
as well as acronyms as new as AIS, GMDSS and PLB.

In honour of Denny Desoutter we decided to leave many of his

entries as they were, in his own style, offering a glimpse of his sense
of fun, and of the sensibilities of the 1970s. The new entries are as
comprehensive and up to date as we could make them. If the word
you’re looking for is not included, please let us know at
[email protected] and we’ll list it for inclusion in the next edition.
The online PBO Glossary of Boating Words is kept up to date. Find it
at www.pbo.co.uk.

More than just a dictionary, The Adlard Coles Book of Boatwords is a

book we’ve always enjoyed dipping in to. We hope you do too.

Sarah Norbury
Editor, Practical Boat Owner
This edition has been updated by Sarah Norbury, David Pugh, David
Harding, Rob Melotti, Ben Meakins and Julian Peckham.
INTRODUCTION
When you take up a pastime, you need to know the words. Not just
the bald, scant definitions but also something of the way people use
them in real life.

Anyone may guess that a man who owns a yacht is a yachtsman,

but you might not know that a yachtsman always talks about ‘my
boat’ and never about ‘my yacht’. And when you are buying a boat
you should be able to cope with a salesman who talks about ‘slack
bilges’, who assures you that ‘she’s certainly not been pinched’, or
that she has ‘lovely buttock lines’.

On the other hand, a practical boating dictionary has no place for

words which were useful enough for Drake or Nelson, but which
refer to fittings, gear and techniques which are now things of the
past. We need useful, real-life words. In times past, the ‘well’ in a
ship was a long wooden duct running from the deck right down to the
bilges. If a modern owner has a well it is either a small cockpit or an
open box through which an outboard can be shipped.

Some old words have gradually changed their meanings to fit new
concepts, but there are also some new words. One has as much
need nowadays to know about gel coats as about mast coats.

My aim has been to concoct a useful dictionary, but not a dull one,
so I have allowed myself to break away from the cold, constrained
manner of the professional lexicographer. In short, I have taken a
rather personal approach and have followed few rules, other than to
try and offer help with the uncertain language of boating – and
perhaps a little pleasure too.

Denny Desoutter
 NOTE
Abbreviations

Some abbreviations have been included, but not those which are
used on charts, since they belong with conventional signs and
similar matter peculiar to hydrography.

Cross-references

To make cross references between entries comprehensive without

being obtrusive, key words that are used in an entry that feature as
entries in their own right are distinguished by a capital. For example:

Afterbody The after part of the hull, in fact all that part which is Abaft
the midship Section.

Nevertheless, it has not been thought conducive to easy reading to

mark every word listed in the book that way. Thus the absence of an
initial capital letter is by no means an indication that the word itself is
absent.
 A

A ‘Alpha’ in the phonetic alphabet. As a single letter in the

International Code of Signals the letter ‘A’ means ‘I have a diver
down; keep well clear at low speed’. It is a signal which should be
flown by any boat tending divers, and one which should be heeded
by all passing skippers. Like most other single-letter signals, this one
may be made by light, sound or other means. The letter ‘A’ is . – in
Morse code. When Morse code was widespread, a series of ‘A’s was
transmitted by a station to attract attention to the message which
was to follow.

A-bracket A metal bracket which supports a propeller shaft beneath

the hull, just ahead of the propeller. In form it is more like a ‘V’ than
an inverted ‘A’. A single-legged bracket doing the same job is called
a P-bracket, and looks more like this ‘b’.

A-lee On the opposite side to that from which the wind is coming. The
helm is a-lee when it is put down to Leeward. When put to Windward
it is put Up because the heeling of the boat makes one side up and
the other down. A-lee is not often used, and though one might say,
‘That’s John’s boat a-lee, isn’t it?’ most people use ‘to leeward’
instead. (And leeward is pronounced loo-erd.)

Aback A sail is aback when it is sheeted towards the windward side of

the boat. A headsail is sheeted aback when a boat is Hove-to, so
that the wind pressure on it counterbalances the forward pressure on
the mainsail and the boat is brought nearly to rest. (See illustration
under Heave-to.) A headsail may also be held aback in order to help
blow the head of the boat round on to a fresh Tack. In a small boat,
 such as a dinghy or daysailer, the mainsail can be pushed aback (or
Backed) so that the wind pressure is on the forward surface of the
sail and the boat is thrust sternward.

Abaft Behind A position abaft the mast is behind the mast – nearer
the Stern. The opposite used to be ‘afore’, but many people now
consider ‘afore’ affected and tend to say ‘Forward of the mast’, or
‘Forward’ if that comes more naturally. In references to navigation
lights, collisions and other important occasions, the word is
commonly used in the phrase ‘abaft the beam’. This defines the area
from halfway along the vessel to the stern. It’s like looking over your
shoulder. The midpoint in this sector, on each side, is the vessel’s
Quarter, though it is common to refer to the whole sector as the
quarter. So you may say, ‘There’s a ship coming up on our starboard
quarter...’ And if things continue to extremes, your lawyer may
subsequently write, ‘and she struck my client’s vessel abaft the
beam...’

Abeam A position at a right angle to the fore-and-aft line of the vessel,

and not on the ship herself. A lighthouse, for example, comes abeam
when it is at a right angle to the centreline of the boat. For
navigational purposes the right angle is important – a landmark may
seem to be abeam over quite a wide arc. To make sure, it is best to
compare the compass bearing of the object with the heading of the
boat. Alternatively, it may be possible to sight along some part of the
boat herself (such as a bulkhead) in order to establish the correct
line. (See Athwart.)

About To ‘go about’ is to Tack the vessel through the wind. That is, to
turn a sailing boat towards the wind, till the wind is dead ahead, and
to continue until the wind is on her other side. Once that’s done, she
is about. Just before going about, the preparatory command ‘Ready
about’ can be given so the crew (if any) know what to expect. This is
followed by ‘Lee-oh!’ as the helm is put down to leeward to start
turning the boat.

ABS The common name of the plastics material acrylonitrile-

butadiene-styrene, which can be moulded without reinforcement to
 make small craft such as dinghies or canoes.

ABYA Association of Brokers and Yacht Agents.

Accelerator An additive to polyester resin to speed up its cure at

normal temperature. Otherwise the resin could be cured by heating
from an external source. Many resins are supplied with the
accelerator ready-mixed, but if it is separate, care must be taken not
to mix the accelerator and the Catalyst together as an explosive
reaction may result. (See Polyester resin.)

Accommodation The habitable part of a boat. But the

accommodation ladder is not the ladder leading to it! The
accommodation ladder is over the ship’s side and brings you on
board from a dinghy. (See Companionway.)

Admiralty warrant The authority by which members of some British

yacht clubs may fly the Blue Ensign instead of the Red. Permission
is granted to you on application, and the Blue may be flown from
your vessel only when you are aboard or in effective command. If
you are interested in this sort of thing, get full details from your club –
though you may have to join another if yours is not one of the elect...

Adrift As in normal usage, something that is drifting on the water,

such as a boat whose mooring has broken. But also used of fixtures
or fittings which have become unfixed or unfitted, as in ‘The tiller’s
adrift’, which is another way of saying ‘It came to pieces in my hand’.

Aground When the boat is resting on the bottom in a place where she
would otherwise be afloat. Resting on the grass in the boatyard she
is ashore, and she would also be ashore if driven high up on the
beach by the wind and tide to a position where she would not
naturally be refloated. When a boat is deliberately put aground she is
grounded. She may ‘Take the ground’ regularly on a drying mooring,
and in that case you would say ‘She’s aground’ when her weight
begins to be supported on the bottom, and ‘She’s dried out’ when all
the water has receded.
Ahead Ahead. (And the same may be said of up, down, afternoon and
supper time. Let’s not bother any more with obvious words!)

Ahull Lying to the wind with no sail set. A heavy-weather tactic,

adopted only when the wind is so strong that no canvas will stand
and heaving- to becomes impracticable (or when all the canvas is
blown to tatters anyway). In severe gales or storms the Windage of
the spars and rigging will press the boat over and steady her. She
may lie broadside or, with helm lashed down, may sail ‘under bare
poles’ with the wind on her Quarter.

Air tank Just what it says – a hollow box or tank, made of wood, metal
or other, containing nothing but air and completely watertight. Some
lifeboats have many such tanks, carefully shaped so as to pack into
any available space, providing a reserve of buoyancy. The use of
many separate tanks means that even if the hull is holed, only one or
two local tanks might be damaged, with little loss of buoyancy.

AIS Automatic Identification System. AIS is a VHF-based system

providing basic information about a vessel’s course, speed and
position, which leisure boaters can plot as an anti-collision measure.
Fitted by law to all ships over 300 gross tonnes and vessels carrying
12 passengers or more, commercial shipping uses Class A AIS, but
a Class B system is becoming increasingly common on leisure craft.

Aldis lamp A signalling lamp. Its beam is very narrow and

concentrated, and therefore visible at a great range – so long as it is
directed correctly. The pencil-wide beam is aimed by a telescopic
sight on the top of the lamp.

All fours A vessel is moored all fours when she is held by four lines,
two from the Bows and two from the Quarters, as she would be in a
mud berth, for example.

All standing With all sail set. To ‘Gybe all standing’ is to gybe without
taking any precautions to relieve the shock. To ‘Turn in all standing’
is to sleep in your clothes, perhaps before an early start, perhaps
 because you expect to be up and down during the night, or because
you’ve forgotten your pyjamas.

Almanac An annual tabulation of astronomical information, especially

as required for celestial navigation. There are a variety of almanacs
for various purposes, ranging from Old Moore’s Almanack to the UK
Air Almanac, which is intended for aeronautical navigation. For
boatowners and skippers, Reeds Nautical Almanac is the primary
reference, though oddly enough most of us are less concerned with
the almanacal information than with its other content. It contains
much more than the astronomical ephemera and is packed with
advice on seamanship, first aid, radio communications, weather
information, and so forth. It also lists lights, buoys and other marks. I
cannot mention all the content here, but I believe that every
seagoing boat should have a copy of one on board. The Reeds
Practical Boat Owner Small Craft Almanac is simplified, inexpensive,
and benefits from monthly updating in the magazine itself.

Aloft A position somewhere above the deck, and usually well above.
In other words, well up the mast or rigging. If you are aloft in a
bosun’s chair, those on deck are alow, but it would be something of
an affectation to use this word nowadays: ‘Below’ would be more
customary, even though it has the specific meaning of below decks.
‘Aloft’ is also an adverb, as in ‘a good sailor always looks aloft’.

Alongside By the side of the ship, or by the side of a quay or dock.

Your dinghy may be alongside your boat, or you may put your boat
alongside a quay. When berthing next to another boat you would
normally ask, ‘May we come alongside?’ – if there is anybody to ask.

Alternating light A navigational beacon or mark whose light shows

changing or alternating colours.

Amidships The centre part of a vessel. It can refer to the point

midway between fore and aft or athwartships, ie halfway between
the port and starboard sides.
AMRINA Associate Member of the Royal Institution of Naval
Architects.

Anabatic wind A localised wind that flows upwards. It generally

occurs in mountainous areas. It’s the opposite of a katabatic wind,
which flows downwards, generally from a cliff.

Anchor There are various types of anchor which hold a boat to the
seabed. The principal anchor of a boat, dropped from the bows, is
called the Bower anchor. The Kedge is a lighter, subsidiary anchor,
used for a lunchtime stop or taken out in the dinghy to haul off when
you have run aground. This is then called Kedging, or Kedging off.
(See illustration.)

Anchor types and parts

Anchor buoy A buoy supporting the Anchor Tripping Line. (See
below.)

Anchor light An all-round white light which must be shown by any

vessel lying at Anchor between the hours of sunset and sunrise.
Normally it is shown in the forepart of the vessel, though you may
show two such lights (International Rules for Prevention of Collisions
at Sea, Rule 30).

Anchor tripping line A line made fast to the Crown of the anchor and
supported in the water by a buoy at its upper end. The line may be
used to unhook the anchor and pull it out head first if it fouls on a
rock or an old mooring cable on the bottom. Many skippers think the
cure is worse than the disease, involving the risk of the line fouling a
passing boat’s propeller – or even your own.

Anchor weight See Angel.

Anemometer An instrument for measuring wind speed.

Angel Sometimes known as an Anchor weight, an angel is a weight

lowered on a line down a yacht’s anchor cable to increase the
catenary of the cable, which improves holding and reduces Snubbing
in strong winds. It also keeps the anchor line clear of the yacht’s
keel, helping in situations when opposing wind and tide might
otherwise cause major tangles.

Angle of incidence The angle at which airflow meets a sail, or water

flow meets a keel or rudder. The term is general to physics and
relates to the angle at which light falls on a mirror, or at which radio
waves meet a radar reflector. In aerodynamics, the expression ‘angle
of attack’ is sometimes used with the same meaning, notably in the
USA.

Anode, sacrificial See Galvanic corrosion.

Answer The response of a boat to her helm. ‘She doesn’t answer!’ is

the anguished cry of the helmsman whose rudder has dropped off or
 whose boat has run aground.

Anti-fouling net Used to prevent spinnaker foul-ups, this is a series of

light ropes or tapes arranged in the form of an open network with
very large mesh. It is hauled up the forestay and fills the gap
between forestay and mast like a sort of skeletal staysail, and so
prevents the spinnaker from passing behind the forestay. To
appreciate the need for an anti-fouling net (or Lazy jacks) you really
need to see the horrid sight of a spinnaker which has wound itself
tightly round a forestay, defying all attempts to clear it or lower it.

Anti-fouling paint A paint for the underwater parts of a hull,

formulated to prevent the growth of living organisms such as weed or
barnacles. The paint contains poisons of various kinds, especially
copper, and these compounds leach out slowly to the surface. At the
surface they should kill any microscopic young forms of life before
they can gain a foothold. Fouling growths do not feed off the material
of the hull, they merely use it for an anchorage, and if they are not
killed before they hitch on, they quickly grow big enough to draw
their nourishment from water well clear of the poison at the paint
surface. Scrubbing will remove young growth and may release extra
supplies of poison to hold new invaders at bay. For practical
purposes it is important to know that there are two types of anti-
fouling paint – those that must be immersed in water within a few
hours of application (soft), and those that may be applied and left for
a matter of weeks before launching (hard).

Anticyclone A high-pressure area enclosed by widely spaced isobars.

In the central part, where pressure is highest, wind speeds are low,
skies are clear or slightly cloudy, and precipitation is rare. Winds
blow outwards from the centre – clockwise in the northern
hemisphere, but anticlockwise in the southern hemisphere.

Apparent wind The wind direction and strength as measured from the
boat herself. This is a compound of the natural (or True) wind and
the wind due to the boat’s own movement over the face of the Earth.
The boat’s movement is the sum of her movement through the water
and the movement of the water over the bottom. In a flat calm, a
 boat moving forward with the tide, or under engine, has an apparent
headwind. If a natural beam wind then springs up it will appear to
‘draw ahead’ of its true direction by reason of the boat’s self-made
headwind.

Appendage An underwater surface which protrudes from a hull. That

is to say any sort of keel, rudder or skeg.

Apron A timber in the form of a broad, thick plank which is fitted

immediately abaft the stem to form landings for the plank ends. More
recently it has come to be used for the raked forward face of a
catamaran’s bridgedeck.

Aramid fibre Strong synthetic fibres used in sailmaking, rigging, ropes

and boatbuilding.

Archboard See Transom.

Arming Tallow or other stiff grease which is pressed into the saucer-
like depression at the bottom of a sounding lead. Its purpose is to
pick up a sample of the bottom as an indication of position. The
nature of the bottom is marked on charts with abbreviations such as
S sand, M mud, Sh shells, R rock, and Co coral (though most of us
would be well off course if we came across the latter!). See Admiralty
Chart 5011, available in booklet form, for full details of chart symbols
and abbreviations.

Armstrong’s patent Jocular term for a windlass or the like, whose

power source is the strong arms of the crew.

ARPA Automatic Radar Plotting Aid. A means of electronically

tracking multiple radar contacts in order to assess whether they pose
a danger.

Asleep A sail is asleep when it has no wind in it and, though set, is

doing no work. It may be asleep as the boat goes about, in the
interval between drawing on one tack and drawing on the next. This
is a good moment to shorten the sheet, while there is no load to pull.
Aspect ratio The aspect ratio (AR) of a sail is its length in relation to
its breadth, or its height in relation to its fore-and-aft dimension. A
tall, narrow Bermudan sail has a high AR, a gaff sail has a low AR. A
high AR sail shows greatest efficiency when on the wind (ie close-
hauled) but a low-AR sail is better off the wind, when running free
(as in the Trade Winds). The actual numerical value of AR is found
by dividing the length of the luff by the mean chord – that’s to say,
the fore-and-aft dimension halfway up the triangle. If the latter
dimension is not easily found, you may find it more convenient to
square the luff length and divide by the sail area. The simplest
answer of all is to divide the luff length by half the length of the foot
of the sail – the result will be accurate enough for any ordinary
purpose.

Astern A position somewhere aft of the boat. Cars reverse but boats
‘go astern’ under the power of their engines. When the engine is no
longer actually pulling her astern and she is moving under her own
momentum she is said to be ‘carrying sternway’. Likewise she would
be making sternway if nudged backward by the wind. (Some people
claim that a ship is ‘under weigh’ when moving ahead, but they don’t
use ‘Weigh’ when she’s going astern.)

Astro Short for astro navigation, which is another term for Celestial
navigation.

Asymmetric keel A keel that, in plan form, is like a normal keel cut in
half lengthwise, with one edge straight and one profiled. Lift is
therefore generated only on the windward side for increased
efficiency. Asymmetric keels normally come in pairs, so one is
retracted as the other one is lowered during a tack.

Asymmetric spinnaker A Spinnaker with sides of unequal length,

which is flown with the tack permanently attached to a fixed pole or
simply the bow of the boat.

Athwart ‘Across’ in ordinary language. Athwartships means across

the boat herself, as opposed to fore-and-aft. Note that the seat
running across a dinghy is called a Thwart.
ATIS Automatic Transmitter Identification System. Mainly used in
inland waterways in mainland Europe, the system sends a data
signal at the end of a VHF transmission which contains the user’s or
ship’s unique call sign.

Autopilot Automatic steering device, which can take two principal

forms: wind-powered and battery-powered. Wind-powered autopilots
steer in relation to the wind direction, and so the boat’s track
changes when the wind shifts. Electric autopilots normally steer a
compass course, which is preferable for nearly all purposes, but
when a boat is under sail there is a drain on the batteries.

AVS Angle of Vanishing Stability. The angle of heel at which a yacht

loses the ability to right itself.

Aweigh An object is aweigh when it is hanging by a rope or chain.

Normally the term is used only of the anchor, which becomes aweigh
when it is hanging free, either ready to drop, or ready to lift because
it has just broken out of the ground. Lifting a dinghy from the deck
with tackle, you could say ‘Dinghy’s aweigh’ as soon as she is lifted
clear, but the risk of confusion with ‘away’ is only too obvious. I don’t
think many people even say ‘Anchor’s aweigh’ in real life: they are
more likely to shout ‘It’s free’, or something equally meaningful and
understandable.

Azimuth The azimuth of a heavenly body is its bearing in relation to

True north, as observed by you. The use of the word in this way is
navigators’ jargon, and as such is correct. The azimuth of the body
concerned is, correctly speaking, an arc extending from a point
vertically above your head (the Zenith) and running down to cut the
horizon – like a big slice through the celestial globe. The bearing is
measured between true north and the point where the azimuth cuts
the horizon, hence ‘azimuth’ as used in everyday seamen’s
parlance.
 B

B ‘Bravo’ in the phonetic alphabet. The single-letter signal means ‘I

am taking in, or discharging or carrying dangerous goods’. The flag
is a plain red swallowtail and you will see it on vessels carrying
petroleum or explosives. In Morse code it is – . . . , but note that
while most single-letter signals may be made by any means, one
long and three short blasts on a ship’s siren means she is being
towed. You should hear it immediately after the long and two short
blasts (letter ‘D’) sounded by the vessel that is towing her.

Babystay A stay to support the midsection of a mast, which

terminates on the foredeck.

Back, to 1 The wind backs when it shifts anticlockwise – for example,

when it shifts from north to west. When it shifts clockwise it is said to
Veer.
2 A sail is backed by sheeting it to windward, or by pushing the
boom up to windward when it is a boomed sail. (See Aback.)

Backing The changing of the wind direction anticlockwise.

Back splice A back splice is used to finish the end of a rope so that
the strands will not become unlaid. The strands are separated for a
suitable length, formed into a Crown knot, and then tucked back into
the rope against the Lay.

Back water In rowing, to use the oars in reverse, so as to slow the

boat or drive her astern.
Backstay A wire stay running back from the mast to the after end of
the boat, and so preventing the mast from falling forward. Like
Forestay, backstay’s meaning is clear enough, but confusion can
arise from the use of other words, such as ‘Preventer’ or ‘Runner’.
‘Preventer’ was used to describe a a stay brought into use to prevent
topmasts of gaff-rigged vessels in particular from falling forward.
‘Preventer’ is also applied to any rope or wire which is rigged to
prevent something shifting. The word ‘runner’ is really a short form of
Running backstay, which can be slackened or tautened as required.
With Bermudan rig there is no need to slack off the backstay, but
with gaff or gunter rigs a standing stay would foul the gaff or yard as
it swings across from one tack to the next. Thus the runners have to
be set up on the windward side on each tack, and eased on the
leeward side. That may be done with tackles, winches or with the
Highfield lever.

Backwind A sail backwinds another sail when it turns the wind on to

its leeward side. With the type of boat that most of us sail, it is the
Staysail (or Jib) which may backwind the mainsail when both are
close-hauled. When this happens, the luff of the main goes floppy
and fluttery as the wind coming off the staysail strikes it on the
‘wrong’ side.

Badge Bow badges are like cap badges, only bigger. Of carved wood
and handsomely painted (usually to represent the Burgee of the
owner’s yacht club), they are fitted one to each bow of your yacht’s
Tender instead of to your hat. Very fine they look too, and a very
justifiable piece of one-upmanship. ‘Quarter badges’, on the other
hand, are at the other end of the boat and are very rarely decorated,
their function being to protect the after end of the hull, especially the
corners of the Transom, which tend to suffer in harbour manoeuvres.

Baggywrinkle Sometimes called Bags o’wrinkle, these are bunches

of old rope yarns made up in the same sort of way as the soft balls
made from the ends of wool. Baggywrinkle is lashed to shrouds or
backstays to pad the mainsail at those points where the sail would
chafe.
Bail (noun and verb) Though most commonly used as a verb
nowadays, the verb is derived from the noun, which is the bucket or
scoop with which bailing is done. Most people now use the word
‘bailer’ when referring to the object, though that might better describe
the person who is doing the bailing. ‘To bail’ is to remove water from
a boat with a bail. Incidentally, and for those who are amused by
such things, the French sailor’s word for a bucket is une baille. A
small open boat and her bailer should be inseparable. Tie boat to
bail with a suitable cord. (See Self-bailer.)

Balance This is the quality of a boat under sail, which relates to her
tendency to sail a straight course unaided. Most sailing boats are
unbalanced or out of balance at some time or other: that is to say, if
the helm is left free the boat will no longer hold her course. Normally
it is considered desirable for a sailing boat to be slightly out of
balance, so that she is always trying to luff up towards the wind, but
being restrained by the pressure of the helm (Weather helm). A well-
balanced boat is one which requires only a small helm angle to keep
her on course. That implies only a small tiller load too, but the two
are not necessarily linked, since a Balanced rudder may require only
slight muscular effort even at large angles.
Much effort and argument have been expended in the search for
hull forms which will show good balance, the problem being to
design a shape which behaves well when heeled. A sailing boat’s
waterline plan is symmetrical when she is upright in the water, but
when she sails she heels, and the waterline then becomes distorted,
showing a bulge to the leeward side. Among the most famous, and
many would say most successful, techniques for designing a
balanced hull was Admiral Turner’s metacentric shelf theory. But it is
clear that the rig also has its influence on balance, as evidenced by
the situation of a boat running before the wind with its mainsail
squared out. That is a notably unbalanced condition, yet the hull is
upright. Except when running under a spinnaker, the sail thrust of a
modern yacht is always to leeward of the centreline of the hull.
Close-hauled and heeling to an angle of 20 degrees, the sail thrust is
about as far off the centreline as it is when running with the mainsail
squared off. Thus the designer’s true task is to balance the
 aerodynamic and hydrodynamic forces against each other. The wind
force also has a component, acting to leeward – in effect tending to
drive the boat sideways – while the keel provides a resisting force in
the opposite direction. These two can form an alliance whose
tendency is to turn the boat’s head away from the wind, thus
counteracting hull and sail forces which tend to turn her to windward.
(See Centre of effort, and Metacentre.)

Balance lug A four-sided sail, commonly used on small sailing

dinghies, having a boom at the foot and a yard at the top. (See
illustration.) The ‘balance’ comes from the fact that the forward part
of the sail (and its spars) projects ahead of the mast. The halyard is
attached about one-third of the yard’s length from its forward end,
and the Downhaul or Tack is attached to the boom at about a quarter
of its length. The sail and spars always remain on the same side of
the mast. The yard is held close to the masthead by the halyard, but
the boom may sag away more than seems desirable unless a
Grommet or lashing is used to hold it in, though by tradition the
boom is held only by the downward pull of the tack tackle. The
balance lug has its devoted enthusiasts (of which I am one) because
it is so handy. No jib is used with the sail, which is excellent for both
running and beating – the sail area forward of the mast keeps the
after end of the yard up to windward and virtually eliminates twist.
For a working dinghy, whose rig must go up or down quickly, it is
ideal, though the yard and boom may come down too quickly for
comfort if you don’t rig a double Topping lift or Lazy jacks to keep the
gear above your head. (See Lugsail.)
 Balance lug

Balance reef Only those with a gaff mainsail will find this reefing
mode of any value. It reduces the four-sided sail to a three-sided one
by means of a reef band, with points, extending from the throat of the
gaff to the clew at the boom end. As a result, when reefed in heavy
weather, the whole of the lower, front corner of the sail is furled up,
and the gaff may lie almost vertically against the mast, rather like a
Gunter yard.

Balanced rudder This is a rudder which has some of its area ahead
of its pivotal axis; about 15 per cent or one-sixth is usually enough,
and should achieve the purpose of taking a large part of the load off
the tiller. This proportion is sufficient, since the centre of pressure of
a rudder (like that of a sail) is about 20 to 25 per cent back from the
leading edge, and it is desirable to have this centre aft of the pivot
 axis so that there is still some load in the tiller for the helmsman to
feel. (See illustration.)

Balanced rudder

Ballast Weight carried low in the vessel to aid stability. In most

modern craft the ballast is integral with the boat and consists of lead
or iron bolted to the Keel, or perhaps filling a hollow keel moulded in
resinglass. Such a keel is known as the ballast keel to distinguish it
from the structural keel.
In the past, ballast was often of stones simply laid in the bottom of
the boat, and some modern craft still follow the same principle, which
is appropriate to beamy boats of shallow draught. But in less beamy
boats the aim is to get the ballast as low as possible so as to
maximise its effectiveness as a righting force. If the draught is fixed
at some convenient limit, then the more dense the ballast material
the lower it can be, and the less the weight that will be needed. That
in turn is valuable, since a lighter boat may often be a faster boat.
Lead, being very dense, makes excellent ballast and has the
advantage that it does not rust. Iron is not quite so dense, and thus
not so good; concrete is even less dense, and although it is cheap
and convenient it must be made heavier by embodying scrap iron in
the mix. The result can be a good balance between effectiveness
and economy. Water, because of its relatively low density, is of little
value for ballast in sailing craft, though like any other heavy items, it
should be stowed as low as possible in the boat. On the other hand,
water is useful as Trimming ballast in fast powerboats because it can
be collected or discarded with great ease; for example, tanks may be
fitted in the bows of a powerboat, where they may be filled with water
if she is running with the stem too high and her stern tucked down
and dragging. Forward-facing scoops may be enough to fill such
tanks.
Ballast ratio The weight of a boat’s ballast as a percentage of her
design displacement. The figure provides a useful comparison
between boats of the same hull form, but not where hull forms are
different.

Balloon A term applied to a light-weather sail which is cut full and

rounded. At one time balloon jibs and balloon topsails were quite
common, but nowadays the Spinnaker is the real balloon sail, and
the word ‘balloon’ is dropped, since spinnaker alone normally implies
a balloon-shaped sail.

Bank 1 This word is used by seamen and hydrographers for a location

where the sea bottom is raised, so that the water is shallower than
the surrounding, yet still deep enough for navigation. The Grand
Banks, south and east of Newfoundland, are one famous example.
Nonetheless, skippers should be aware that some shoals which bear
the name ‘bank’ do, in fact, dry at low water.
2 Everyone knows what the word means when a riverbank is
mentioned, but just in case, please allow me to remind you that the
right bank of a river is the one on your right when going downstream,
BUT the right bank of an estuary or sea creek or channel is the one
on your right when going in the direction of the flood stream. A good
way to work up a thirst is to start an argument over the point at which
the changeover takes effect...

Bar A shallow region just outside the mouth of a river or creek, formed
by silt deposited by the ebbing tide. The very last lap of a sea
passage, the crossing of the harbour bar, may often be the most
dangerous period of all. That is especially the case when the tide is
ebbing and the wind is onshore – very rough and dangerous seas
are then likely to form, and even break, on the bar.

Barber hauler A control line which adjusts the angle of a headsail

sheet. It can be used in either a horizontal or vertical plane and is
most often used to bring the sheeting angle inboard in light winds.
The line is named after Californian racers Manning and Merritt
Barber.
Bareboat charter Not so bare as it sounds. The term, originating from
the western side of the Atlantic, means that the boat is offered for
charter, fully equipped, but without crew or consumable stores.

Bare poles With no sail set. In storm winds a boat may run at 2 or 3
knots simply under the pressure of the wind upon her mast, rigging
and superstructure.

Barnacles Shellfish which attach themselves to the bottom of your

boat in large numbers and cut your speed by a quarter. Usually they
form hard, conical, cup-shaped shells, glued firmly by their broad
base to any solid underwater object. Another barnacle species, the
goose-necked barnacle, has a long flexible stalk, one end of which is
attached to your boat, while the other carries the shell. Neither kind
harms the structure of the hull, but they do create a tremendous drag
when present in large numbers – and they do seem very sociable.
Apart from beaching and scraping or scrubbing them off, they are
kept at bay by Anti-fouling paints which kill them while in their free-
floating larval form, when they are of microscopic size.

Barograph A barometer which draws a continuous graph of the

atmospheric pressure changes. A very valuable aid to forecasting,
but don’t despair if you can’t afford one – read your barometer at
regular intervals (at least four times a day) and plot the readings by
hand. Use graph paper, or make up your own scale. The result will
be very revealing.

Barrel Barricos apart, the word has significance on a modern small

yacht, since it is the part of a winch or windlass around which you
turn the rope, and most small craft have some sort of winch these
days.

Barrico Now outmoded by the unromantic jerrycan. The word is

Spanish and means a ‘keg’ or ‘barrel’. No doubt our lads picked it up
from the Spaniards in the days of Drake and the Armada, but they
can’t have been very nimble with their tongues, because in English
the word is pronounced ‘Breaker’. Breakers, in fact, seem always to
have been water barricos, never wine or rum barricos. Anyway, it’s a
 useful bit of one-upmanship to talk about them nowadays, and you
will be marked down as a real sea dog if you keep your outboard
petrol in a two-gallon barrico.

Bathing platform A low-level platform at or near the stern of a boat.

Bathymetric Bathymetric maps show a contoured plan of the seabed.

They have become a common feature in electronic charts as a way
to view depths.

Batten A flexible strip of wood, metal or reinforced resin, which is

used to stiffen a sail. The batten is slipped into a batten pocket and
usually extends only a foot or two forward of the leech of the sail. But
many catamarans, and a few monohulls, have fully battened sails
which extend all the way from luff to leech. The Chinese lug is a sail
which is assembled around full-length battens, often with separate
panels of cloth laced between each pair of battens.

Batten car A ball bearing car, on a track running up the mast, which
holds the forward edge of a batten to the mast.

Bawley An English east-coast fishing boat now rarely to be found,

though a few are preserved as yachts or as diesel-powered
workboats. The bawley had modest draught, with a long, straight
keel, and was beamy, with straight stem and raked transom. The
deck was surrounded with Bulwarks, and the tiller worked through
the top of the transom. You are not likely to be offered a bawley
nowadays, but many yacht designs have been inspired by the type,
and you might be offered something in the bawley tradition. Maurice
Griffiths developed many bawleyish yachts, and you could find out a
bit more in his book Dream Ships.

Beacon A fixed navigational mark, sometimes as a warning of

shallows, and sometimes as a reference point from which you can
take a bearing. In the latter case it would be called a Daymark if unlit.
Some beacons carry lights, but many are unlit, and they vary from
simple beanpoles stuck in the mud (also known as ‘withies’) to
elaborate lattice girders of steel. A radio transmitter, whose purpose
 is to provide a fixed point on whose transmissions you can take a
bearing, is called a Radio (or RDF) beacon.

Beam 1 A thwartships structural member which extends from Sheer to

sheer and holds the sides of the ship, either apart or together
according to circumstances. Beams also support the decks and may
support the sidedecks between sheer and cabin sides. A vessel on
her beam ends is heeled to 90 degrees, with her beam ends at water
level, and is thus in a bad state.
2 The mid part of a vessel when used as a reference point. ‘Before
the beam’ means forward of the middle of the ship; ‘Abaft the beam’,
the other end. ‘On the beam’ indicates a position out to one side of
the vessel (See Abeam.) and a ‘beam wind’ is one which comes
more or less broadside on. Nonetheless, ‘beam’ in this sense is
never an actual part of the boat herself.
3 The maximum breadth of a boat – one of the principal dimensions
in her specification.

Beamshelf In a wooden hull, the ends of the deck beams are

supported on Timbers which run the length of the hull on each side.
These beamshelves are fitted inside the Frames or timbers. Their
function is purely structural, in no way like any ordinary domestic
shelf, except that both may collect dust.

Bear To lie in a certain direction from the observer. ‘The harbour

mouth bears due north, but it won’t be safe to enter until it bears 350
degrees.’

Bear away To bear away is to turn the vessel’s head away from the
wind, and that is done by bearing up on the helm. In other words, the
tiller is moved ‘up’ towards the windward side of the boat, that being
the high side, usually. So you bear up to bear away. The opposite
manoeuvre, to luff up, is done by ‘putting the helm down’. Language
is not logical, and I have never heard anyone say ‘Bear down’ as the
opposite of ‘Bear up’.

Bearing The direction in which an object lies in relation to the

observer, and normally stated in relation to the compass. It is
 important to remember that bearings are always stated from the
position of the observer. If the arc of a shore light is given as
between North and east, the meaning is not that it shines to the
north-east quarter, but just the reverse: it is visible to an observer
looking anywhere in the arc between north and east. In other words,
the observer must be in the south-west quarter. In coastal pilotage,
bearings of fixed objects are taken with a bearing compass, which, in
small craft, is usually hand-held. Such a bearing yields a Position
line leading from the object to the observer. Similarly, a bearing may
be taken of a radio beacon with a suitable radio receiver, and a
similar position line results.

Beat To sail to windward close-hauled. Some writers have taken the

view that to beat is the same as to tack to windward, namely to make
a zigzag track with the wind close-hauled first on one side and then
on the other. I believe a beat may be entirely on one tack, and that
successive beats on alternate tack are best described by the
commonly used term ‘Turning to windward’. (See Tack.)

Beaufort scale A scale of wind speeds devised by Admiral Sir Francis

Beaufort, Hydrographer to the navy from 1829 to 1855. Although it is
customary to talk of a wind of ‘force 4’, meaning the Beaufort
number, the scale is strictly one of wind speed, and not of wind force.

Becket Originally a short length of rope with an eye in one end, which
was used to secure sails or spars. Later, it was used to describe just
the eye or small closed loop itself. Later still, it came to mean the eye
in the tail of a block, and this is the sense in which we use it today.
Every block has an eye at its upper end, and that is normally called
the ‘eye’, but where there is an additional eye at the tail it is called a
‘becket’. (See also Bight.)

Bee block A wooden chock with one or two holes through which a
rope is passed. The chocks are almost always fitted to the sides of
the boom, at the after end, through which reefing Pennants are
passed in order to bring the Cringle down to the right point when
reefed. (A block with two holes looks like letter ‘B’.
Before the wind Sailing with the wind astern; Running free.

Behind-mast reefing See Roller reefing.

Belay To make fast a rope or chain to any fixed object, usually a cleat
or a bollard. Halyards, mooring ropes, painters and so forth are
belayed. The word is also nautical jargon for ‘Kindly cease what
you’re doing’. Yachtsmen who want to make an impression may use
it to correct a slip of the tongue. Instead of ‘No, I tell a lie’, they may
say ‘Belay that, it was force 9, not force 7...’

Belaying pin A stout pin, perhaps better described as a short bar,

arranged so that ropes can be belayed to it. Several such pins may
be arranged side by side in a single Timber which then becomes a
Pinrail, or more picturesquely, a Fife rail.

Bell buoy Sounds like a page in a hotel, but at sea is far less chirpy,
though equally useful. Simply, it is a navigational buoy with a bell
which sounds as the buoy rocks to the seas, so that you can hear it
even when fog obscures it. (See Buoy.)

Belly The fullness or bulginess of a sail. Also used as a verb of a sail

which swells out full and round, especially when you wish it wouldn’t
do so.

Below In the cabin, and not on deck or in the cockpit. In a boat you
don’t ask Gran to ‘go inside’ when it starts to rain, you tell her to ‘get
below’.

Bend Can be both a verb and a noun, but is mainly used as a verb
meaning ‘to tie’. A halyard is bent to a yard, a warp to an anchor, or
one rope to another. Although ‘bend’ is also a noun, as in Sheet
bend, ‘Knot’ is more commonly used. In fact, knots are generically
known as Bends and Hitches, among which are the Reef knot, the
Clove hitch, and of course, the Fisherman’s bend. Each knot must
be called by its proper name, but in general conversation use ‘bend’
as the verb and ‘hitch’ as the noun. For example, you may ask a
 crewmember to ‘Bend on the dinghy painter – use any hitch you like’.
(See Knots.)

Bendy rig Many modern boats have masts which can be made to
curve by adjustment of the rigging, and as the mast is bent, so the
form of the sails changes. For example, if the head of the mast
bends aft, the middle must move forward, pulling the cloth of the
mainsail with it. Thus the sail is flatter and more suitable for a
stronger wind than it was when the mast was straighter. A bendy rig
is usually chosen by racing owners who want to squeeze the utmost
speed from their craft; cruising owners rarely bother.

Beneaped Aground and forced to remain so because tides are taking

off or moving away from Springs toward Neaps. Successive high
waters are then lower and lower, until neaps itself, when they begin
to get higher again.

Bermudan rig Or perhaps Bermudian. Some say it is as wrong to say

Bermudan as it would be to say ‘Canadan’. Nonetheless, I believe
that most people say Bermudan when they speak of sails, and the
kind of sail they mean is a plain triangular mainsail, without gaff or
yard. This is the norm for yachts nowadays. The luff of a Bermudan
mainsail is held close to the mast, either by slides running in a track,
or because the Luff rope itself runs in a groove formed in the after
edge of the mast. Modern Bermudan sails tend to be tall and narrow
(high Aspect ratio), and require tall masts, which in turn require
sophisticated staying. So impressive was the array of wires that the
rig, when new, was dubbed ‘Marconi’, and that term is still
sometimes used. ‘Jib-headed’ is an adjective defining the triangular
mainsail, deriving from the time when mainsails normally had gaffs,
and a mainsail in the form of a simple triangle (like a jib) was a
novelty. (See Sail.)

Berth 1 A bed, or place where you sleep, on board a ship. (See

Bunk.)
2 A position among the crew of a boat. To find a berth aboard a boat
is to become a member of her company, whether or not you actually
get a sleeping berth.
 3 A space in a dock or a harbour which may be occupied by a
vessel. In this sense it is also used as a verb: for example, ‘May we
berth here?’ or ‘Please berth your boat Alongside that barge’. A Mud
berth is a hollow in the shore where a boat may lie for the winter.

Berthon boat A folding dinghy invented by the Rev E Berthon in

1851. The boat had longitudinal ribs in the form of arcs running from
stem to stern, the uppermost pair forming the Gunwales. The whole
was covered in canvas, and the ribs were arranged to swing down to
meet the keel, making a flat package corresponding to a longitudinal
section of the developed hull.

Bight 1 An open loop in a rope, wire or chain. Anything, such as a

sail, which hangs in a deep-V-shaped curve is forming a bight.
2 A bay, especially a deep-V-shaped one.

Bilge 1 In boatbuilding and design, the bilge is the part of the hull
where the bottom turns upward to form the side. In talking about the
shape of a hull, the form of the bilges is very significant. A flat-
bottomed boat with vertical sides, like a barge or narrowboat, would
be said to have extremely hard bilges. ‘Firm’ would be another term,
though 90-degree bilges are, of course, rare. The sharper the turn of
the bilge and the more acute the angle between bottom and side, the
firmer the bilge is said to be. If the angle is obtuse or shallow, then
the bilge is said to be slack or soft. (See Chine.)
2 In the use of boats, the bilge (or bilges) is the whole space in the
bottom of the boat under the cabin and cockpit soles – the part
between the two bilges as in the first definition – and is the space
where bilge water collects, to be pumped out by means of a bilge
pump.

Bilge keel A keel fitted near the bilge – that’s to say not on the
centreline of the hull, but outboard on the bottom. Small dinghies
may have shallow bilge keels (often with handholds in case of
capsize) fitted actually at the bilges, but the bilge keels of cruising
boats are further inboard. Naturally, bilge keels are fitted in pairs,
one each side, and thanks to the efforts of Maurice Griffiths, Robert
Tucker and other designers, they have become an accepted form of
 underwater surface and ballast for cruising yachts. For the same
total underwater area as a single keel they draw less water, and they
allow the boat to stand upright when she takes the ground. They
often help to minimise rolling, but a boat with two keels must be
expected to be marginally slower than one with a single keel. Since
the draught is less, the centre of gravity of the ballast massed in the
two keels cannot be as low as that of a single keel, so the boat must
either carry a greater mass of ballast or have more beam, or firmer
sections.
Theoretical arguments aside, a bilge-keel cruiser can meet all that
you are likely to require in stability, weatherliness and
manoeuvrability. The designer, on the other hand, must take care in
providing for the attachment of heavy keels at parts of the hull where
there would normally be no strong backbone. Some designers do not
ballast the bilge keels but maintain a shallow ballasted central keel,
and use the bilge keels simply to provide underwater area. In such a
case the structural problems are simplified, but there must be more
underwater drag. (See Twin keels.)

Binnacle A housing for the steering compass. Usually an upright

pedestal with the compass housed in the top, but in the average
family boat it may be something less ambitious. (The word was
‘bittacle’ in bygone times.)

Bitt To make fast a warp, anchor cable etc to a cleat, Samson post or
other fitting on a boat – but not to a bollard ashore. The word
originally alluded to ‘Bitts’ but is now used in relation to cleats etc.

Bitter end The inboard end of an anchor chain, so called because it

must once have been attached to the Bitts, though nowadays it
would be fastened to an eye-bolt in the chain locker. At least it
should be, otherwise the chain may go out with a run and you may
lose the lot. Many small boats carry only a modest amount of chain
cable and may need to Bend on a warp if anchoring in deep water.
At such times it is desirable to be able to free the bitter end quickly.

Bitts Stout posts or vertical timbers, arranged in pairs, sometimes with

a crossbar, to which mooring ropes can be Belayed. In past times
 the two posts were located at the inboard end of the Bowsprit. As
well as serving as mooring bollards, bitts are also cast in bronze or
similar, and bolted to the deck as mooring bollards. In truth, when it
comes to these metal fittings I wouldn’t know when to call them bitts
and when to call them bollards – but I don’t suppose that anyone
else is better off... (‘Bitts’ is the singular, but like ‘scissors’ and
‘trousers’ it takes a plural form.)

Black ball A common form of ‘day shape’ as prescribed by the

Collision Regulations. It may be a hollow metal ball, an inflated
plastic one, or two discs slotted so that they can be assembled at
right angles. The colour is black, and the standard size is not less
than 60cm in diameter (which is minuscule in ship terms), though
craft of less than 20 metres length may show smaller balls. A single
black ball is hoisted forward to indicate that a ship is at anchor. Two
black balls in a vertical line show that she is ‘not under command’,
and three in a vertical line show that she is Aground. A black ball at
the masthead and one at each yardarm indicate that a vessel is
minesweeping.

Black bands These are bands painted on the masts and booms of
racing boats to indicate the maximum extensions of the mainsail luff
and foot. (See illustration.) During a race, neither head, tack nor clew
may be set beyond their black band, so no underhand advantage is
to be had by stretching a sail beyond its prescribed area.
 Black bands

Blade The flattened or ‘palm’ end of an oar or paddle. The underwater

area of a rudder.

Blade jib A full-hoist, high aspect ratio headsail with little or no

overlap.

Blanket, to Not surprisingly, this means that something slows the wind
as it approaches your boat. The ‘something’ can be a passing ship, a
tall building, or the wicked skipper of a competing yacht who
manages to place his boat upwind of yours. You then get his ‘Dirty
wind’.

Block In layman’s terms this is a pulley. The outer part of the block is
the Shell, and the wheel that turns inside is the Sheave. A wooden
block has a Strop of wire or rope passing round the shell and lodging
in a shallow groove called the Score. The strop has an eye at its
upper end and may have a second eye at the tail, which is then
 called a Becket. Wooden blocks may be metal-bound for extra
strength. Modern shells are made of a variety of reinforced plastics,
or simply of metal. The shell in such cases is often nothing more
than a fairing over a load-bearing metal skeleton. The opening in the
shell through which the rope runs is the Swallow or Throat, and the
smaller opening at the tail end is the Breech. In choosing a block it is
important to get the right type of sheave for wire or fibre rope, since
they differ.

Blue Peter The code flag for the letter P, consisting of a rectangular
blue flag containing a white rectangle. (See P.)

Board As a noun it means a Tack or Leg when turning to windward.

Going to windward involves successive boards, to port and
starboard. When you are making a board, you are never on
starboard or port board, nor on starboard or port beat. ‘We beat to
windward all the afternoon, making long boards on starboard tack,
and short boards on port tack.’ Also used as a verb: to go aboard.

Boat Ah, here’s a tricky one. I wish I could dodge it. Properly, a small
open craft – yet the likes of you and me all own ‘boats’, even though
they may be 75 feet long and with several cabins. Other people may
properly call your boat a Yacht, but you would never talk about ‘my
yacht’ because that would mark you down as bogus, perhaps even a
bounder. Boats may be sailing dinghies, 10-ton cutters, twin-screw
motor yachts, 12 metres long, and (in the navy) great big
submarines. Of course, we don’t own ships, yet in conversation it is
quite conventional to use that word in place of ‘boat’. ‘When I went
down to my boat last weekend the whole ship was reeking of diesel
oil...’ Or, of somebody’s 5 tonner, ‘She’s a trim little ship.’ But we all
know she’s not really a ship.

Boathook A long pole with a hook at the end which can be used for
picking up a mooring buoy or booming out a Jib. There is a similar
device which has a spike at the end as well as the hook which could
be seen as an offensive weapon in the wrong hands!
Boat nail A square-section copper rivet which is driven through a
slightly undersized hole in timber parts, and clenched over a rove.
(See Roove.)

Boat pox See Osmosis.

Bobstay The stay which braces a Bowsprit down to the Cutwater, or

some point low on the stem. A bobstay may be made of solid rod,
chain, or wire rope. With chain or rope, a tackle is sometimes fitted
so that the stay can be slackened off when at anchor, so as to
obviate the stress and the grating sounds as the cable bears on the
bobstay. But a strong chain stay covered with plastic piping is a
simpler solution. The stays which brace the bowsprit laterally are
called bowsprit shrouds. If the word ‘shrouds’ is mentioned on its
own, then it will refer to mast shrouds, unless the context very
obviously relates to a bowsprit.

Bollard An iron post on the quayside, usually waisted below the head,
to which boats make fast their mooring cables. Or a similar but
smaller device on the boat.

Bolt rope A rope sewn along the edge of a sail to take the principal
stress when the sail is hauled tight. If along the Foot of the sail it may
be called the foot rope, if along the Luff, the luff rope. In dinghies and
some of the smaller cruising boats, the luff rope of the mainsail
engages with a groove formed in the after face of the mast, and so
holds the sail in place.

BMF British Marine Federation. Trade association for the leisure

marine industry.

Bonding Connecting underwater metal equipment to a sacrificial

Anode to prevent Galvanic corrosion.

Bone in her teeth The bone is the curl of white water under the stem
of a boat making a good pace through the water. The expression is
used of a sailing boat only, and implies that she is seen to be making
a fair speed.
Bonnet An extra piece of cloth laced to the foot of a sail to increase its
area. Mostly used by square-riggers hurrying to get their freight
home; only a few perceptive owners bother with them nowadays.
When things get really desperate, a drabbler can be laced to the foot
of a bonnet. The Water sail is similar, and is usually laced beneath
the mainboom when running.

Boom Principally a spar at the foot of a sail to give control. Almost all
mainsails have a boom nowadays, and a few staysails have them
too. On a staysail the advantage is that you can go from tack to tack
without having to adjust the sheet. Some foresails have something
akin to a short boom, called a Club.

Boot top The part of the hull along the waterline. Boot topping is the
band of paint often applied along this line. Usually just a few inches
deep, it separates the bottom paint from the Topsides.

Bosun Properly ‘boatswain’ (swain meaning a servant or attendant)

but pronounced ‘bosun’ and now commonly so written. We may not
have a bosun, but we may have stowage space which we choose to
call the bosun’s locker. In it will be stored rope, shackles, blocks and
similar rigging components.

Bosun’s chair A seat, fitted with slings so that it may be shackled to a

halyard to take a man Aloft.

Bottlescrew See Rigging screw.

Bottom boards Boards fitted in the bottom of a dinghy with the dual
aim of spreading the load fairly over the frames, and of keeping your
shoes out of any accumulated Bilge water. (See Grating.)

Bow (rhymes with cow) A boat has a bow on each side, and the whole
forepart from the point where the sides begin to curve in towards the
stem is known as the bows. An object sighted ‘on the bow’ lies away
from the ship and in the arc from dead ahead to 45 degrees aft on
either side (45 degrees is the same as four Points).
 All manner of combinations arise with bow – such as bow rope,
Bowsprit etc – which are self-explanatory. But the knot called a
Bowline is not to be confused with a bow line, or a line leading from
the bow. The knot is pronounced ‘bo-lin’, so there is no problem in
speech, though there is often a problem with the pronunciation of
‘bowsprit’, for which the Oxford English Dictionary prefers ‘bo’.
Though I have not bothered with many etymological explanations in
this book, that not being its primary purpose, it is perhaps worth
remarking that the OED gives the origin of the nautical word ‘bow’ as
deriving from words meaning ‘shoulder’. If the stem of the vessel is
conceived as the ‘head’ (and in the past, stems were embellished
with heads and figureheads), then it is clear that the ‘shoulders’ are a
little further aft. (The bough of a tree also derives from those ancient
words meaning ‘shoulder’, a tree’s ‘shoulders’ being where its ‘arms’
emerge.)
 Three types of bow

Bower anchor The bower anchor is the boat’s principal anchor, kept
at and lowered from the bows. The secondary anchor is the Kedge,
which is lighter, and may be stowed aft, from where it can be taken
off in the dinghy, dropped over the stern, or used as needed. On
larger vessels two bower anchors may be carried, in which case they
may be known as the ‘best’ and the ‘small’, though in a yacht it is
more likely that they would both be of the same weight.

Bowline Pronounced ‘bo-lin’, it is the knot for making an eye or a loop

in a rope’s end. It is one of the very few knots that a boatowner
needs to know, and is illustrated here. The merit of the bowline is
that it is easy to make and easy to unmake: it does not jam. A
bowline on the bight is the same knot formed in a doubled end of the
 rope (bight), and thus forms two closed loops. A bowline reduces the
strength of the rope by about 40 per cent.

Bowline

Bowse Often to bowse down. To make the final tightening of a rope,

such as a halyard. To gain and make fast the last fraction of an inch.
(See Swig.)

Bowsprit A Spar projecting forward over the stem of a boat with the
purpose of lengthening the sail-setting base. A reefing bowsprit is
one whose inner end may be unshipped so that the spar can be slid
aft and inboard for convenience in harbour (and possibly to save
fees in a marina where the charge for a berth is by length). A
Steeving bowsprit is one that can be hinged up, sometimes even
beyond the vertical. A Standing one does neither. Many stubby
short-ended cruisers can gain in performance and interest from the
addition of a bowsprit to carry a jib ahead of the staysail. A sail set
on the end of a bowsprit is not easy to access, so it should be
stowed by roller furling, or its tack may be fitted to a hoop or some
other simple sliding device so that it can be drawn in to the
stemhead when desired. (See also Bumkin.)

Bow thruster A motor driving a propeller near the bow, which

operates laterally to move the bow one way or the other in order to
help with manoeuvring.

Brace A rope used to control the yard of a square sail. There is a

brace for each end of the yard. The lower corners of the sail (the
Clews) are trimmed by sheets.
Brails Lines leading from the Leech of a mainsail to the mast and from
there down to the deck. Each line is double, passing on both sides of
the sail, so that when they are pulled the whole sail is gathered to
the mast. Thames barges, with their heavy, boomless spritsails, are
the most noted users of brailing, but some owners have found the
technique useful on smaller craft. If the sail has a boom, the clew
must first be cast off, of course. ‘To brail’ is the verb.

Brassy A brass eye, or eyelet, such as those in awnings or sails. It

consists of a brass ring and a hollow brass rivet, whose flange is
turned over the ring with the aid of a punch and die. Some
sailmakers call them ‘turnovers’.

Break out (or Break ground) Modern anchors achieve a very high
holding power in relation to their weight by burying themselves in the
bottom. Subjected to a horizontal pull, such an anchor may burrow
several feet below the ground, and it has ultimately to be pulled out.
This is the process of breaking out, and it may take a good deal of
time and effort. If there is any sea running, then the boat herself may
be made to help. The idea is to shorten the chain when she drops
into the hollow of a sea, and to make it fast quickly before she rises
to the next. Alternatively the chain may be got as short as possible
and the boat then driven ahead under the power of either sails or
engine. A third method is to ‘clap on a handy billy’, as the saying
goes – a handy billy being a block-and-tackle arrangement, one end
of which is hitched to the mast, for example, and the other to the
anchor chain. The final method is to buy a windlass – an electric one
if you can.

Breaker A water tub, or Barrico. Also as in the ordinary sense of a

breaking sea.

Breakwater A small upstanding ledge or Coaming across a deck or

Coachroof whose purpose is to deflect water coming from forward so
as to keep it away from the cockpit.

Breasthook A natural crook of timber, shaped like a broad V, which is

fitted behind the stem of a wooden boat to link the two Carlins, or a
 pair of Strakes or Stringers.

Breast rope One of the six basic ropes used to moor any boat
Alongside a quay, a pontoon or another boat. They consist of three
pairs, and the breast ropes are the two which run more or less at a
right angle between the boat and the wall, one forward and the other
aft. Breast ropes must be slack enough to allow for any rise or fall of
tide. Even where there is no such movement (as when one boat is
moored alongside another) the breast ropes should not be too tight.
(See Warps and Springs.)

Breech The opening in a block between Sheave and Shell which is

not big enough to pass the rope. On the opposite diameter of the
sheave is the Swallow, and that, of course, is big enough to pass the
rope.

Breeches buoy A man-lifting harness consisting of a circular lifebuoy

with canvas ‘knickers’ into which you put your legs. In bringing
people ashore from a stranded boat, for example, the breeches buoy
runs along a jackstay set taut from ship to shore.

Breton plotter (also Portland plotter) A transparent plastic charting

aid with an adjustable compass rose that allows you to enter
variation to obtain courses directly in magnetic north.

Bridgedeck A transverse structure at the forward end of the cockpit in

many small modern sailing cruisers. You step over it en route from
cabin to cockpit, and it may house the engine or just be a stowage
space. Big ships have a bridge where an officer may often be on
duty when the ship is under way.

Brightwork Not brass, not stainless steel nor chromium plate. This is
the sailor’s term for varnished timber parts above deck. Brightwork is
kept bright by removing salt crystals with fresh water – in fact, if
you’re a true sailor, you’ll make it a ‘before breakfast’ task, using the
pure distilled water provided by the night’s dew!
Bring up To bring a vessel up is to anchor her. The term is also
sometimes used of mooring to a quay or another boat. Similar to ‘pull
up’ in motoring.

Bristol fashion In tip-top, shipshape condition. This expression dates

from the days when the seamen and shipwrights of Bristol had a
reputation for excellence.

Broach-to A vessel broaches-to when she slews broadside to wind

and sea, taking on a will of her own and overriding the helm. (See
illustration.) It is a phenomenon which occurs when a boat is running
before the wind in heavy weather. For many years it has been held
that the correct procedure in this situation was to slow the boat down
in extreme conditions by trailing large Bights of heavy Warp astern.
But Adlard Coles in Heavy Weather Sailing (Adlard Coles Nautical)
put the view that modern yachts might do better to keep sailing as
fast as possible in order to make the rudder effective. The emphasis
here is on ‘modern’, because boats of the past had straight stems
and long keels and the forward underwater area naturally tended to
dig in and slew the ship. Modern vessels tend to have their keel area
well aft, with the forefoot cut away into a long, gentle slope, and
therefore to have more of an underwater Weathercocking character.
 A broach-to

Broad reach A point of sailing when the wind is Abaft the Beam, but
less than dead astern. (See Reach and Large.)

Bronze Copper-based alloys. Silicon bronze and aluminium bronze

are suitable for use in seacocks and other vital parts which must
resist corrosion. Manganese bronze, on the other hand, is just a
fancy name for brass, which is good only for cabin fittings etc.

Bruce anchor This anchor has good holding power and stows neatly
at the Stemhead. It has three curving Flukes or Palms, and acts by
burrowing into the bottom.

Brummel hook In the USA this is the kind of interlocking pair of C-

shaped hooks which is known in Britain as an Inglefield clip.

BSS Boat Safety Scheme. A mandatory certificate on most British

inland waterways vessels.

Bulb bow A Forefoot with an underwater bullet nose, whose purpose

is to reduce wave-making drag.
Bulb keel A keel with an additional cylindrical or torpedo-shaped
ballast weight along its bottom edge.

Bulkhead A vertical partition running fore-and-aft or athwartships, but

usually the latter in small-boat parlance. The main bulkhead is the
after end of the cabin, separating it from the cockpit.

Bulldog grip A saddle-shaped steel clamp which, when assembled

with a U-bolt and nuts, can hold two wires together. Every small craft
with wire rigging should have a supply of bulldog grips that match the
size of the wire on board. If an eye is to be made in the end of a
wire, the end is brought round a thimble and clamped to the standing
part with two grips. The saddle piece must go against the standing
part, since the U-bolt would tend to cripple it.

Bullseye A wooden block or thimble bored to take a rope and to act

as a block (without a Sheave) or as a Fairlead. Bullseye fairleads are
nowadays more likely to be made of Tufnol or nylon, but the latter is
quickly worn away by a rope, probably due to softening caused by
the heat of friction.

Bulwark (or bulwarks) Raised woodwork running along the side of

the deck to act as a wall to prevent equipment or people being
washed overboard. Bulwarks also keep the wind off for sunbathing.

Bumboat A floating shop. Not often seen today, but with a stock of
newspapers, ice cream, cold drinks etc would be most welcome
around popular anchorages.

Bumkin A short fixed spar extending aft over the stern of the boat to
provide an attachment point for the backstay. On a short hull this
allows the boom to be longer and the mainsail to be larger. The
similar thing at the other end of the boat is a Bowsprit.

Bunk A fixed, built-in sleeping berth, properly of a partly boxed-in

design. A settee berth is not really a bunk, nor is a canvas fold-up
Pipe cot. Still, they can’t hang you for calling them bunks if you like –
lots of people do.
Bunt The middle part of a sail.

Bunting A worsted material of rather open weave used for making

flags. And the word is also used for flags collectively as in ‘The hall
was decorated with bunting’.

Buoy A floating mark anchored to the bottom. Usually a hollow float of

steel, glass-reinforced resin or moulded plastics, it is likely to serve
either as a marker for a laid mooring or as a Navigational mark.
Navigation buoys may be lit or unlit, may carry a radar reflector or
even a radar transmitter responding to the emissions of a ship’s
radar, and come in a wide variety of shapes and markings. For
details see Almanacs or pilot books. (See Bell buoy.)

Buoy hopping Pilotage by picking your way from buoy to buoy,

reading the name of each and identifying it on the chart before
setting off in search of the next. A rather amateurish (but reassuring)
way to find your way about, and only possible in well-buoyed areas.

Buoyancy The power to float inherent in a body whose density is less

than that of water. The word is often used to define a buoyant
material or construction, as in ‘This dinghy is well equipped with
buoyancy’, meaning that she has a number of buoyant bags or tanks
fitted. There is often confusion about the action of such buoyant
compartments in a dinghy. As long as a dinghy is floating by reason
of her own displacement, such compartments simply add weight
(albeit very slight) which, if anything, will tend to weigh her down. It is
only when the dinghy is swamped that these sealed volumes show
any benefit.

Burgee A small triangular flag flown at the masthead, usually to a

design and colour peculiar to the owner’s club. The burgee serves to
indicate wind direction. A swallow-tailed burgee is flown by the
Commodore of a club.

Burr A saucer-shaped copper washer which is slipped over the top of

a copper boat nail before the end is riveted. In England the same
thing is known as a Roove.
Bus A general term for a wired system for exchanging electronic data
or power. Data buses typically consist of a backbone cable with
droppers to individual instruments or switches, while a power bus is
usually a bar wired directly to a battery terminal, with multiple
terminations to allow several devices to be connected.

Bus bar A strip of metal used to distribute battery power to multiple

devices.

Bustle An underwater bulge in the after end of (usually) a sailing

boat’s hull. This swelling of the sections at the Run helps to diminish
drag caused by wave making.

Butt strap A butt joint is a joint made by two planks joined end to end.
The strap is a third piece of wood bridging the joint (usually on the
inside) and glued and screwed (or clenched) to the two principal
pieces.

Buttock lines The fore-and-aft vertical sections of a hull on a drawing

– the shapes which would be revealed if the hull were sliced parallel
to the centreline. (See Lines, Waterline and Sections.)

Buttocks The underpart of the after end of the hull, where she turns
up from the keel towards the transom or counter.

By the head A boat is said to be by the head when she trims bow
down – in other words, with too much weight forward.

By the lee The condition of a boat running, which has the wind off-
centre and to the same side as that on which the mainsail is boomed
out. A situation in which a Gybe is therefore imminent.

By the stern This is when the boat is Trimmed too heavily aft. In small
cruisers this situation is more common than ‘by the head’, because
the weight of people and equipment tends to collect aft, and because
heavy outboards also thrust the stern down if not set at the correct
angle.
 C

C ‘Charlie’ in the phonetic alphabet. In the International Code of

Signals the single letter ‘C’ means Yes (or Affirmative), and in Morse
code it is – . – . .

Cabin cruiser Invariably a powered craft with sleeping

Accommodation. A sailing craft with similar accommodation may be
implied if the word ‘Cruiser’ is used alone, though the context is
important, and usage varies geographically. On the Norfolk Broads,
for example, cruisers are powered craft – those with sails are called
yachts.

Cable 1 Made of wire, rope or chain, the cable is the link between a
boat and her anchor.
2 A measure of distance equal to one-tenth of a Nautical mile. A
nautical mile being 6,080 feet, a cable is just over 600 feet, and for
most purposes may be taken as 200 yards.

Cable-laid Heavy ropes are often made of three smaller ropes laid up
together in a left-handed twist. Each of the component ropes in
cable-lay is Hawser-laid and consists of three strands (not ropes)
laid up with a right-handed twist. Heavy hawsers are commonly
cable-laid, whereas hawser-laid ropes are not often used as
hawsers.

Camber 1 Almost always used in relation to decks, ‘camber’ means

curved athwartships, as in a cambered road. Camber sheds water,
augments strength because it forms an arch structure, and can
increase headroom without spoiling the look of the boat. Although a
 cambered deck is a nuisance when you want to sunbathe and your
mug of tea may not stand level, it can be advantageous in a heeled
sailing boat. In that case the weather side of the deck will be more
nearly level than it would be if it were uncambered – but the lee deck
will be correspondingly steeper.
2 The fore-and-aft curvature in a sail. Also known as Flow. Camber
should be fuller for light winds, flatter for strong winds.

Cam cleat A type of cleat which uses two sprung cams (jaws) to grip
the rope.

Canard An unballasted Foil, usually mounted well forward in the hull,

used to resist Leeway. Canards can be fixed or lifting and a boat
may have more than one.

CANbus (or CAN) A bus system which is commonly used in cars for
sharing data and switching information and is now increasingly found
on boats, owing to its similarity to NMEA 2000.

Canoe Although everybody knows of at least two types of canoe – the

Indian birch-bark type and the smaller, more compact Inuit kayak –
there are also sailing canoes, of which the international 10 square
metre class is best known in Europe. The United States was the
home of sailing canoes of many types, some of them very large. In
ordinary sailing cruisers, the term ‘canoe body’ applies to a hull of
shallow form to which the keel is a separate appendage. A ‘canoe
stern’ (illustrated under Stern) is one which rises from the water like
a counter, but has a rounded end.

Canting keel A ballasted keel which, instead of being fixed laterally,

can be canted to windward to increase the righting moment.

Canting rig A rig which can, depending on its design, be canted to

windward or to leeward.

Cap On a gaff-rigged boat the mast has a cap sprouting a ring through
which the topmast can slide. The Shrouds leading to the cap are
called cap shrouds, and people still use the term for the main
 shrouds of a Bermudan-rigged mast. (The capping piece on the top
of a mast is the Truck.)

Capsize Any boat is capsized if she turns upside-down, but usage has
it that a dinghy is capsized if her mast reaches the water, whereas a
cabin boat at such an extreme angle (90 degrees) would not be
capsized but ‘on her beam ends’. ‘Capsize’ is also used of things
turned upside down by sailors for their own good reasons: for
example, a coil of rope may be capsized.

Capstan A Windlass with an upright barrel, turned by bars radiating

like spokes. No longer found on today’s pleasure craft, the nearest
thing to a capstan now is the sheet Winch, which is also normally
mounted with the barrel axis vertical.

Car Some sheets are led to a track, where they are attached to a
sliding plate or a miniature flat-bed truck on rollers. This is a car,
which may also be called a Traveller.

Carbine hook A hook with a spring closure, basically similar to the

hook on a dog lead or a watch chain, but made to a higher
specification. Compare with a Snap shackle.

Carbon fibre A strong, lightweight material used in the manufacture of

spars, hulls and sails.

Cardinal buoyage system A system by which a localised danger is

marked with buoys situated to the north, east, south and west of it.
(See IALA buoyage system.)

Cardinal points The four principal Points of the compass, north, east,
south and west. But the old type of compass had 32 points in all,
arrived at by successive halving. Each point was equivalent to 11¼
degrees of the modern compass.

Careen To haul a boat down until her mast approaches the horizontal
and her hull is on its beam ends. This may be done afloat or ashore.
The purpose is to gain access to the hull bottom.
Carlins Fore-and-aft timbers to which deck beams, cabin sides etc are
attached.

Carry away To break or collapse. An intransitive verb in this usage. If

a shroud carries away, the mast may fall on your head.
Subsequently they may come and carry you away, which is the
transitive and non-nautical usage.

Carry helm A boat ‘carries weather helm’ when the helmsman has to
hold the helm to weather to keep her straight. Similarly she may
‘carry lee helm’.

Carry her way A boat carries her way when she continues moving by
her own momentum after the propelling force has ceased to act.

Carvel The form of wooden hull construction in which the planks are
assembled with fine gaps in between. These gaps are then caulked
with cotton (or oakum) and Payed with stopping. The whole surface
is then rubbed down smooth before painting.

Cast The sounding lead is ‘cast’. To take a sounding somebody has to

‘make a cast of the lead’. When leaving an anchorage under sail,
and assuming the boat is lying head-to-wind at the time, there comes
a moment when the helmsman must cast the boat either to port or
starboard in order to make a Board. While the boat is still lying to her
anchor the rudder will be effective if there is any tidal stream running.
In that case the vessel may be made to take a Sheer to one side or
the other. But as soon as the anchor comes free you give her a cast.

Cast off To let go from a mooring. To undo a rope or free a dinghy.

Cat, to To secure an anchor on board. Some boats have a cathead,

which is in fact a small crane or spar to which the anchor is lifted and
where it may be stowed.

Catboat The term ‘cat’ has been applied to a variety of boats, but
normally refers to an American type of sailing boat with shallow
draught, very great beam, a transom stem and centreboard. The
 boat is rigged with a single gaff sail on a mast stepped right in the
bows, as in the illustration. The single-sail rig is also known as a cat
rig, or sometimes as a una rig, after a famous catboat of the last
century which was named Una.

Catboat

Catalyst An additive which initiates the curing of polyester resin. The

resin is normally supplied (at least for amateur use) with an
Accelerator already mixed in. The catalyst’s role is simply to trigger
the cure and set it going. Only a minute amount of catalyst is
needed, and the maker’s instructions must be followed carefully.
(See Polyester resin.)

Catamaran 1 Commonly known as a ‘cat’, but not a Catboat. To

private owners, the word means a twin-hulled boat, usually sail, but
sometimes power. A sailing catamaran does not need Ballast, but
 gains her stability by standing wide. Her long, lean hulls, coupled
with her light weight, make her generally a faster boat than a single-
hulled craft costing the same.
2 Nothing at all like the high-speed craft of the first definition, but
simply a collection of timber baulks, railway sleepers etc, held
together with spikes or lashings so as to make a raft. Sometimes
called a Flat or a float, these rafts are used as floating platforms by
those painting topsides or doing other work on boats which are
afloat.

Catch a turn To take a turn around a bollard, post, cleat or similar.

The term usually implies swiftness.

Cathedral hull A hull whose bottom is in the form of a triple ‘V’. When
at rest or moving slowly, all three ‘V’s are immersed, but at speed the
hull rises and the outer ‘V’s barely touch the water. (See illustration.)

Cathedral Hull section

Cathodic protection The use of a sacrificial Anode to protect more

important fittings from becoming victims of Galvanic Corrosion.

Catspaw A gentle puff of wind.

Caulk Carvel hulls and Laid decks are made of planks between which
gaps are left, later to be filled by caulking. In a carvel hull the gaps
are V-shaped, with the wider part outward, and they are caulked first
by ramming cotton or oakum into the bottom of the gap, and then by
filling with Marine glue or some other modern compound. Although
caulking is actually the first part of this process, and Paying the
second part, most people nowadays tend to talk about ‘caulk’ alone,
rather than ‘caulk and pay’. Caulking irons are specially shaped tools
with which the cotton or oakum is driven, with the aid of a caulking
 mallet. A paying kettle has a specially shaped spout to ease the
pouring of the warmed marine glue between the deck planks.
(Incidentally, marine glue is not an adhesive, but waterproof glue is.)

Cavetto This is the word that architects use for the hollow moulding
that most boatbuilders call the Coveline. Still, some boating people
say ‘cavetto’, and some even say ‘caveta’, so I thought it worth
mentioning.

Cavitation A phenomenon associated with a propeller which is being

driven too fast, whose blade area is too small for the power it is
expected to absorb, or which is working in badly disturbed water.
Effectively, the water parts from the blade surface, leaving a void
filled with vapour or air; the void then collapses and the water falls
back onto the blade with considerable force. This process is
repeated with rapidity, eroding the blade and impairing its propulsive
efficiency. (A similar effect can erode the hull bottom of a very high-
speed craft.) In private craft, cavitation when running straight is a
sign that the wrong propeller is fitted. When turning, even the right
propeller may cavitate if the turn is very sharp; to avoid damage,
throttle back or turn less sharply.

Ceiling Decorative linings to the cabin sides, but not normally

overhead! In a boat the ceilings correspond to the walls of a room
ashore, and the Deckhead corresponds to the domestic ceiling.

Celestial navigation Finding one’s position on the surface of the

Earth by using the stars and other heavenly bodies as reference
points. The essential tools are a Sextant to measure angles between
the horizon and a celestial body, a Chronometer to give Greenwich
Mean Time (time is also monitored by radio signals) and a pre-
calculated table of star positions, which are known as the ephemera
and are found in various Almanacs.

Centre of buoyancy The single point through which the buoyant force
of the water pressure may be thought to act. If you are familiar with
the idea of the centre of gravity of a body as being the point about
which it would balance, then centre of buoyancy is the same sort of
 thing the other way up. If you could push downward on a boat with
your finger precisely at her centre of buoyancy, she would go down
without tilting. (But as she went down, her centre of buoyancy would
certainly shift, because of the changing shape of the immersed part
of the hull...)

Centre of effort (CE) And this will be a good place to consider the
Centre of Lateral Resistance (CLR) too, since the two are so
commonly related in design work. The CE is the point at which the
wind forces on a sail are assumed to be centred. It is akin to the
concept of ‘centre of gravity’. Conventionally the CE of a triangular
sail is assumed to be at its centre of area (where lines from each
apex to the midpoint of the opposite side cross each other), and the
CE of the whole rig is found by proportioning between sails
according to their areas. The CLR of the hull is likewise assumed to
lie at the centre of all the underwater parts, but since it is usually only
the fore-and-aft position which is thought to be significant, this is
found by cutting out the shape of those parts in cardboard and
balancing the pattern on a knife-edge. (The knife is set at a right
angle to the waterline, of course.) Unfortunately, neither of these
simple methods for finding ‘centres’ has any relation to reality. The
CE shown on the designer’s sail plan is well removed from the true
centre of aerodynamic pressure on most points of sailing; and the
CLR is no better. But convention has it that if the CE is some 10 to
15 per cent of the waterline length ahead of the CLR, the boat will
balance quite well, with modest weather helm. In fact, the
displacement of the aerodynamic thrust to leeward as the boat heels
has far more luffing effect than the fore-and-aft relationship between
the CE and CLR so neatly shown on the drawing of an upright boat
with flat sails.

Centreboard (and Centreplate) A centreboard is a retractable keel

surface fitted on the centreline of the boat. (Compare with
Leeboard.) It may or may not be ballasted, but its primary function is
to provide underwater area to create lateral resistance and so
minimise sideways movement by a boat under sail. ‘Board’ is
normally used of a wooden one, and ‘plate’ of metal, though you are
 not likely to be ostracised for talking about a ‘steel centreboard’.
Since the board, as it is often called, works through a slot in the keel
of the boat, it is necessary to keep water out. This is done by making
a casing, called the Trunk, just big enough to accommodate the
board, and rising above the level of the waterline. It makes a suitable
plinth for the cabin table in small boats. In larger boats the top of the
trunk may be below the waterline, and even beneath the cabin sole,
in which case it must be fully sealed, though the lifting tackle may
then run in a pipe whose upper end is sufficiently high. A
centreboard boat which is allowed to take the ground regularly
between tides may have so much mud forced into her trunk that the
board will not drop, even if it is heavy. Centreboards have been used
for both racing and cruising craft, large and small, but especially for
small sailing dinghies. Some have had pairs of boards, disposed
fore-and-aft or laterally. The heavier ones are raised by winch or by
block and tackle, but some make use of electric or hydraulic power.

CEVNI European inland waterways regulations.

CG66 Form to register vessel details with HM Coastguard.

Chain plates The metal fittings on each side of the hull to which the
Shrouds are attached. It is much more sensible to call them shroud
plates, as is more usual today, though the old term still persists. (Old
ships had chains below the Deadeyes of their shrouds.)

Chain sheet See Reaching sheet.

Channel 1 The deeper part of the water, often buoyed as the main
route. The bit where you should have been when you went Aground.
2 A small baulk of timber fitted to the side of the hull for the purpose
of spreading the shrouds to a wider angle. Fitted in pairs, one each
side of the boat, of course. Formerly, such timbers were called chain
wales, a Wale being any raised strake, and they spread the chains
below the deadeyes. For that reason the part of the ship where the
shrouds approach the hull is still sometimes called the ‘chains’.
‘Standing in the chains’ still means standing on the edge of the deck
 by the shrouds – a good place for casting the lead, or for preparing
to jump ashore.

Characteristic The pattern, or signal or code of a flashing light or a

sound signal by which it can be identified; for example, Quick
flashing light and Occulting light.

Charlie Noble The dome on top of a chimney. But don’t ask me why,
or who he was!

Chart A map of the sea, showing shorelines, depths, useful marks and
buoys. All British charts are based in the first instance on the work of
the Hydrographer of the Navy, who prepares the Admiralty charts.
These are used as references by some firms who specialise in
charts for yachtsmen and private owners. Often these special charts
give better value because they combine information from several
Admiralty charts on to a single sheet, and also add harbour plans,
pilotage information etc. Charts are listed in the Admiralty Catalogue
of Charts, and they are obtained from chart agents, who are usually
also chandleries. ‘Class A’ chart agents amend their charts and keep
them up to date day by day. British agents are listed in the Admiralty
catalogue, which can be obtained from HMSO (or from the agents
themselves) for a very modest sum. In the USA, charts are produced
by the US Defense Mapping Agency in Washington, who collaborate
with the US Coast Guard in publishing ‘Notices to Mariners’,
containing details of changes and corrections.

Chart datum The sea level used as a reference point for the
soundings given on Admiralty charts, and for the tidal heights in Tide
tables. Likewise, it is the reference level for the drying height of a
sandbank. The current chart datum is the level of the Lowest
Astronomical Tide (LAT), which is the lowest water level predictable.
Lower levels are possible, for example by the combination of very
strong wind with the LAT, but for practical purposes one assumes
that the tide will not fall lower than chart datum. Thus, if a sounding
is shown as one metre, then there is a very high probability that
there will never be less than one metre at that point, and there will
usually be more. (See Tide and Height of tide.)
Charter To hire a vessel. The document recording the contract is the
charter party.

Chart plotter An electronic device for displaying charts and planning

navigation.

Check To check a rope is to ease it out slowly and under control. The
nautical usage ‘ check’ in relation to ropes is the opposite of the
horserider’s in relation to the reins, but ‘Check her way’ means ‘stop’
or ‘restrain’ as in ordinary use. (See to Start.)

Cheek block A hollowed-out cheek containing a Sheave, such as is

fitted to a mast for a Topping lift. On modern boats it refers to a block
bolted to the deck, to lead a rope, often a headsail sheet, to a winch.

Cheese, to To coil a rope on the deck in a flat spiral, one layer thick,
so that it looks somewhat like a tightly wound watch spring. (See
Fake and Flake.)

Chine The angle where the bottom of a hull meets the side. A round-
bilge hull has no chines, but a boat built from flat sheets (plywood,
for example) has one or more chines each side, and is known as a
hard-chine boat. (See Bilge.)

Chinese gybe A situation, usually resulting from a gybe, where the

upper part of the sail is to one side of the mast, and the lower on the
other. It occurs because the boom is allowed to lift up too high. The
term itself is an unwarranted occidental jibe, for Chinese boats with
their fully battened Lugsails are incapable of getting themselves into
this specifically Bermudan predicament.

Chip log A simple gadget for measuring speed, the chip log is a flat,
triangular-shaped board with a bridle consisting of a line from each
corner, meeting at a single log line. The board is weighted at one
edge so that it will float upright when dropped over the stern. In that
attitude it remains stationary in the water and draws out the log line
whose length is marked out with knots at regular intervals. The
number of knots which run out in a given time provides a measure of
 the speed. For example, if you want to time over half a minute, which
is 1/120 part of an hour, then make the distance between each knot
equal to 1/120 part of a nautical mile. Then the number of knots that
run out in the half minute will be the ship’s speed in knots. 1/120 of a
nautical mile is 50.6ft. If that’s too long, measure over 15 seconds
and space the knots at 25.3ft.

Chock A shaped metal fitting in a toe-rail or Bulwark which allows a

mooring line to pass without chafe. In Britain it is called a Fairlead.

Chock-a-block When the two blocks of a tackle meet and no further

movement is possible. The phrase has long since been adopted by,
and adapted to, everyday life ashore. The situation is also known as
‘two blocks’.

Choke the luff, to To prevent a tackle running, by jamming a Bight of

the Fall between a block and one of the rope parts.

Chop A sea which is short and small. Also a ‘lop’. The adjective is
‘choppy’, but nobody seems to say ‘loppy’.

Chopped strand mat (CSM) A non-woven form of glass cloth used

for reinforcing polyester resin. The strands of glassfibre are two or
three inches long and lie in random directions, held into a sheet by a
small amount of resin. There is just enough resin to retain them in
this form for convenient handling, and when laid in place the mat is
thoroughly permeated by a far greater amount of polyester resin.
Most glassfibre boats are built principally of CSM, though woven
Rovings are also used.

Chord The fore-and-aft measurement of a keel, rudder or sail at a

given point.

Chronometer An accurate clock or watch of a standard that makes it

suitable for navigation. By ‘accurate’ I mean that it maintains a
steady and known speed. It is not important that it gains or loses a
little each day, so long as the gain or loss is constant and therefore
predictable. This is known as the chronometer’s rate.
CLR Centre of Lateral Resistance.

Class boat A boat built to conform to limiting rules for handicap

racing, or built to conform to a known rating rule for racing.

Classification A measure of the standard of a yacht’s construction as

certified by one of the ‘classification societies’ such as the American
Bureau of Shipping, Lloyd’s Register, Bureau Veritas (France), or
similar. In Britain, a boat built to Lloyd’s standards and under their
supervision may, for example, be classed ‘100 A1’, but she will lose
that rating if she is not inspected by Lloyd’s at specified intervals. At
such regular surveys Lloyd’s will specify what corrective work must
be done to enable her to remain in class.

Claw off, to To beat away from a lee shore. This is an expression

used to emphasise moments of drama, and seems to be used
mainly in bar room arguments about the relative merits of various
types of boat.

Cleat A fitting for the quick attachment of a rope without the use of a
knot or hitch. The cleat proper is roughly like a short-stemmed ‘T’,
with two ‘horns’ which might also be described as arms. But there
are various patent cleats of the jamming kind, including clamcleats,
which have a V-shaped groove with ridges running down the inner
faces to coax the rope into the nip of the ‘V’. ‘Cleat’ can also be used
as a verb.

Clench, to To rivet. To draw together two components, usually timber,

with a copper boat nail. The nail is square in section and its end is
spread over a cup-shaped washer called a ‘rove’. Clinker-built hulls
are constructed by clenching all the planks together, which is why
many people quite logically insist on calling them ‘clencher-built’.

Clevis pin The pin which closes the U-shaped fork on the end of a
rigging screw, for example, or which closes those small shackles
made from bent strip. The clevis pin does not have a threaded end,
but is usually drilled to take a split pin or split ring.
Clew The lower after corner of a fore-and-aft sail, or the two lower
corners of a square sail if you are lucky enough to own one. The
lower forward corner is the tack, and the top corner is the head.

Clinker construction Also Clencher. A form of hull construction in

which the edges of the planks overlap and are riveted together with
copper boat nails. It makes a structure which is light for its strength,
and which needs no caulking. The overlapping edges are called the
lands and nearly always face downward, though there have been a
few exceptions. The succession of small, downward-facing steps
prevents water flowing up the side of the hull and makes for a dry
boat. On the other hand, there can be a great deal of water noise
with a clinker hull.

Clipper bow The shape of bow in which the stem forms a hollow
curve on its underside, often running into a bowsprit. The sections of
such a bow are flared and hollow above the waterline.

Close, to To approach, or come nearer, as in ‘We’ll close the land in a

little while and see if we can identify any features’.

Close-hauled The point of sailing nearest to the wind, sometimes as

close as 30 degrees off the wind, but more often, on cruising boats,
in the region of 45 degrees. (See Reach.)

Close-winded A loose term, used by salesmen or vainglorious

owners to imply that a boat sails closer to the wind than the listener
might expect.

Clove hitch The most common hitch for making fast to a Samson post
or a rail. (See illustration.)
 Clove hitch

Club A short boom fitted to the foot of a staysail or jib. Rare in the UK,
but more familiar in the USA.

Clump The weight which holds a mooring chain on the bottom.

Clutch A lever assembly, most often used to jam halyards.

CMG Course Made Good. Also known as Track. The average course
made by a boat after tide, leeway and other external factors have
been taken into account. This term differs from Course Over Ground,
especially when beating. (See Course.)

Coachroof The part of a cabin which stands up above deck level.

(See House.)

Coaming A vertical ridge or barrier of wood, steel, glassfibre etc,

whose purpose is to keep water out. A cockpit usually has a coaming
down each side, and perhaps all round. A deck hatch has one all
round. Some hatches have a double coaming, so that any water
which gets past the outer one is channelled between the two and
escapes through drains.

Coble A Yorkshire beach-boat of very distinctive shape. She has a

snaking sheer, hollow shoulders and buttocks, but a full and firm
mid-body. The rudder is of very high aspect ratio, deep and knife-
like. Some people think the world of these boats, which may be used
under oars, motor or lugsail. Notice the deep rudder which is
 unshipped for beaching – it has to be deep to balance the power of
that deep forefoot.

Cocked hat The triangular area contained within three position lines
drawn on a chart. If there were such a thing as perfect precision, all
Position lines would cross at a point. People generally assume that
the ship’s position at the time of taking the fixes was somewhere
inside the triangle, and for want of anything better will put the plot in
the middle. But avoid being deluded by the idea that the ship was
really at that point.

Cockpit The ‘dugout’ where peope like me cower for shelter from the
bombardment of sea, wind, snow and hail. If you have a reasonable
area of deck around your cockpit it is a good piece of one-
upmanship to call it the ‘well’.

Code zero A free-flying lightweight reaching headsail.

Coding Standards issued by the MCA for British-flagged boats

intending to be used for professional purposes, ie Chartering, or as a
passenger boat.

Codline Thin three-strand rope used for lashings. Hambro line is

similar, but neither term is much used now that we are in the age of
synthetic fibres.

Cod’s head and mackerel tail The shape of a sailing boat hull which
was popular in times past, where the bow is very full and then fines
away toward the stern. Current design of the sensible type has the
maximum beam more or less Amidships, with bow and stern
waterlines well balanced, though some racing boats have the
maximum beam well aft.

Coffee grinder A large and expensive winch drive system for sheeting
the headsails of large and expensive boats, usually racing craft.
Commonly stands on a pedestal in the centre of the cockpit, serving
port and starboard sheet in turn, and is actuated by crank handles
which drive internal gears.
COG Course Over Ground. The course made by a boat at any given
time with tide and leeway taken into account.

Coir Coconut fibres used for making rope. At one time coir rope was
used for heavy warps, but it is now rarely seen except as fendering
of one kind or another.

Cold moulding A form of wooden hull construction in which thin

veneers are successively glued together over a male mould, making
a very strong and watertight shell which is, in fact, tailored plywood.
Wooden hulls may also be hot-moulded, but the oven large enough
to take a hull is an expensive item of equipment, and glue which
cures at ordinary temperatures makes the job easier. Hulls are also
moulded in glass-reinforced resin, and planked timber hulls are built
over moulds.

Collision Regulations The odd name by which most people know the
International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, which
should be read, reread, studied and restudied.

Colregs A contraction of Collision Regulations, as you no doubt

guessed.

Combined lantern See Tricolour lamp.

Coming home If you pull on an anchor cable and the anchor comes
towards the ship instead of the ship going towards the anchor, then
you can tell the skipper ‘The anchor’s coming home’. In other words
it’s not holding.

Commodore The president, or senior officer, of a yacht club.

Companionway The entry into the cabin. In modern small boats just a
doorway through the main bulkhead, because most small boats don’t
have a companion; or if they do, people call it a ‘doghouse’ wherever
possible. You may wonder, as I did for many years, what, if anything,
this has to do with friendship. Not much, unless you go right back to
Roman times, when the word ‘companion’ started life from the idea
 of ‘with bread’. The human companion shared your bread, but
‘companaticum’ was what you had with your bread – cheese, butter,
relish and so on. Later, the Italians liked to have a little storehouse
on deck for cheese and other supplies, which they called
‘campagna’. The Dutch and English picked up the word, the Dutch
using it to mean quarterdeck, and the English bending it into
‘companion’ and using it to describe any small deckhouse, and even
a skylight.

Compass A little magnet, balanced on a pivot so that it is free to point

always to magnetic north no matter which way the ship points. They
come in all types and sizes, and you just can’t do without one. Two
are even better on any seagoing craft. (See Grid compass and
Point.)

Composite Traditionally used to describe a boat built from different

materials, such as glassfibre/FRP for the hull, and wood for the deck,
or vice versa. Now more commonly applied to structures
incorporating a combination of fibres including, for example, carbon,
vinylester, epoxy, aramids and core materials.

Con, to Personally to steer your ship, as in ‘I’ll con the ship if you
make the tea’. To control her. This word is of virtually no value to
private boatowners, unless uncommonly affected in their speech, but
it is invaluable in the solving of crossword puzzles.

Consol An obsolete radio navigation aid working on long wave, which

needed nothing more than the special consol chart and a radio
receiver. If the receiver had a beat frequency oscillator to make the
consol dots and dashes more distinct, so much the better, but it was
essentially a simple system in which you had little more to do than to
count the dots and dashes from two or more consol transmitters.

Console An upright plinth or box designed to support such things as a

steering wheel, a set of instruments, the throttle levers etc.

Core A light, stiff material, such as balsa, honeycomb matrix or sheet

foam, incorporated in a laminate to increase its rigidity for a given
 weight.

Corrosion See Galvanic corrosion.

Counter The overhanging part of the stern, especially when projecting

markedly aft of the rudder. A flat stern without overhang is called a
transom.

Course The direction in which the ship is pointing or heading. The

compass course is the direction expressed in terms of degrees.
When there is a cross-current, the vessel is not moving in the same
direction as that in which she is heading, and it is customary to
describe her direction over the seabed as the course made good.
(See CMG.)

Course-setting protractor A navigational protractor, normally scribed

on a circle of transparent plastic, and having an arm or rule pivoted
at its centre. The rule makes it very convenient to lay off courses or
bearings without recourse to the Parallel rules. (See Breton plotter.)

Course up Radar plot or chart shown with the vessel’s planned

course pointing directly up the screen, as chosen by a GPS route or
GoTo. (See Head up.)

Courtesy flag When entering a foreign port, a boat should fly the flag
of that country from her starboard Spreader, continuing to fly her own
national ensign from its usual staff. Take care not to put two national
flags on a common hoist or staff, for one will then inevitably be below
the other, national dignity will be offended, and war will probably
break out.

Coveline A moulding cut into a wooden boat’s topsides a few

centimetres below the Sheer, and running from stem to stern (or
almost). The section of this groove is the arc of a circle. Its function
is to embellish, and for best effect it is gilded. A hull moulded in
glass-reinforced resin normally has a painted coveline, or applied
coloured adhesive tape.
Covering board A plank forming the edge of the deck surface, inside
the Gunwale. Whereas deck planks may be straight, covering boards
are curved to the plan form of the hull at deck level.

CPA Closest Point of Approach. The point at which the distance

between two vessels or objects, of which at least one is in motion,
will reach its minimum value. Common in radar and AIS.

CQR A very popular type of Plough anchor, with a hinge between the
Shank and Fluke.

Cradle A framework of wood or steel designed to support a hull

ashore.

Crane A short arm or bracket at the masthead, to which a forestay or

backstay is made fast.

Crank A vessel that is crank is one that is Tender – that’s to say she
heels too easily. If very crank she may be dangerous. ‘Tender’ is
more usually used today.

Cranse iron A metal band with eyes which is fitted to the bowsprit end
to receive the Bobstay, Shrouds etc.

Crevice corrosion A form of Galvanic corrosion, notably suffered by

stainless steels. When one end of a stainless steel bolt, for example,
is exposed to sea water, and the other end is buried in timber so that
is shielded, the two ends of the bolt act as if they were made of two
different materials – wasting of the bolt follows.

Cringle An eye in the edge of a sail, usually fitted with a metal or

plastic thimble against chafe. There is a cringle at each corner, and
others for reefing. (See Earing and Grommet.)

Crook A piece of timber with a natural curve in it, used to make the
curved part of the stem etc.
Cross bearings Two or more bearings from which crossing Position
lines can be drawn on the chart to give a fix.

Crosstree A strut fitted across the mast whose ends support the
inward thrust of the shrouds. A crosstree should be a single unit,
whereas many modern yachts have a pair of separate struts, one on
each side of the mast, and these are called Spreaders. The latter is
a more satisfactory term for small boats.

Crown The crown of an anchor is the furthest end from the chain, and
the point to which you would hitch a Tripping line in order to withdraw
it from the mud.

Crown knot The first step in making a back splice.

Cruise, to To take a holiday on a boat, moving from place to place

and spending nights away from base. The nights may be passed
under way, at anchor, or even in splendid hotels ashore, but the
normal thing is to sleep aboard. The main thing, as Hilaire Belloc
was at pains to emphasise, is that cruising is not racing. (See
Daysailing.)

Cruise A cruise implies a voyage of at least several days, calling at

various places en route. Each trip from one haven to the next is a
passage.

Cruiser The meaning of this word depends very much on

circumstances and context. If there is no other clue, it probably
means a motor cruiser – a motorboat with habitable Accommodation.
If the context is one of sailing craft, then it means a boat whose
design was not constrained by any arbitrary rating formulae devised
for the amusement of racing yachtsmen. If compounded in the form
‘cruiser-racer’, it implies that the boat was designed to fit the rating
formula but that the builder hopes he can sell her to cruising people
in spite of that.

Cruising chute Asymmetric spinnaker for cruising boats. The tack is

attached to the yacht’s bow.
Crutch 1 A device to support the boom. It sometimes takes the form
of a plank with a notch at the top like a ‘Y’, or it may take the form of
a metal strut or crossed struts. (See Gallows.)
2 A metal object with a U-shaped top to support an oar for rowing. A
Rowlock crutch is the purist’s name for what I call a rowlock. It is
called a ‘crutch’ because it is like one of nature’s crutches, and the
hole it drops into is a rowlock.

Cuddy A small space, too small to be a cabin and too big to be a

locker. Usually right in the forepeak of a half-decked boat.

Cunningham A control line, running to an eye in the Luff of a

mainsail, used to control luff tension and thus the sail’s shape and
draught.

Current See Stream.

Cut splice A form of splice used to make an eye in the middle of a

rope rather than at an end. The rope is cut, and each fresh end is
then spliced into the other rope sufficiently far along to make the eye.
Alternatively, a separate short length of rope is spliced in.

Cutless bearing A propeller shaft bearing in the form of a rubber

sleeve. It is used at the outboard end of the shaft and is lubricated by
water. The metal housing of the bearing has small scoops to collect
water as the boat moves forward and to direct it to the bearing, so
care should be taken not to fill these scoops with paint.

Cutter Nowadays a cutter is a sailing vessel with one mainsail and

two headsails, namely the staysail and the jib. (See illustration under
Rig.) A vessel normally sailed with that rig remains a cutter even
though one or more of the headsails is Handed, and even if a flying
jib is occasionally added to make three headsails. This word is a
good example of the way in which the language changes, for in the
past it was either a ship-of-war’s boat, used for fetching stores etc, or
a fast sailing boat used by revenue men, which most likely carried a
square sail on her single mast. In those days the word ‘cutter’ could
 relate more to the boat than to the rig, whereas nowadays it refers
only to the rig. (See Sloop.)

Cutwater The part of the stem at the waterline.

Cyclone A revolving tropical storm in which the winds circulate around

a low-pressure centre, the whole system moving linearly at the same
time. This type of storm goes under different names in different parts
of the world, ‘typhoon’ and ‘hurricane’ being the most familiar. A full-
scale cyclone is rare in northern European waters, but the common
type of weather system which centres around a low-pressure area is
called ‘cyclonic’. In the northern hemisphere winds run anticlockwise
in a cyclonic system (generally bad weather) and clockwise for an
Anticyclone (good weather). In the southern hemisphere these
directions of rotation are reversed.
 D

D ‘Delta’ in the phonetic alphabet. The single-letter signal means ‘Keep

clear of me; I am manoeuvring with difficulty’. Few yachtsmen are
likely to make it, if only because they would hardly find time to do it if
they found themselves in such straits, but every private owner
should know what it implies if made by a bigger craft. In Morse code
it is – . . . In times of fog or bad visibility one long and two short
blasts on a ship’s whistle means that she is not under command, or
is restricted in her ability to manoeuvre, or constrained by her
draught, or under sail, or fishing, or towing or pushing another
vessel. (Collision Regs, Rule 35c.)

Dacron Polyester.

Daggerboard A Centreboard, usually in a dinghy, which retracts

vertically. Some bigger sailing boats have daggerboards, but their
disadvantage is that they are not free to swing aft if they strike the
bottom. (Although the vertically retracting board has a specific name,
‘daggerboard’, the pivoted board lacks one. ‘Centreboard’ applies to
both types.)

Danbuoy A small marker buoy (not usually for navigation) having a

vertical stick or staff through its centre, with perhaps a flag or light on
top. Danbuoys are used to mark lobster pots, anchors and so forth,
or as racing marks. They are also used in conjunction with
horseshoe rings as life-saving aids in man overboard situations.

Danforth A patent anchor. The design originated in the USA, and the
name has now become generic for a number of similar anchors, just
 as ‘CQR’ is often wrongly used for Plough anchors which are not of
that specific design. A Danforth has excellent holding power, and so
have some of its copies. An important point is that the shank should
be strong enough and stiff enough to match the loads which its high
holding power can impose. In other words, the poor imitations
bend...

Davits The preferred pronunciation rhymes with ‘have it’, but the long
‘a’ is quite OK if you prefer it. A davit is a mini Crane, usually a single
steel tube formed into walking-stick shape. Davits may be of other
shapes, and may be single to lift an anchor aboard, or in pairs to lift
a dinghy or ship’s boat.

Dayboat Typically a small sailing boat, somewhere around 20ft,

without a cabin, and used for pleasure sailing as opposed to racing.
Like so many other sailing terms, this one is ill-defined (and not only
by me). It is also used of small power craft, provided that they are
not used for racing or for overnight sleeping. But a fast runabout is
not called a dayboat, nor is a sea angler’s skiff.

Daymark An unlit beacon, normally rather large and erected on the

land, to provide a reference point for pilotage by daylight. Daymarks
often take the form of towers of brick, stone or steel, and may be
several hundred feet high.

Daysailing As the name suggests, sailing where the boat returns to

the same haven each night.

Day Skipper An RYA course teaching basic navigation and

helmsmanship.

Dead reckoning Commonly abbreviated to DR. This is the type of

navigational computation which deduces a position by plotting a
heading and distance run (through the water) since leaving a former
position. It makes no allowance for the effects of tidal stream, or
current, or for leeway. When those influences are taken into account
the result is an Estimated Position, or EP. (The ‘dead’ is supposed to
derive from ‘deduced’, by the way.)
Deadeye A block without a sheave. Normally it has three smoothed
holes bored through the wood, with well-faired entry and exit, to take
the lanyards used for Bowsing down the shrouds of a sailing vessel.
Alternatively, and more likely on a modern boat, the block has a
single hole and is used, perhaps at the clew of a jib, to give a single
whip purchase.

Deadlight A solid cover which can be shipped over a Scuttle for

protection. (Or you could say ‘fitted over a porthole’, but what’s the
good of having this excellent dictionary and not using the proper
terms!)

Deadrise The rise of the bottom of a boat from the keel outward to the
turn of the bilge. A flat-bottomed boat has no deadrise. The sharper
the angle of the ‘V’ in a V-bottomed boat the greater her deadrise. In
planing boats, a flat bottom gives best speed for a fixed power, but
the ride is harsh. Increasing deadrise makes for a softer ride, but
speed suffers slightly. The term deep-vee is applied to hulls with 25
degrees or more of deadrise.

Deadwood A heavy timber fillet which fills the angle between the keel
and sternpost (or transom) of a wooden boat. What you would call a
big bracket if you were fixing a massive shelf in the kitchen. There
may also be a deadwood between keel and stempost, but similar
and smaller brackets in other parts of the ship are called Knees.

Decca The Decca Navigator System used low-frequency radio

transmissions from several different base stations to allow a receiver
to accurately triangulate its position. First deployed in World War II,
Decca was shut down in the spring of 2000 when GPS made it
obsolete.

Deck Need I explain?

Decklight A thick piece of glass let into the deck to allow light below.
Sometimes of ‘bullseye’ or ‘bottle-end’ shape, and sometimes a
prism.
Deck log A rough notebook in which the crew in the cockpit can keep
notes for neat compilation of the proper Log at some later time.

Decked A boat may be fully decked, though the fact is not as likely to
be mentioned as it is when she is ‘half-decked’, which implies
decking over the bows (probably as far aft as the mast), a narrow
strip of decking along each side, and a small afterdeck.

Deckhead The underside of the deck, as viewed from the cabin. Even
if there is an inner lining or ceiling under the deck it will be called the
deckhead. The word ‘Ceiling’ has a special use which I could tell you
now, but rather than be checked out of the lexicographer’s union, I’ll
use that wicked qv – ie see Ceiling.

Deck organiser A series of sheaves used to route control lines along

the deck or coachroof.

Deck saloon A raised coachroof with large windows that allows

people inside to see out while seated.

Deck spreaders Spreaders extending outboard, sideways at deck

level.

Deep vee See Deadrise.

Defaced Of a flag, it means that a known flag pattern is embellished

with some other symbol. For example, the Cruising Association’s
ensign is the British Blue Ensign ‘defaced by a white anchor on a red
ball in the fly’. (See Fly.)

Departure The known position from which a course is laid for Dead
reckoning. For example, the last reliable fix from shore bearings
before the land disappears from view and you are obliged to rely on
dead reckoning.

Depression Meteorologically speaking, an area of relatively low

atmospheric pressure and harbinger of bad weather. Depression
may result in the skipper who hears it’s coming.
Depth The vertical dimension of a hull between Sheer and Keel. Very
often called the Moulded depth. (See Moulded.)

Depth gauge A scale of feet or metres painted vertically on a harbour

wall, or pile or similar, which shows the actual depth of water at that
place. For example, the present depth at the entrance to a lock. A
Tide gauge is similar in appearance, but conveys a different
message.

Depth finder Same thing as an echo sounder.

Designed waterline See Waterline.

Deviation The compass error resulting from the influence of magnetic

materials aboard the ship. In small craft, deviation can often be
avoided by siting the compass where it is several feet clear of the
engine or other objects made of iron or steel. Otherwise one calls in
a compass adjuster, who will place little magnets in positions where
they compensate for the effects of inbuilt metals. Or you can make a
deviation card, which records the errors for various headings. (See
Heeling error and Variation.)

DF Direction-finding. (See Radio direction-finding.)

DGPS Differential GPS. A system to improve the accuracy of GPS by

using signals from a network of ground stations.

Diamond stays A pair of lateral mast stays, leading from the

masthead, over Spreaders and back to the mast above deck level.
(Thus outlining a diamond shape against the sky.)

Diaphone A foghorn operated by compressed air. Characteristically it

emits a deep booming note which ends with a short grunt. (Compare
with the Tyfon.)

Dinghy A small open boat used under oars, sail or outboard, or a

small sailing boat used for racing and having a centreboard and not
a fixed keel. The term is automatically applied to almost any yacht’s
 tender unless she is shaped like a launch and of 14 feet or more in
length, so it also includes inflatables. But note that a small, fast
runabout driven by a powerful motor is not a dinghy.

Dipping light A light seen at such a distance that it appears and

disappears over the horizon as the ship lifts to the swell. The line of
sight to the horizon is naturally below the horizontal (unless you are
swimming) and this angle is the dip. When using a Sextant to
measure the altitude of a heavenly body above the horizon, a
correction must be made for dip.

Dipping lug A four-sided sail with a Yard at the head, which sets on
the leeward side of the mast and has to be changed from side to
side as the boat tacks. To get the yard and the sail round the mast
they have to be dipped or dropped, partially or completely. (See
illustration under Lugsail.)

Dip pole gybe A method of gybing a spinnaker pole, where one end
of the pole stays attached to the mast. The outboard end is released
from the guy, and lowered to pass inside the forestay, whereupon the
new guy is clipped in and the pole rehoisted on the new windward
side of the boat.

Direction finding See Radio direction-finding.

Dirty wind Off the lee quarter of a sailing boat the wind has been
disturbed by vortices shed from her sails, and its direction is shifted
somewhat to weather. Another boat will be hampered in this region
of dirty wind, and may find it impossible to overtake through the lee
quarter, even though she might be the faster if enjoying the same
‘clean’ wind.

Displacement 1 The weight of water which is displaced by a floating

boat, and likewise the weight of the boat herself. A boat weighing, for
example, one ton, immerses until she makes a hole in the sea which
formerly held a ton of water. The pressure to be exerted by the
surrounding water is then the same as it was before. In design, and
therefore in sales pamphlets, the displacement should be the weight
 of the complete boat in seagoing state, with fuel, stores and crew.
(See Thames tonnage and Register tonnage.)
2 In navigation, ‘displacement’ may refer to the distance by which a
position is east or west of a Meridian of longitude.

Displacement hull A hull which always floats in the water and never
planes across it. Displacement craft are relatively slow, but are sea-
kindly and economical in terms of fuel. (See Drag.)

Displacement/length ratio (D/L) This is the standard formula used by

naval architects (and percipient private owners) to assess whether a
particular boat is light or heavy for her length. The underlying reason
for the formula is that a boat which is twice as long as another can
be expected to weigh about eight times as much if she has the same
D/L. The two boats are then comparable in terms of ‘heaviness’ or
‘lightness’. To find the D/L ratio you take her weight in tons and
divide it by the cube of one-hundredth of her waterline length in feet.
It looks like this:
Tons ÷ 0.01ft3
The tons which are used internationally by yacht designers for this
formula are the old-fashioned British kind of 2,240lb each, a fact
which should be noted by North American readers. As a guide, in
case you want to try to work it out for your own boat, the sort of
answer you can expect ranges from 400 Heavy, through 300 for
Medium, and 200 for Light. (Cl alludes, as always, to seaworthy
cruising boats). The other widely used formula for comparing boats
is the sail area/displacement ratio.

Distress signals There are 14 internationally agreed signals which

may be made when a vessel or her crew are in danger and help is
needed. A less urgent signal is to show the letter ‘V’ by flag or Morse
code, meaning that assistance is required, though there is no
immediate danger.

Docking line Just a rope which is used to make a boat fast to a

harbour wall, a pile or even another boat. Six docking lines are
 normally required to moor a boat Alongside: two Breast Ropes; two
Springs; and two Warps.

Dodger A canvas screen erected to keep wind and spray at bay. Your
image will improve if you refer to it as a Weather cloth.

Dog watches In the Royal Navy the shifts of duty known as ‘watches’
are each of four hours, but the period from 1600 to 2000 is split into
the first and second dog watches, each of two hours. This makes a
total of seven watches in the 24 hours, instead of six, and this
uneven number ensures that a fixed pattern of watches does not
result in the same men doing the same watch day after day. There’s
little of value to you or me in this point, except that the phrase is very
common, and equally commonly misunderstood.

Doghouse A raised shelter over the entrance to the cabin, so called

because it has very roughly the dimensions of a dog kennel. More
properly called a Companion. (See Wheelhouse.)

Dolphin A fixed pile of timber, concrete or metal, which is used for

mooring a ship, and especially for Warping in or out of a dock. Also
used of a navigational beacon that stands in water and is rather
massively built.

Dory A flat-bottomed double-ended pulling boat whose sections show

straight flared sides. The thwarts are removable so that the boats
stack one inside the other on a ship’s deck so they can be carried to
the fishing grounds where they are launched for fishing (for example,
long-line). A mast may be stepped and rigged with a small lugsail.
The name dory has also been applied commercially to a triple-vee or
Cathedral-hulled boat, which bears no relation at all to a dory – other
than the fact that both are boats. (See illustration.)
 Dory

Double the angle on the bow, to A navigational technique for finding

one’s distance off a mark, such as a headland. Laying a course to
pass off the headland, a bearing is taken of the mark – let us
suppose that it lies 15 degrees off the bow. Maintaining the same
course, the distance by log is measured until the mark shows double
the angle on the bow (30 degrees off). The direct distance between
ship and mark is now equal to the distance she covered between
taking the two readings. To get the best accuracy it is necessary to
take into account the effect of any tidal stream, since it is the true
distance the ship has moved over the bottom that is required. (See
Four-point bearing.)

Douglas protractor A navigational protractor made on a square sheet

of transparent plastic instead of the conventional circular form. The
square edges make it easy to align the protractor with a meridian, or
with magnetic north. (See Course-setting protractor.)

Down helm Bear away.

Downhaul You guessed it – a rope rigged for the purpose of hauling
something down, commonly a sail or the tack of a sail. (See Inhaul.)

Dowse, to To capture a sail and hold it quiet, by lashing, tricing,

bagging or just sitting on it. Also, as ashore, to extinguish a lamp.

DR Dead reckoning.

Drabbler See Bonnet.

Drag 1 The downward slope of the bottom of a keel which is deeper

aft than forward.
2 The old word used to be ‘resistance’, but drag has been ‘dragged’
into naval architecture from aerodynamics. The water drag of a hull
can be considered as being composed of four different types of drag.
First is form drag, which in essence is due to the difference in
pressure on the back and front faces of a moving object (your hand
when swimming, for example). Second is skin drag, which is akin to
friction but results from the clinging of a thin layer of water (the
boundary layer) to the surface of the hull. This layer moves with the
boat, and there is thus a shearing force between it and the stationary
fluid further away from the skin. Skin drag is much worse from a
rough or fouled hull. Third is the induced drag, which results from the
difference of pressure (lift) on the weather and lee sides of the keel.
Fourth, and of great significance in surface craft, is the wave-making
drag. Wave drag effectively limits the speed of any displacement
craft, and for the following reason: when moving through the water, a
hull creates bow and stern waves, with a hollow between. Any wave
in water has a natural speed, proportionate to the square root of the
length between wave crests, and when the wave is hull-generated
the length between crests is directly related to the length of hull.
Hence a boat’s speed is related to the square root of her hull length.
It works out that a practical speed in knots is found by taking the
square root of the waterline length in feet and multiplying by a factor
between 1.2 and 1.4. Thus a 25 foot waterline boat can be expected
to move at between 6 and 7 knots. The corollary is that the factor
can be found if you divide the speed in knots by the square root of
the waterline length V /√ L, or in words, ‘V over root L’.
Drag, to An anchor drags when it slides across the bottom and will not
stay put. Try more Scope.

Draught 1 The depth of water a vessel draws, in other words the

depth of water she needs to float.
2 Used in describing the shape of a sail and the position of the fullest
part of the aerofoil.

Draw, to A boat draws three feet when the lowest part of her hull,
keel, rudder etc is three feet below the water surface. A sail draws
when it is filled with wind and it pulls on the sheet.

Dress, to A mast is dressed by attaching the standing and running

rigging. Rigging is dressed by coating it with linseed oil, lanolin etc. A
ship is dressed (overall) by rigging all her signal flags (bunting) in a
line from stem to masthead and down to the stern. Sails used to be
dressed with catechu or cutch, red ochre, linseed oil, potassium
bichromate and beeswax in various magic proportions to preserve
the cotton against mildew and rot...but those days are past.

Drift 1 The Nautical Institute of London confines this term to ‘the

distance covered in a given time by the movement of a current
(USA) or tidal stream (UK)’. The same institute uses the word ‘set’
for the direction of that movement. Most of us who navigate our own
boats use ‘drift’ to represent the combination of both those meanings
– in other words, the change of position due to stream or current.
(See Dead reckoning.)
2 A noun, meaning the distance between two blocks in a tackle or
the amount of take-up available in a rope. As the blocks of a tackle
approach, drift gradually lessens, and it is zero when they are
Chock-a-block.
3 (of stays) The linear displacement of the lower end of a stay, which
sets it at an angle. For example, a lower shroud might have a drift of
two feet, relative to the Cap shroud.

Drifter An especially lightweight headsail for winds of up to about

force one. A drifter would be in cloth of 2oz. (See Ghoster.)
Drogue Any device designed to drag astern so as to create a slowing
or rearward pull. Used occasionally by motor vessels in heavy seas,
and more often to cross a harbour bar. The rearward drag prevents
the stern from being slewed round by a following sea. A more
prosaic use of a drogue is to keep a dinghy from bumping the
backside of her parent boat in the night. For this job the drogue
usually takes the form of a bucket, which is more effective when
streamed from the stem of the dinghy than from her stern.

Drying mooring A mooring where a boat is sometimes afloat and

sometimes Aground. When the tide leaves her, and she grounds, the
boat is said to be ‘dried out’. Used in that sense, the words simply
mean that the water has left her. The same words may be used in
their ordinary sense of the planks of a boat which has been ashore
and under cover for a long time, so that the wood is thoroughly dry.

DSC Digital Selective Calling. A compulsory system for new marine

VHF systems by which short text-based messages can be broadcast
in digital format. One of its major advantages is the ability to send a
Mayday message via a single button press.

Duck up This is a real old seaman’s term. Most of us would think of

ducking down, but when an old salt lifts the corner of a sail, or raises
a boom to clear his head, he ‘ducks it up’.

Duplex working See Radio.

Dutchman’s log A small chip of wood (or other buoyant material)

which is cast over a bow, and whose passage down the hull is timed.
If the length of the hull is known, it is then possible to calculate the
vessel’s speed.

DWL Design Water Line.

Dyneema See Aramid.

DZ Danger Zone. For example, a practice firing range.

 E

‘Echo’ in the phonetic alphabet. In the International Code of Signals

the single letter ‘E’ means ‘I am altering my course to starboard’. In
Morse code it is just a single dot.

arings (or Earrings) Not rings, but ropes. An earing is any rope
used to lash the corner of a sail to a spar or a halyard, although
shackles are normally used for that job today, except for the clew
earing, which is used to haul the foot of the sail towards the end of
the boom. When reefing, the earings draw the Cringles (which are
rings) down to the boom at clew and tack.

ase, to To slacken a rope slightly. A sheet is eased when it is let out,

Hardened when it is pulled in.

bb, to Both verb and noun. When the tide falls it ebbs. The event is
the ebb. One may leave harbour ‘on the ebb’, or one may ‘take the
ebb to the west’ etc. The contrary term is ‘Flood’, which again is both
a verb and a noun.

BL Electronic Bearing Line. Used in radar to measure a target’s

bearing relative to the radar vessel.

cho sounder A depth-measuring instrument which transmits a pulse

of sound from a transducer in the ship’s bottom, receives the
reflected pulse (echo) and deduces the distance to the bottom by the
time taken for the return trip. Offers wonderful value to the single-
hander who would find it hard to take continuous casts of the lead at
those times when soundings are most needed.
GNOS European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service. See
SBAS.

lectrolytic corrosion Corrosion caused by current leaking from the

boat’s own electrical system. Its results are similar to those of
Galvanic corrosion.

LORAN Enhanced LORAN system claiming to be accurate to within

8m. It also offers additional pulses, which can transmit auxiliary data
such as DGPS corrections.

NC Electronic Navigational Chart. An electronic chart released by the

National Hydrographic Office for use by shipping. ENCs differ from
leisure charts in that they are regarded as an acceptable
replacement for paper charts by the IMO.

nd-for-end A rope such as a halyard is turned end-for-end by the

thrifty owner in order to prolong its life by avoiding concentration of
wear in one place. The same is done with anchor chains. Used
sometimes as a verb, as in ‘We’ll end-for-end the jib halyard next
season’.

nd-for-end gybe A method of gybing a spinnaker pole. One end is

unclipped from the mast and clipped onto the new guy, while the
other is removed from the old guy and clipped onto the mast.

nsign The flag of nationality worn by a vessel. Most countries use

their national flag for their ships, but British ships have a special
ensign with the Union flag in the upper corner of the Hoist. Merchant
ships and most private craft fly the Red Ensign, but members of
some clubs are privileged to fly the Blue Ensign if granted a warrant
to do so on application to the Admiralty. The Royal Navy flies the
White Ensign, and so does the Royal Yacht Squadron, a yacht club
which enjoys royal patronage. The ensign is hoisted at 0800 in
summer and 0900 in winter, and is lowered at sunset or 2100,
whichever is earlier. The ensign is used for saluting a senior vessel.
(See Dip, to.)
P Estimated Position. See Dead reckoning.

PIRB Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon. An electronic

device which sends a distress signal via satellite on the 406MHz
frequency. EPIRBs are automatically triggered when they come into
contact with salt water.

poxy resin A resin which is stronger than the cheaper polyester. It

makes an excellent glue and is the basis of very good ‘putty’ for
filling screw holes, cracks in resinglass hulls etc.

quinox The times of year when the length of day and night are
equal, about 20 March and 22 September. The weeks either side of
these dates are loosely embraced by the same term, and it is around
that time that some people expect to suffer ‘equinoctial gales’,
though I don’t think that these expectations are supported by the
statistical records. But tides are certainly higher (and lower) than
average at the equinoxes.

stablishment An old-fashioned term of little practical value to the

modern boatowner, who will simply use his tide tables. The
‘establishment’ of a given place is the time difference between the
transit of either the full or the new moon and of High water on the
following day. Also known as High water full and change.

stimated position (EP) This is the position of the ship as deduced

from Dead reckoning. It has a much higher probability of inaccuracy
than a Fix from cross bearings or similar.

TRS89 (European Terrestrial Reference System) A European-based

geodetic system to approximate the Earth’s shape. Many European
charts use ETRS89 rather than the WGS84 (World Geodetic
System) used by GPS; however, the difference is usually less than a
metre.

uphroe The Deadeye through which run the multipart sheets of a

fully battened Chinese ‘junk’ sail.
xpanded polystyrene (EPS) A lightweight plastic material (‘man-
made cork’) which is used in blocks to provide buoyancy. Small
dinghies and fun-boats are made entirely of EPS, but it lacks
sufficient strength for bigger craft.

ye-band A metal band with eyes for attaching shrouds or stays to a

mast, boom or bowsprit. (See Cranse iron and Spider band.)

ye-splice An eye formed in a rope’s end by turning it back and

splicing. ‘Eye’ is used afloat in the same manner as ashore, for eye-
bolts, eye-plates etc.

yebrow A lip or ledge formed above a Scuttle or window to divert

water that might otherwise drip in. (See Rigol.)

yes The eyes of a vessel are the extreme forward parts of the bows
immediately Abaft the Stem.
 F

‘Foxtrot’ in the phonetic alphabet. In the International Code of Signals

the single letter ‘F’ means ‘I am disabled; communicate with me’. In
Morse code it is . . – . .

On charts ‘F’ means ‘fixed’, though for the most part I am omitting
chart abbreviations.

air wind A wind that allows a boat to Fetch between two points
without the need to tack. A boat may be close-hauled with a fair
wind, but she is less than close-hauled when the wind is Free.

airlead A device made to lead a rope smoothly or fairly. A fairlead

may be made of plastic or wood or metal, and come in a variety of
forms. Some fairleads are open: for example, those mounted on
sidedecks to prevent chafe of mooring lines, and others are closed,
as is the case with the Bullseye sheet lead. A fairlead is fixed to the
boat, whereas a Deadeye is usually free to move: for example, a
deadeye may be attached to a sail.

airway The main navigable channel in an estuary or harbour. The

fairway should be kept clear of anchored craft, fleets of racing
dinghies and the like, in the same way that racing and parking are
discouraged on a main road.

ake A single coil of rope, or loop of chain, as it might lie on the deck.
The difficulty here is that in the past the verb ‘to fake’ was used for
the arranging of a sail or rope in folds, whereas the modern word for
this is ‘Flake’.
all The hauling part of a halyard or other tackle. (See Halyard.)

all off, or fall away, to To sail not quite so close to the wind as you
have been doing.

ashion pieces Shaped parts of timber used to thicken the inside

face of a Transom around the edges so as to provide extra bearing
surface for the plank ends.

ast Perversely, a boat is fast when she is held stationary, either by

mooring lines or because she is stuck on the mud. Items of
equipment are fast when they are fixed – that’s to say, they are
‘made fast’.

astenings Nails, screws, rivets, bolts (and even Trunnels).

athom A unit of length equal to 6ft, and used mainly where depth is
involved, as in soundings or lengths of anchor cable. The unit is
expected to die out slowly now that Admiralty charts and pilot books
have gone metric. (Though having seen French carpenters working
in inches after about 150 years of the metric system, I emphasise the
‘slowly’!)

athom lines Contour lines drawn on charts to show the shape of the
seabed. (On metric charts they ought to be ‘metre lines’, but I have
not yet seen the term used.)

ay, to To shape and fit two surfaces accurately together.

eather, to To turn the blade of an oar so that it is parallel with the

surface of the water and presents less windage on the return stroke.
(See Propeller.)

end off, to To hold a boat off an object she is about to strike.

ender A cushion, shaped like a ball, a pear or a sausage, and with

an eye for the attachment of a lanyard, which is used to protect and
pad the ship’s side when she is Alongside a wall or another vessel.
errocement A structural material for boat hulls and decks which has
been used by a few boat builders in the last few decades, though it
has been known for about a hundred years. Essentially, a basket or
armature of iron rods is made in the shape of the hull. The rods are
then overlaid with a mesh of thinner welded rods, or even a heavy
chicken wire. The whole is then plastered with cement, which is
allowed to cure at a slow and carefully controlled rate. Care is
needed at every stage, and skill is needed especially for the
plastering process, but if both are present the hull will be durable,
pleasing to the eye and not expensive.

etch 1 The distance a sea wave has travelled before it reaches you,
or the uninterrupted extent of sea to windward. The point is that the
longer the fetch the greater the chance for the seas to build up.
2 A course that can be sailed to windward without tacking. A close
fetch is the same, but close-hauled, and means that you can just
fetch the desired mark or position. As you see, the word is also a
verb, and to ‘fetch a buoy’ means to be able to sail to it on the one
Board.

I Flashing – on charts, and another exception to my intention to omit

the many, many chart abbreviations.

ibreglass The technique of drawing molten glass into fine threads

has been known for more than 3,000 years, and in the last few
decades the high-tensile strength of these filaments has been put to
use in the reinforcement of resins. A fibreglass hull is only partly
glass, the rest is polyester resin, so it is better to call this composite
material Resinglass. The glass content of a moulded hull may lie
between 30 and 70 per cent, from which it follows that the same may
be said of the polyester content. The most common form in which
glass is laminated or ‘laid up’ is the Chopped Strand Mat (CSM).
This is a mat of randomly laid strands, tacked temporarily together
by an adhesive which is soluble in the moulding resin. Individual
fibres are about one-hundredth of a millimetre in diameter (ten times
as thin as a human hair, say). They are made up into strands, which
in turn can be woven into cloth. A coarse form of cloth, loosely
woven from bundles of strands, is known as ‘woven Rovings’ and is
used by some builders in hull moulding. If all woven rovings were
used, the glass would account for some 70 per cent of hull weight; if
all CSM were used it would account for 30 per cent. Some moulders
use a mixture of the two forms of glass.

id A fat, tapered bodkin used for opening the lay of a rope when
making a splice and may be of wood or metal. (Another type of fid,
rarely seen now, was the square-section metal pin used to retain a
topmast or a bowsprit.)

iddle An upstanding ledge around a table or stove top, or along the

front of a shelf, to prevent items from sliding off.

iddle block A block with two sheaves of different sizes and fitted one
above the other in the same plane, thus presenting a shape not
unlike the body of a fiddle.

iddle head The decorative scrolled carving at the stemhead of a

clipper bow, similar in appearance to the scroll of a violin.

ife rail A bar or rail, of wood or metal, in which several belaying pins
are set in a row so that halyards can be made fast to them.
Commonly situated at the foot of the mast, athwartships if a single,
or fore-and-aft on either side if they are a pair. (See Pinrail.)

igure of eight knot A Stopper knot, made in the end of a rope to

prevent it slipping through a fairlead, or to make a handhold. Its merit
is that it does not jam. It is also the packer’s knot, which has nothing
to do with boating, but is an essential part of life’s equipment –
unless your servants make up all your parcels for you. (See
illustration.)
 Figure of eight

illers 1 Pasty compounds of various consistencies used to smooth

out the porous grain of wood and to fill minor cracks and blemishes.
Stoppers or Stopping are stiffer and heavier and are used for filling
deeper cavities.
2 Fillers in the form of fine powders may be used to improve the
properties of reinforced plastics materials, such as the Resinglass
composite used for moulding boat hulls. On occasion, and mainly in
the ‘bad old days’, fillers were used to save money by bulking out the
resin. For that reason they got a bad name, but when used for the
proper reasons they are welcome.

isherman’s staysail Like other nautical words, the meaning differs

from one region to another. On gaff cutters when I was a lad (long,
long ago) the fisherman’s staysail was a long-footed staysail – so
long in the foot that it was almost an equilateral triangle. But on a
schooner, the fisherman is a four-sided sail set between the two
mastheads.

isherman’s anchor The traditional type of anchor. The kind that

looks like an anchor – see the entry under Anchor and its
accompanying illustration.

isherman’s bend A useful knot for hitching a warp to an anchor, or

for any purpose where the hitch may be heavily loaded. It is akin to
the Round turn and two half hitches, but is less likely to jam. (See
illustration.)
 Fisherman’s bend

it out, to Either the preparation of a new ship with all she needs to
perform her duties at sea, or the subsequent and similar preparation
after Laying up. For the average yacht owner, fitting out is a yearly
task, following the winter lay-up.

ix A fix is an estimate of position based on observations of fixed

objects. The observations may be compass Bearings of shore
marks, radio bearings on beacons, a Sounding, a Transit, or some
specialised technique such as Decca. Cross bearings are a common
example of a fix which you ‘get’ or ‘take’.

ixed light A light which is permanently on (when it is on at all).

Compare Flashing and Occulting. And see ‘Fixed and flashing’,
though you could hardly avoid it, for here it is...

ixed and flashing A light that is permanently on, but with flashes of
increased brilliance. The Mariner’s Handbook also defines a fixed
and group flashing light whose flashes of brilliance are in coded
groups – but, sadly, I have never seen one of these.

lake, to To fold, or lay in folds. The mainsail is flaked down over the
boom when it is laid in folds left and right to make a neat package.
An anchor chain is flaked down on deck when it is Ranged in long
loops ready to run. A rope is flaked when looped on deck in a figure
of eight, likewise ready to run. There is the possibility of confusion
with ‘Fake’ which was used by some people in the past as a verb
with the meaning of ‘to fold’.

lam A hull section which is a convex curve all the way, growing wider
from keel to sheer, has flam. Compare with the first definition of
‘Flare’ below...

lare 1 A hull section which starts from the keel as a convex curve but
changes to concave near the sheer. This results in an outward-
curving ‘lip’, like the inverted section of a bell. (See Tumblehome.)
2 A firework intended to create a bright light, red in colour as a sign
of distress, or white to indicate ‘I am here – please don’t run me
down’. White flares used in small boats are always hand-held; red
flares may be, but they may also be projected skyward by rocket,
and may descend by parachute. Star shells and hand-held fireworks
which look like red Roman candles also come under the general
term of ‘flares’, though they may have more proper and precise
names of their own.

lare-up light An obsolescent term for a white flare such as may be

used to draw attention to your presence if you are afraid of being run
down. Rule 36 of the Collision Regulations says that a vessel may
attract attention by light or sound signals, provided that they cannot
be mistaken for any other type of signal. In practice this is likely to
mean shouting, or showing a white flare.

lashing light An intermittent light showing a single flash at regular

intervals. The period of light is less than the intervening periods of
darkness. Abbreviated ‘FI’ on the chart. A Group flashing light shows
two or more flashes at regular intervals and is abbreviated ‘FI (3)’,
with the number of flashes in the group shown in the brackets.

lat A barge, sometimes a sailing barge, but more often a towed

barge on inland waters. Sometimes a raft-like contraption used for
work Alongside ship in harbour. (See Catamaran [2].)
lattener Or Leech Cunningham. On a mainsail, this acts as a mini
reef to flatten and reduce sail area.

lattie A dinghy with a flat bottom, hard chines and flat sides. In fact,
‘flat’ is not strictly correct because, in common with other ‘flat-
bottomed’ boats, a flattie may have Rocker to her bottom and fore-
and-aft curvature in her sides. They are flat only in the sense that
they could be made by bending flat sheets in one plane only. (See
Scow and Punt.)

leet, to To shift something horizontally, whereas to Sway is to move

vertically. You could sway the dinghy aboard, then fleet her aft,
though I must confess that you don’t hear anybody using these
words nowadays – more’s the pity.

loat The floating walkway of a marina in the USA – or what would be

called a ‘pontoon’ in Britain. (See Catamaran [2].)

log, to A sail flogs when it flaps widely from side to side. Flogging is
like fluttering on a grand scale.

lood Both verb and noun. When the tide rises it floods, and the event
is the flood. One may plan to enter harbour or explore a creek ‘on
the flood’, or to ‘take the flood’ up Channel. The contrary term is Ebb.

loor A structural member in a boat. It lies athwart the keel and links
the keel itself to the frames on either side. There are many floors in a
steel or wooden boat, of course. (Please note that the flat surface
that forms the cabin ‘floor’ is called the ‘Sole’, and that it is incorrect
to call it anything else, even though it may be composed of pieces of
wood which you can, quite correctly, call ‘floorboards’. The cockpit
also has a sole.) A dinghy has Bottom boards.

lotilla A group of boats. Usually refers to an organised charter, with

several boats led by a skippered yacht from the charter operator.

lotsam Floating wreckage, goods or equipment accidentally lost

overboard. Material deliberately thrown into the sea (sometimes to
lighten a ship) is Jetsam.

luke The flattened and broadened area of an anchor which digs into
the bottom. Also known as the Palm.

luxgate A type of compass which electronically senses the horizontal

component of the Earth’s magnetic field.

ly 1 The horizontal dimension of a flag. The vertical dimension is the

Hoist. The fly is also the lower corner of a flag, furthest from the
hoist, and it is in this corner that it may bear a special emblem. The
flag is then said to be defaced.
2 A small wind indicator, usually at the masthead, in the form of a
pennant or windsock.

lying bridge A lightweight raised deck structure, higher than the

principal structure, and provided to give a good view all round.

lying of a sail A sail which is attached only at head and tack, and is
not hanked to a forestay. Jibs are often set flying, spinnakers
invariably.

oam luff Found in roller reefing headsails, where a foam pad is sewn
into the luff of a sail to improve its aerodynamic shape when reefed.

og (in shipping forecast) Visibility less than 1,000 metres.

og signals Not only used in fog, these signals are to be made when
visibility is restricted by ‘fog, mist, falling snow, heavy rain,
sandstorms or any other causes whether by day or night...’ Under
way, signals are made by Whistle or horn; at anchor by bell. See the
Collision Regulations, Reeds Almanac or similar for extensive
details.

oil 1 In conventional use, an underwater appendage, such as a keel

or rudder.
2 A keel or rudder that generates lift to raise the hull clear of the
water at high speeds.
oiler A boat whose hull is (or hulls are) lifted clear of the water at
speed by foils, such as the new breed of foiling Moth dinghies or the
French record-breaking ‘l’Hydroptère’ trimaran.

ollowing wind The opposite of headwind – that is to say, a wind up

your tail. But some people call it a ‘leading’ wind, because it leads on
ahead to your destination, I suppose. The fact that ‘following’ and
‘leading’ can mean the same thing may be a bit confusing until you
get used to it.

oot The lower edge of a sail. (The forward edge is the Luff and the
after edge the Leech.) Also the lower few feet of the mast.

oot block See Cheek block.

ore Mostly used as an adjective, when it has the opposite sense to

‘After’: ‘forecabin’ and ‘after cabin’, ‘foredeck’ and ‘afterdeck’. But it
can also be a noun (‘well to the fore’), or an adverb (‘fore-and-aft’),
though that last is a peculiarity, and the usual adverb is ‘Forward’. Its
most common and important adverbial role is in ‘Fore-reach’, an
expression used mainly to describe the slow forward movement of a
sailing vessel which is Hove-to.

ore-and-aft rig The almost universal rig of sailing boats nowadays,

with all sails fixed at the forward edges and sheeted from the after
edges. Contrast with the Square sails of yore.

ore-reach See Fore.

orecastle Used to be a built-up fighting platform over the bows of the

vessel, but is nowadays generally used of the space under the
foredeck where your fights are with your sleeping bag. Pronounced
‘focsle’, as in ‘folks’ll never believe you can sleep in that tiny space...’
It would be less pretentious to talk about your forecabin, and more
descriptive to call it the forepeak – unless you have a large boat.

orefoot The lower part of the stem where it joins the keel below the
waterline, or the foremost part of the keel where it joins the
underwater part of the stem...take your pick! (See Tuck.)

oremast The meaning is so obvious that, like Foredeck, it barely

seems worth troubling over. Yet in a ketch or a yawl, where the after
of the two masts is the smaller, the forward mast is the mainmast. In
a schooner, where the after mast is the greater, the forward one is
indeed the foremast. In boats with three or more ‘sticks’ the foremost
is always the foremast.

orepeak The peaks are the narrow spaces under the deck in the
bows of every boat, and in the stern of those which have pointed
after ends. Every boat has a forepeak, but only some have an
afterpeak. (See Stern sheets.)

oresail This is one of two quite different sails, according to the type
of rig. In a Schooner it is a sail set Abaft the foremast, usually with a
boom at its foot just like an ordinary mainsail. But it may also be a
Headsail, and usually the one set to the stemhead of the boat – in
other words the forestaysail, which is commonly shortened to
Staysail. Those who sailed (and some still sail) Thames barges
tended to call their staysails ‘foresails’ (see illustration under Sprit),
as did (and do) some fishing and workboat skippers. Where a boat
has a single headsail, it is commonly called the Jib, but where she
has two headsails the jib is the foremost one.

oreshore That part of the shore which lies between high and low
water at Mean Spring Tides.

orestay (or headstay) The stay which runs from the bow of a boat to
the masthead. The corresponding one aft is the Backstay.

ork end Rigging screws are made with fork ends or eye ends. A fork
end is closed with a clevis pin, an eye accepts the pin of a shackle.

orm stability Stability derived from the shape of the hull rather than
from the ballast.
orward Adjective and adverb. The winch is mounted forward on
deck, forward of the foremast, and you go forward to get to it. But the
boat herself does not go forward, she goes Ahead. The word is often
pronounced ‘forrard’, but is not spelt like that (except just this once).

oul ropes and cables These are fouled when tangled, especially
around your own propeller or your own anchor. In such cases the
anchor or propeller is foul or fouled, too. A boat with a Foul bottom
has weed and barnacle growing there, but a foul bottom may be the
same as Foul ground, an area of the seabed where it would be
unwise to drop your anchor because rocks, wrecks or cables might
foul it. A foul berth has nothing to do with hygiene or comfort – it
results when a vessel anchors so near another moored vessel that
there is the risk of collision between the two. It is up to the later
arrival to avoid giving a foul berth to any boat already at anchor, and
to shift if necessary.

ound Used only in the phrase ‘well found’, of a ship which is well
fitted, provisioned and maintained. The converse, ‘ill found’, is rarely
used, but enlivens conversation or writing all the more so for that
reason.

ounder, to Not just another word for ‘to sink’, it has implications of
sinking in a goodly depth, for it comes from the Latin fundus,
meaning ‘bottom’, from which we also have ‘profundity’.

our-point bearing A special case of Doubling the angle on the bow.

The log is read when an object bears 45 degrees off the bow (ie four
points), and again when it bears 90 degrees. The distance off is then
equal to the distance run between these two observations.

ractional rig A rig where the forestay attaches below the masthead.

rame A rib of the hull, either of steel or of sawn timber. If grown

naturally to the shape, or steam-bent, such a rib will be called a
‘Timber’. Whether using timbers or frames, a hull is said to be ‘in
frame’ when building has progressed as far as the skeleton.
rap, to To bind something tightly by wrapping a rope or cord around
it. Those annoying halyards that clink and clank against metal masts
should be frapped – and so should owners who neglect this simple
social decency. When a spinnaker becomes frapped it is a
nightmare.

ree The wind is free when it comes from Abaft the beam, whereupon
the boat is sailing free. Furthermore the wind frees, or even frees the
boat, when it shifts more aft so that the boat is sailing ‘free-er’.

reeboard The height of the boat’s side above the water. Best
measured to the lowest point at which water could get on the deck or
into the cockpit.

reeing port An opening in the bulwarks, sometimes with a hinged

flap, through which water can escape from the deck seaward.

reshen the nip, to To move or adjust a rope so that the wear does
not continue to come at the same point.

ront A meteorological term. The line where a cold air mass meets a
warmer one. If the colder air is advancing it is a cold front, and if the
warmer air is advancing, well, I give you three guesses...

RP Fibre Reinforced Plastic. A term often used instead of GRP

(Glass Reinforced Plastic) to reflect the fact that fibres other than
those made of glass are now common in boat construction.

ull and by A nice point about a point of sailing. The ‘by’ implies that
the boat is being sailed ‘by the wind’ and not by compass course. In
fact, she is sailing close to the wind, but the sails are kept
comfortably full so that she makes a good speed. In sailing ‘full and
by’ the aim is to make the best possible progress to windward – what
our modern instrumentised skippers would call best VMG Velocity
Made Good: the best balance between high pointing and fast footing.

ull and change The times of the full and new moon – the ‘full’ refers
to the time of the full moon and the ‘change’ to the time of new or
‘changing’ moon. Significant dates in tidal predictions, relating to
Spring and Neap tides respectively. The time of HW bears a
constant relationship to the full and new moons at any particular
place, and if you know the time of high tide after full moon you will
know it for every subsequent full moon through the year.

ully battened main A mainsail with battens extending the full width
of the sail, from luff to leech.

url, to To gather up a sail into a neat package along its length. A

mainsail is furled along its boom – a headsail is often furled by rolling
it up around its own luff. But furling implies merely a tidy stow. A
partly furled sail cannot be set to the wind as a reefed sail can.

urler See Roller reefing.

uttocks Where a curved frame or rib is made of more than one

piece, each component piece is a futtock. Possibly it was originally a
‘fat hook’, in the form of one curved piece turning the bilge between
a vertical rib and a Floor. The word is not likely to be important to the
modern yachtsman, but a shout of ‘And futtocks to you!’ carries great
force with perfect propriety.
 G

G ‘Golf’ in the phonetic alphabet. In the International Code of Signals

the single letter ‘G’ means ‘I require a pilot’, and may be made by
flag or any other method of signalling. It is – – . in Morse code. (Note
that a fishing vessel when on her fishing grounds may make ‘G’ to
mean ‘I am hauling my nets’.)

GA General arrangement. A plan view of a boat’s Accommodation.

Gaff The spar at the head of a four-sided fore-and-aft sail. A gaff may
be short or long. (A Gunter mainsail is strictly speaking four-sided,
though two of the sides almost form a straight line. The spar at the
upper end of a gunter luff is called the ‘Yard’.)

Gale (in shipping forecast) Winds of Beaufort force 8 (34–40 knots).

Galileo A European-sponsored equivalent to GPS, Galileo differs from

GPS and GLONASS in being entirely non-military.

Galley 1 The tea tray-sized area in one corner of the cabin where you
fry bacon and heat beans. For what is often little more than a
cupboard the word might seem pretentious, but the usage is quite
normal, and it embraces cooker, sink, and pan stowage as well as
worktop.
2 Rare, but could be used more. A clinker boat of some 30 feet,
propelled by oars or sail and part-decked. In films you may have
seen Admiral Hornblower being pulled ashore in a galley on
important occasions. (When he was a captain he would have had a
Gig, which is similar but smaller than a galley.)
Gallows A support for the lowered mainboom, consisting of two
uprights and a crossbar. Unlike a crutch it is normally a fixture. (See
Crutch.)

Galvanic corrosion Corrosion that occurs when dissimilar metals are

connected and immersed in salt water.

Galvanic isolator An electrical component that isolates metallic

elements from any stray currents in the marina. Without the isolator,
a galvanic corrosion path may be created via the shore power
connection.

Galvanise, to As far as we are concerned it is to plate iron or steel

with a layer of zinc, as protection against rust. Properly it would
apply to any type of electroplating, but usage now has ‘galvanise’ for
non-electric processes such as ‘hot-dip galvanising’, or even ‘cold
galvanising’, in which a zinc-rich paint is brushed on. Since stainless
steel took over most of the duties of galvanised mild steel, the most
common galvanised item to be seen on boats is the anchor chain,
and probably the anchor too. Be that as it may, zinc-plating is still a
powerful defence against rust.

Gammon iron A metal ring or band which holds the bowsprit to the
stemhead. A word not much used in recent decades, but as the
benefits of bowsprits are rediscovered, it may make a comeback too.
(See Cranse iron.)

Gangway Boarding plank.

Garboard In wooden boats, the plank or strake nearest the keel. One
each side, of course.

Gaskets Short lengths of rope or tape used as sail stops or ties.

Gate start A method of starting a race when a large number of boats

are involved. The starting line is not static, but lies between a moving
boat and a free-floating buoy. (See Line start.)
Gel coat The ‘g’ is soft, but the coat should not be. It is the glossy
outer skin of a resinglass-moulded hull which not only gives desired
beauty but also protects the underlying laminate against ingress of
water. It is between half and a quarter of a millimetre in thickness (up
to a fiftieth of an inch, say) and should be treated with care.
Scratches and cracks should be filled before water gets a chance to
penetrate, because a subsequent frost would burst further areas of
gel coat away from the laminate. Most of the troubles with resinglass
hulls are related to the gel coat.

Gennaker See Asymmetric spinnaker.

Genoa A large triangular headsail, extending Abaft the mast and often
coming right down to the deck. It’s a very efficient sail, because it
gets a clean wind free from interference by any other sail, but the
‘genny’ can be awkward to handle and, if low-cut, can block the
helmsman’s view ahead. It was first recognised as a sail in its own
right at the 1927 International Regatta in Genoa, though in fact it is
simply a development of the Dutchman’s fok, the reaching staysail
and the fisherman’s jib.

Ghoster, to ghost An especially lightweight headsail for winds of up

to about force 2 (or between 1 and 2). The ghoster would be in cloth
of 2 to 3oz. ‘To ghost’ is to sail very slowly in the lightest of breezes.
(See Drifter.)

Gig A clinker-built open boat of four or six oars. Long and lean, she is
easy to pull. She may also be rigged with sail. Naval officers go
ashore in them and practical civilians sometimes get a chance to buy
one that the navy no longer needs. (Both ‘g’s are hard.)

Gimbals Concentric, pivoted metal rings which allow a compass, lamp

or similar to swing freely and so remain upright no matter how the
ship pitches or rolls. The ‘g’ is soft (though it is now commonly
pronounced with a hard ‘g’) and the plural form is used of the device
alone, but the singular is used in combination as on ‘gimbal ring’.
Also used to describe single-axis mechanisms that allow items such
as cookers to remain level when the boat heels.
Gingerbread Gilded floral or curlicue carvings at a boat’s bow or
quarters, or across her stern.

Gipsy A wheel on a windlass with a notched and grooved rim to

receive and hold the links of a chain cable.

Girt, to To constrain or distort a sail by a rope or other hard edge

running across it. The hull may be girt by a mooring line or anchor
cable.

GLONASS GLObal’naya NAvigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema or

GLObal NAvigation Satellite System. Equivalent to GPS, operated
by the Russian government.

Glue Marine glue is not glue at all. It is a special compound used for
Paying or Caulking the seams between deck planks. Having
established that, there is a wide range of waterproof adhesives
which can be used for boatbuilding and on which you can get
information from a hardware or tool shop.

GMDSS Global Maritime Distress Safety System. An internationally

agreed set of safety procedures, types of equipment and
communication protocols used to increase safety and make it easier
to rescue distressed ships, boats and aircraft.

Gnav The reverse of a ‘Vang’, hence the name. A rigid strut above the
gooseneck that exerts a downward force on the boom.

Go about Also ‘Put about’. To turn the ship’s head through the wind,
to Tack. Turning the other way, tail to wind, is to Gybe or Wear.

Good (in shipping forecast) Visibility more than 5 nautical miles.

Goodrich bearing See Cutless bearing.

Gooseneck The double-hinged fitting which attaches the boom to the

mast.
Goosewinged Running before the wind with the mainsail out to one
side and the staysail to the other. (See Wing-and-wing.)

GPS Global Positioning System. A highly accurate navigational aid

which makes use of automatic measurements from a multiplicity of
artificial satellites.

Gradient wind A wind resulting from a difference in barometric

pressure across the face of the Earth. The more marked the change
of pressure in a given distance, or the closer the isobars on the
synoptic chart, the steeper the gradient and the higher the resulting
wind speed.

Granny knot A granny knot afloat is the same as ashore, and the
same that you learned about in infancy...I hope.

Grapnel A multiple hook, with two, three or four prongs, designed to

catch in a bush ashore, or to snare a lost cable on the bottom.

Grating A collection of square holes held together by wood –

preferably teak. Ideal for the floor of a shower room, but seen at its
best in the cockpit of a really smart yacht, or in the bottom of her
tender. In a perfect world every boat would have gratings.

Grave, to To inlay a piece of wood so as to make good a damaged

part. The inlay is known as a graving piece, and if fitted by a
craftsman you won’t know that it is there.

Great circle See Rhumb line.

Green stage The chemical process of curing a resinglass hull can

take days or weeks. Although the resin may appear to have set quite
firmly in less than an hour, the assembly may be susceptible to
permanent distortion for a period of weeks. If left unsupported during
that time, it may take on a permanent change of shape. This is part
of the green stage, though the greenest part is in the first hour.
Moral: if you buy a freshly moulded hull, set it up true, support it well,
 and build in stiffening bulkheads and the like before supports are
moved.

GRIB GRIdded Binary. A data format used in meteorology to store

historical and forecast weather data. Often used by sailors to provide
weather overlays to charts for routeing.

Gribble A small marine creature, similar in appearance to a

woodlouse, which eats underwater timber. Unlike the Teredo, it does
not burrow into the wood but bores in to about an inch, then emerges
and starts again, thereby revealing its presence. Like the teredo it
dies when the timber is removed from salt water.

Grid compass A compass which has a movable frame of reference or

cursor which can be rotated to any desired setting. After selecting
the setting you just need to maintain a course which will keep the
compass ‘needle’ (or a boldly marked card) in line with the grid
marking above. If the grid is set correctly in the first place, this
arrangement makes it much easier to hold the right course, and
errors due to misreading are eliminated.

Gripe, to A sailing boat gripes when she shows a strong tendency to

turn up into the wind and requires great tiller force to restrain her.
The noun ‘gripe’ means the forefoot or the forward extremity of the
keel, but is now obsolescent.

Grommet 1 An eyelet in the edge of a sail, usually a small one such

as is used to attach a luff slide. Modern sails have grommets at the
head, tack and clew, but habit has endowed those larger grommets
with the name of ‘Cringle’. In the past, that word was reserved for a
ring attached outside the bolt rope, whereas a grommet was an eye
within the rope, in the margin of the cloth itself. The brass eyelets
that you can fit yourself with a punch and die are called ‘grommets’
aboard ship.
2 A rope ring. Handy for deck quoits.

Grounding plate An escape route for electrical charge which is built

into the hull of a boat and is essential for minimising damage from
 lightning strikes.

Ground swell Technically, this is a swell which, on reaching a depth of

less than half its wavelength, starts to become shorter and steeper,
before breaking in even shallower water. In that sense it is a wave
train, which is influenced by the nearness of the ground. But to most
yacht skippers, a ground swell is just a swell which arrives from far
off when there is no local wind to set up seas of the same height.

Ground tackle Your anchoring equipment, principally your anchors

and cables.

Grow, to An anchor cable is said to grow in the direction in which it

lies from the ship. ‘Which way does the cable grow?’ a good wife
should ask her straining husband. If she can understand his reply
she should motor the boat slowly in that direction to relieve the load.

GRP Glass Reinforced Plastic.

Guard rail The ‘fence’ around the deck which should save you from
falling overboard. It should stand at least two feet high and be good
and strong.

Gudgeon Every book must have its sex interest nowadays, and here
it is. The gudgeon is the female part of a pair of rudder hangings,
into which the male Pintle fits. You need a pair of these pairs to hang
a rudder, and sometimes more may be used.

Gunter lug
A type of sail, the upper half of whose luff is fixed to a yard which
rises bodily up to the mast and extends more or less vertically above
it. The resulting short mast is welcome on dinghies which are left on
open moorings, or are trailed on the road, or which are used on
waters spanned by low bridges. A really good rig for boats up to 20
feet or so, but rare in anything larger. Note that the yard stands
almost vertically, in contrast to the acute angle of a Gaff. (See
Lugsail.)
 Gunter

Gunwale A wale is a strake standing proud of the planking, and the

gunwale should be the uppermost member along each side of a hull,
linking all the ribs and the topmost plank. But usage now has it
simply as the upper edge of the ship’s side, even in resinglass (or
fibreglass) boats where no such structural wale exists. It is
pronounced ‘gunnel’, as I am sure you are aware. (See Sheer
strake.)

Guy A rope used to restrain a boom. It may lead forward from the
boom as a precaution against an unexpected gybe, or else aft from a
Spinnaker boom.

Gybe, to (or Jibe in American) To turn a boat so that the wind

changes from one quarter to the other across her stern, so swinging
 the mainsail over abruptly. This manoeuvre is called a ‘gybe’. A
gybing course is one where the boat is running before the wind with
a chance that the wind will get behind the mainsail and swing it
across. In a cabin boat, a deliberate gybe is made by hauling in the
mainsheet until the sail is almost fore-and-aft so that it cannot gain
much momentum in its short swing across. Once the wind is on the
new side of the sail the sheet can be eased. Light dinghies, by
contrast, often gybe All standing, allowing boom and sail to sweep
right across from square out on the one side to square out on the
other. The greater mass and inertia of equipment aboard a cruising
boat makes the gybe all standing a risky business. (See Wear, to.)

Gybe-oh! Helmsman’s warning call to crewmembers who have just

had their hats knocked off by his unpremeditated gybe.

Gyrocompass (Gyro) A non-magnetic means of ascertaining a

vessel’s heading by always pointing to true north. Traditionally,
gyrocompasses used a rapidly spinning wheel, but modern versions
use lasers. Gyros are often used to stabilise autopilot systems.

GZ Curve A graph plotting a boat’s righting moment (expressed in lb

or kg) or righting arm (in ft–lb or kg–m) from 0° to 180° of heel.
 H

‘Hotel’ (pronounced the English way rather than the French) in the
phonetic alphabet. In the International Code ‘H’ means ‘I have a pilot
on board’. It is a commonly made single-letter signal since a ship
normally flies the ‘H’ flag whenever she does have a pilot. In Morse
code ‘H’ is . . . . (four dots). In bad visibility a pilot vessel may identify
herself by sounding ‘H’ on her whistle. Otherwise, this signal may not
be made by sound.

alf-breadth plan A drawing showing horizontal sections of a boat’s

hull, or what are known as Waterlines, though only one section is
really the waterline. Only half the boat is shown, thus allowing the
designer more time to watch television.

alf decker An open boat with a certain amount of decking –

commonly over the Forepeak, over the stern sheets and along each
side of the Well. About half the total area is decked, and the decking
is around all the outer margin.

alf hitch Half of a very useful hitch known as ‘two half hitches’. (See
illustration.) One half hitch by itself has little other than very transient
value, but make a second one and you have enduring security. (See
Round turn and two half hitches.)
 Half-hitch

alf tide A half-tide mooring is one where your boat floats for
(roughly) half the day and is Aground for the other half. A half-tide
rock is sometimes immersed and sometimes not – pretty obvious,
really.

alyards Originally ‘haul-yards’, now any rope for raising a yard, a

sail, an ensign or a burgee up a mast or staff. A rope which adjusts
the height of something or simply holds it up, rather than moving it
from bottom to top, is a Lift, as in Topping lift. But the rope that lifts a
cargo aboard, or raises a dinghy in davits, is a Fall.

ambro line Small hemp rope or cord, in the region of four to five
millimetres in diameter, used for lashings and so forth. I wish I knew
why it’s called ‘hambro line’, though. Codline is technically not the
same, but yachtsmen treat it as if it were, and either can be used for
odd jobs. If you’re not sure what to call cord when aboard, the term
‘small stuff’ will mark you down as a mariner of unrivalled
experience, and saves you the trouble of searching for the precise
term.

and compass More commonly called a hand bearing compass, and

nearly always with the stress on the word ‘hand’ as if it grew hands
like a fruit-bearing tree. It is a bearing compass, that’s to say one
with some form of sight for taking bearings of other vessels or
objects ashore, and one which is small enough to be held in the
hand.
and, to To lower and furl a sail. The knowing sailor doesn’t get the
mainsail down, he ‘hands’ it.

andy billy A small tackle which many owners like to have aboard
just in case. Normally it consists of a single and a double block, each
of which has a rope tail (or maybe one has a hook). Such a tackle
can be used wherever extra purchase may be required – or perhaps
for breaking out an anchor or to set up a jury stay for the mast.

ank A clip-type fitting that holds the luff of a headsail to a stay. A

hank can be a simple clip or a more complex spring-loaded ‘piston
hank’ type. Spaced at regular distances apart along the luff of a sail,
hanks are usually made from either bronze, stainless steel or nylon.
The word can also be used as a verb, ie ‘to hank on’.

arbourmaster The person in charge of a harbour. I say ‘in charge’

deliberately, because under an Act of Parliament now some 150
years old he (or she) has real authority. You must berth where they
tell you, and move if they tell you. If you don’t move your boat the
harbourmaster can move her – and charge you with the cost. By the
same Act, a skipper who brings a boat into a port where harbour
dues are payable must report their arrival to the harbourmaster
within 24 hours. In short, a harbourmaster is master within the
harbour.

ard 1 A stretch of shore which is firm enough for landing or

launching boats.
2 As an adjective ‘hard’ corresponds to ‘right’, as in ‘Put the helm
hard over’, or ‘hard to port’, or ‘hard down’ – meaning ‘all the way’.

ard a-lee A warning cry by the helmsman that he is putting the helm
over in order to go about. Best preceded by ‘Ready about’. (See
Lee-oh!)

ard chine Hulls are either Round bilge or hard chine, the latter form
resulting where the hull is built from flat sheets so that the sides
meet the bottom at a distinct angle. The line along which the side
and bottom meet is, in fact, the chine, and if there is an angle it is
‘hard’. There is no common term ‘soft chine’, though it would be
useful where the angle of a hard-chine form is a little rounded,
perhaps by using a substantial chine stringer with a rounded bevel.
Some people tend to suppose that a hard-chine hull is inherently
inferior to a round-bilge form, but in fact a hard-chine hull can be
very satisfactory.

arden in, to To haul a sheet in, so as to flatten the sail.

armonic rolling See Rhythmic rolling.

arness or Safety harness A harness of webbing worn around the

chest and shoulders, with a lifeline whose end is attached to a
suitable strong point on the boat. Ideally the lifeline should be so
short that, from its point of attachment, there is insufficient length to
allow the wearer to go over the side. But that is not always possible,
and then the only consolation is that you will still be attached to the
boat, even if somewhat wet.

atch An opening in a deck through which people or goods can pass.

Note that the hatch is the opening. The cover is properly the ‘hatch
cover’, though many people misuse the word ‘hatch’ to mean that.

aul This verb is used afloat in the same way that it is used ashore,
but it has a special application to the behaviour of the wind. If the
wind ‘hauls ahead’ it shifts to come from a point further ahead.
Likewise it may haul aft. But a boat which ‘hauls her wind’ changes
course to bring it more on the nose. In other words, usage has it that
the wind may haul itself either way, but a vessel hauls her wind only
one way.

awsehole A hole through the bulwarks, or even through the bows of

the hull itself, where the anchor chain enters. The chain then
disappears down through the deck and into the chain locker via the
Navel pipe.

awser-laid The rope we commonly use is of a construction known

as hawser-laid. If you hold the rope in front of you, the strands run
upward to the right, and are said to be ‘laid right-handed’. Each
strand is made of a number of yarns which are laid left-handed. Each
yarn is made of fibres, laid right-handed. Just to complete the story,
heavy warps are made for ships by laying up three or four hawser-
laid ropes left-handed. The result is then known as Cable-laid.

CC Hull Construction Certificate. Certifies that a given hull was

constructed in accordance with Lloyd’s standards.

ead 1 The stem or forward end of a boat. (See Bow.) Also the upper
end of a spar, as in Masthead. (See Truck.) The Head of a sail is the
top corner of a triangular one, or the whole top edge of a four-sided
one. (See Tack and Clew.) The upper extremity of the Rudder stock
is the head.
2 Of a pier or jetty, the seaward end. The other end is the Root.

eader See Windshift.

eadfoil A moulding over the length of the forestay, normally plastic

or aluminium, with grooves in its aft face to accept a headsail Bolt
rope.

eading A vessel’s heading is simply the direction in which she is

heading; in short, it is usually her compass course.

eads A Royal Navy term for lavatory, deriving from the days (which
the RN finds hard to forget) when the projecting timbers at the bows
of sailing vessels, known as knight-heads, served as perches for the
performance of natural functions. Regardless of that, ‘heads’ really
have no place on a yacht – unless you want to assert your past
naval service, as may indeed be your right.

eadsail 1 Any sail set forward of the mast – or, on yachts with more
than one mast, the foremast.
2 A sail that is set at or near the head of the vessel – in other words,
before the mast or before the foremast. Most modern yachts are
Sloops with a single headsail which is hanked on the forestay and
logically called a forestaysail or Staysail. A Cutter has two headsails,
a staysail and a Jib ahead of that, often set from the bowsprit end.
Nowadays, when most boats enjoy only a single headsail, it is
common to call that sail a ‘jib’, and especially so in sailing dinghies,
so in practice the word ‘jib’ has two meanings. The word ‘foresail’ is
not a generic term for all forward sails as ‘headsail’ is, but has two
specific meanings. In some fishing and working boats the headsail
set from stemhead to masthead (not the topmast head, for these
would be boats with a mast and separate topmast) was called the
foresail. The staysail would then be set outside on the long stay from
stemhead to topmast. The jib would always be the sail set from the
bowsprit end. The other kind of foresail is set Abaft the foremast of a
Schooner, and usually has a boom at its foot, so that it is a miniature
sister of the mainsail which sets on the after mast (mainmast) of a
schooner.

eadstay The stay from the masthead (or from some point not far
below it) to the stemhead. Nowadays commonly called the
‘Forestay’.

ead up A radar plot or chart shown with the vessel’s heading

pointing directly up the screen. This will change continuously as the
vessel’s head changes. (See Course up.)

eave Apart from its ordinary use (verb), the noun describes the
vertical motion of a vessel in the water as the seas lift her. Her other
motions are Pitch, Roll, Yaw and Scend.

eave-to To bring the boat as nearly to a stop as possible, by use of

sails or engine. In a sailing boat the headsail is Backed by hauling it
over to the windward side of the boat by the sheet. Then, by
adjustment of mainsail and helm, the vessel is held quiet and steady
with very little forward movement. (See illustration.) A very useful
manoeuvre which seems to be used less often than it might be. (See
Fore-reach under Fore.)
 ‘Hove-to’ yacht

eaving line A light line, with a weighted end, which can be heaved to
a helper on a dockside and subsequently used by them to haul a
mooring line over. The weight is often made of the line itself, by
forming it into a decorative knot called a ‘Monkey’s fist’.

eel The lower end of a mast, embracing the end-face and the couple
of inches next to it. The lower few feet, where halyards are belayed
and winches may be mounted, is the Foot of the mast. The lower
extremity of a rudder blade is the heel.

eel, to The sideways tilt of a sailing boat (and sometimes of a

motorboat too) under the influence of the wind. Most people find a
heel angle of 15 degrees to be enough for sustained and pleasurable
sailing. Note that if a boat lies over to one side because she is heavy
on that side, she Lists. If she heels regularly and alternately, first to
one side and then to the other, she Rolls.

eeling error A form of compass Deviation. When a boat heels, both

the compass and any magnetic material on board may move
sideways in relation to each other. (Picture a compass mounted on
deck and an engine below.) Thus deviation is not the same when
heeled as when upright. In practice most owners ignore heeling
error, largely because of the difficulty of making out deviation cards
to correspond to different angles of heel.

eight of tide (also Rise and Range) The height of the tide is the
difference of the water level at that moment above Chart datum,
which is effectively the lowest level the sea reaches. A term not
much used nowadays is the ‘Rise’, which is properly the height at
High water (HW) specifically; the figure shown under ‘height’ in many
tide tables should properly be rise, because it relates to HW, but the
word ‘height’ seems more common nowadays. The Range of the tide
is the difference between successive low and high waters. This
figure is the same as ‘height’ only at lowest astronomical Spring
tides, because at other times the low-water tide level is not as low as
chart datum. It is important to remember this, because it is a
common error to use the height shown in a tide table as if it were the
amount by which the level will rise and fall on that day – in other
words, to confuse it with range. If you really need to know the range
it can be deduced from the height of mean level: subtract the height
of mean level from the height of HW on that day, and double the
result. (Because the tide rises as far above the mean level as it falls
below, you see.) Now all you need is the mean level, which is rarely
shown on the tide tables I filch from chandlers’ counters. But it can
be found by looking for the maximum springs height and halving it.
What you are looking for is the highest astronomical tide which is the
opposite of chart datum, so to speak. Halfway between those high
and low points is the mean level. (See Tides, where Neaps and
Springs are discussed as well, for convenience.)

igh 1 To sail high, or higher, is to sail close to the wind, or closer.

2 In shipping forecasts, a wave height of 6–9 metres.

igh water (HW) High tide. Likewise low water.

ighfield lever A device for tensioning stays, most commonly runner

backstays. The lever swings fore and aft, and throws over top dead
centre to lie on the deck when in either the forward (slack) or aft
(taut) positions.

ike, to (or to Hike out) To sit on the gunwale of (usually) a sailing

dinghy with weight as far out to windward as appropriate. Toes may
be hitched beneath webbing bands (hiking straps) fitted along the
bottom of the boat.

IN Hull Identification Number. As required by the RCD.

itch A sort of knot. And a knot is a sort of hitch. You can argue as
long as you like (and some people do, believe me) but I don’t believe
there is any way of deciding for certain which knots are hitches and
which hitches are knots. In any case they are all Bends.
Nevertheless, when used as a verb, ‘to hitch’ means to make fast a
rope to a ring or a spar, whereas you bend one rope to another. You
can use a reef knot to bend two ropes together, a topsail sheet bend
to hitch a rope firmly to the eye in the clew of a sail, or a rolling hitch
to bend one rope to another rope or to a spar. (Now you’re as
confused as I am.)

obby-horse, to A yacht hobby-horses when she pitches up and

down with an unpleasantly sharp and rapid motion, making little
forward progress as she does so. It tends to happen when the
frequency of short, steep seas coincides with the natural pitching
frequency of the hull. You should try to avoid hobby-horsing.

obgob A confused, choppy sea, such as will be found at the

confluence of tidal streams, or where reflected waves running back
from a harbour wall cross at an angle to the waves that are running
towards it.
og A fore-and-aft timber running above the keel in a wooden boat.

ogged Arch-backed, like a hog. A vessel may be hogged

accidentally through grounding with her ends unsupported, or she
may be designed with a hogged Sheer in the first place. She Sags if
she bends the other way. (See Wring.)

oist As a verb in its ordinary sense, but as a noun ‘hoist’ is also the
vertical dimension of a sail or flag, and the term for a group of signal
flags. (See Fly.)

olding (or Holding ground) Mud, clay and sand provide an anchor
with good holding. An area of shingle, on the other hand, is poor
holding ground.

oliday To owners, a period of rain and gales, but in a boatyard an

area of skimped work, especially a patch where paint or glue are
deficient.

ollow run An area of the hull which is concave gives a hollow run to
the water flowing aft, and is itself called a ‘hollow run’.

oneycomb A synthetic stiffening material formed from hexagonal

cells in a matrix. Widely used as a core in laminates.

ood ends The ends of the planks where they fit into the stem or
sternpost rabbets.

oops (or mast hoops) Hoops of ash, Canadian rock elm, or oak,
steam-bent into a circle and riveted with copper nails. On gaff-rigged
boats they encircle the mast, and the luff of the mainsail is seized to
them at regular intervals. When the sail is hoisted they make useful
climbing steps.

orn, horn timber A traditional cleat has two horns, though not as
curvaceous as a cow’s. The jaws of a gaff end in two horns. A horn
timber is similar to a transom Knee, but the latter implies a more or
less vertical transom, whereas a horn timber has a more oblique
angle and is appropriate to the shallower-sloping archboard of a
counter stern.

orse 1 A thwartships metal bar or tube on which a sheet end slides.

Most commonly used for the mainsheet, but is also used with a
boomed staysail or club-footed jib.
2 A bank of sand or mud in what otherwise would be the fairway.
Usually one that is exposed at low water.

ounds Wooden chocks on the mast to engage eyes formed in the

lower shrouds, which are slipped over the mast of a gaff-rigged boat.
A modern Bermudan-rigged boat cannot have wire eyes passing
right round as they would obstruct the track for the sail slides.
Nevertheless, the locality where the lower shrouds and spreaders
meet the mast is still called the ‘hounds’.

ouse A cabin or similar structure built on the deck, or standing

substantially above it. Broadly speaking, if you stand in a cabin and
the deck is at chest level or higher, the superstructure is a
Coachroof. But if the deck comes at hip level or below you would be
better advised to call it a ‘house’. If it’s in between, please yourself.

ouse, to To set anything in its proper place, as you might house an

anchor in its deck chocks before lashing it down, or house the lower
end of a Stanchion in its socket.

ouse flag The private flag of a shipping line or of a private owner. A

very pretty thing to have, if you are good at sewing. Choose your
own designs, taking care to avoid one that has already been adopted
by somebody else.

ove-to In English, ‘hove’ is the past tense and past participle of the
verb ‘to heave’. It retains those functions when in the compound verb
‘to Heave-to’. For example: ‘Please heave-to’. ‘I have hove-to’. ‘That
boat over there is hove-to as well’. ‘We were both hove-to yesterday
afternoon’. It ought to be clear enough, but some people seem to
have difficulty with it, hence my lengthy examples. Personally, I
rather like ‘I have hoven-to’ for the past tense. Either is permissible,
and the older ‘hoven’ pleases me. To see what it all means, please
refer to Heave-to.

overcraft A generic trade name for what some people used to call
an ‘air-cushion vehicle’. Properly it is only one brand, deriving from
Sir Christopher Cockerell’s original invention. But, like ‘Hoover’, it
has entered our language, which is what happens when it is
nobody’s responsibility to invent words for newly invented things.

ull The body of a boat, excluding her decks and superstructure, her
internal fitments and bulkheads, and her bolt-on ballast keel. If you
order a hull, all you can expect is an open-topped, rather floppy
shell. (See illustration.)

Hull descriptions

ull-down A boat is hull-down when she is so far away from you that
her hull is below the horizon and only her mast and sails are visible.

ull speed The maximum speed that a hull can theoretically achieve
based on its waterline length, without allowance for surfing or
planing.

urricane (in weather forecast) A tropical revolving storm with a wind

of force 12 (64 knots) or more. Such storms are called ‘cyclones’,
‘typhoons’ and other names in various parts of the world.
WN High Water, Neaps.

WS High Water, Springs.

ybrid A boat that uses more than one form of power for auxiliary
propulsion.

ydraulic drive A form of coupling between engine and propeller in

which the engine drives an oil pump and the oil passes to a hydraulic
motor mounted close to the propeller. With this arrangement the
engine can be mounted wherever it is convenient, and may even lie
with its crankshaft athwartships, since it is merely a matter of running
the oil pipes to the hydraulic motor in the stern of the boat. But
hydraulic drives are not cheap.

ydraulic gearbox A mechanical forward-neutral-astern gearbox in

which the shifts are made by a hydraulic link from the hand lever. A
small boat may have a direct-acting lever like a car, but a hydraulic
link allows the control lever to be fitted at some more remote point in
a larger boat. Engine lubricating oil, supplied by the engine pump, is
often used as the hydraulic fluid.

ydrofoil A wing designed to work in water and to provide lift when

moving forward. The term is also commonly applied to a boat fitted
with hydrofoils. Such a boat floats in the ordinary way when at rest or
moving slowly, but as she accelerates, the underwater wings provide
enough lift to raise the whole hull from the water. Drag is then much
reduced, and high speed can be maintained with economy of power.

ydrographer One who practises hydrography, which is the mapping

of the seas and the preparation of charts and other information
necessary for safe navigation.
 I

‘India’ in the phonetic alphabet. As a single-letter signal in the

International Code it means ‘I am altering my course to port’, and as
such is more often given by sound than by any other means. It is . .
(two dots) in Morse code.

ALA buoyage system The initials stand for International Association

of Lighthouse Authorities, and the ‘buoyage system’ is one result of
this group’s efforts to reduce the 30 or so buoyage systems of the
world to one uniform pattern. Fully titled ‘IALA Maritime Buoyage
System A’, being one of several considered over a period of years,
this system is an amalgam of the Lateral and Cardinal systems
which were in use in various European countries. System A follows
the ‘red to port’. System B has ‘red to starboard’, as in, for example,
US waters. This dictionary is not the right place to give a complete
description of the systems – Almanacs and most books on
navigation contain full information.

CC International Certificate of Competence. A certificate that converts

many national boating qualifications, such as Day Skipper, into an
internationally recognised document.

mminent (in shipping forecast) Expected within six hours of time of

issue.

MO International Maritime Organisation. An agency of the United

Nations that maintains a regulatory framework for shipping, including
safety, environmental, legal, and technical and security cooperation.
MS International Measurement System – a racing handicap system.

n-boom reefing See Roller reefing.

n irons A sailing boat is in irons when she comes head-to-wind and

fails to Pay off on either tack. The answer is to make a Stern board,
to let the wind push her backwards and then to use the rudder to
throw her stern off to one side or the other.

n stays A sailing boat is in stays when she is going from one tack to
the other, and in the arc when her sails are not drawing. She must
always be in stays before she can get In irons, though the one
condition does not necessarily follow the other – indeed, it should be
a rarity.

nboard 1 Within a vessel, or nearer Amidships, for example, to bring

a sheet lead further inboard is to pull it closer to the vessel’s
centreline.
2 As a comparative of position it indicates that one thing is nearer
the centre of the ship than another. As an absolute term it means
anything within the shell of the ship, as in ‘inboard motor’, whereas a
bathing ladder would be Shipped outboard.

ndex error Of a sextant, this is simply a misalignment of the index or

pointer; that’s to say, when the mirrors are parallel, the index shows
an angle, whereas it should show zero.

ndraft A current setting into a bay or a sound.

nflatable The commonly used abbreviation for inflatable boat.

(Though since it is a boat only when inflated, I sometimes wonder if
the word should not be ‘deflatable’.) Inflatables are light, stable and
popular as yacht tenders. But they are no cheaper than rigid
dinghies of the same carrying capacity, and they wear out in ten
years or less, whereas a rigid boat should last you a lifetime.

nglefield clips Interlocking C-shaped metal clips used for attaching

signal flags to a halyard or to each other. (See illustration.)
 Inglefield clip

nhaul A rope used to haul the jib in from the bowsprit end, or any
rope doing a similar job. Downhaul is equally obvious.

nitial stability Like a flat-bottomed vase, some hull forms are stable
to a certain angle of heel, and will return to the level if released. But,
like the vase, if pushed too far they go right over. They have only
initial stability. The round-bottomed toy clown who comes up from
any angle has more than initial stability – his is ultimate. Beamy flat-
bottomed boats have high initial stability, and so do catamarans, but
neither type has the ultimate stability of the boat with a deep
ballasted keel that will pick herself up even if knocked flat. (The
beamy barge-type boat should not be knocked flat, of course, nor
should a catamaran. That would be carelessness and poor
seamanship.)

n-mast reefing See Roller reefing.

nshore As a comparative, towards the shore, or nearer the shore

than the observer. As an absolute, that region of sea which is,
broadly speaking, where the land is in sight from a small boat. The
region where many of us do most of our sailing. (See Offshore.)

nternal halyards Halyards which run down the inside of a hollow

mast (usually aluminium alloy) to emerge near deck level. They
reduce windage and save you the trouble of Frapping them to avoid
the terrible clatter which characterises many moorings and marinas
nowadays.

nternational code of signals A system of standard signals using

mainly two letters (three for medical messages) in place of certain
phrases and sentences.
nterrupted quick flashing light A light which flashes at a rate of
more than 60 times a minute, but with periods of darkness at regular
intervals.

ntumescent paint A paint which protects glass-reinforced resin

(fibreglass) against fire. The polyester resin of which most modern
boats are built will burn merrily, so it is wise to protect the galley and
engine areas with intumescent paint. When heated, this paint swells
up into a crust, not unlike meringue, cutting off the oxygen supply to
the resin, and to some extent insulating it from heat.

nverter Converts DC to AC current to power household items such as

microwaves, toasters, computers etc.

nwale The upper edge of a wooden hull may have a strake inside the
top ends of the frames. This is the inwale. The strake outside is
commonly called the ‘Gunwale’. (See Wale.)

OD International One Design.

OR International Offshore Rule – a racing handicap system.

RC A racing handicap system.

ish pennants Tatty ends of frayed rope flying in the breeze.

on topsail In the past, when the wind fell light, a gaff-rigged boat
would set her topsail. Nowadays, someone just presses the starter
button of the diesel, otherwise known as the ‘iron topsail’.

onbound An ironbound coast is a rocky one without anchorage or

haven.

SAF International SAiling Federation. Formerly IYRU.

sobar A line on a weather map connecting places where atmospheric

pressure is the same. Isobars are closely spaced around
depressions, but widely spaced around Anticyclones. The more
 closely spaced the lines, the greater the difference in pressure and
the stronger the winds.

sobath A line drawn on a chart to link places of equal depth.

sogon A line drawn on a chart to link places of the same magnetic

Variation.

sophase light A flashing light with equal durations of light and

darkness.

sophthalic A type of polyester resin that provides greater resistance

to water absorption than orthophthalic resin and, as a result, is often
used in the outer layers of a hull laminate.

YRU International Yacht Racing Union. Now renamed ISAF.

 J

‘Juliet’ in the phonetic alphabet. As a single-letter signal it means ‘I

am on fire and have dangerous cargo on board; keep well clear of
me’. In Morse code it is . – – .

ack The Union flag or Union Jack is the national flag of the United
Kingdom, but it is worn at sea only by ships of the Royal Navy, or
ships with royalty aboard. (See Ensign.)

ack-in-the-basket A pole with a cylindrical cage on top, forming a

beacon. There never seems to be anyone, or anything, in the basket.
Curious...

ackstaff The staff right forward on a warship where the Union Jack is
flown. Pleasure craft fly an ensign, and thus may have an ensign
staff, and it will be shipped right aft.

ackstay A tightly stretched wire to hold the edge of an awning or a

sail, or along which something may slide. If the Coastguard ever
rescue you by breeches buoy, they will haul you along a taut
jackstay. But the most immediate use of a jackstay for the average
boatowner is when stretched along the deck as a lifeline for their
personal harness.

ackyard A short yard which is bent to the foot of a topsail to carry it

aft of the Gaff.

aws The fork of a Gaff which seats around the mast (See
illustration.).
 Jaws

etsam Goods thrown overboard, originally to lighten a vessel, but

also applicable to wantonly abandoned rubbish – which is illegal.
(See Flotsam.)

ib Properly the foremost sail, and the one set to the bowsprit end. Aft
of the jib there would have been a forestaysail (Staysail for short)
hanked on to the forestay. Some people still call any such sail a
staysail, and all credit to them, but since on many modern boats the
staysail is the only Headsail, it is commonly called the ‘jib’.

ib topsail A small jib set flying above the ordinary jib.

ib boom A bowsprit upon a bowsprit, so to speak. A spar which can

be extended forward of the bowsprit to carry an outer jib in light
weather.

ib-headed In the days when gaff rig was common, any sail without a
spar at the top – like a jib, with three sides instead of four – was
 called ‘jib-headed’. The term is rare now, but those who read the
older books will come across it. (See Marconi.)

ibstick A light spar which is used to hold a jib or staysail outboard

when running with the wind free.

ibe Just the simplified, American spelling of Gybe.

iffy reef A popular and efficient type of slab reef. The reefing line is
fixed to the mainboom at a predetermined point (either tied around
the boom through a slot in the foot of the mainsail, or to a sliding eye
in a track under the boom, both near the clew), and from there up
through the reefing eye on the leech, then back down and through a
turning block on the boom and forward to the mast. It can then be
secured either by a lever cleat within the boom or to a cleat on the
mast, or via turning blocks back to a cleat on the coachroof. The last
method gives total control from the cockpit. The slack sailcloth can
be reefed conventionally or, if racing and on a short windward leg,
tied only at the mast end so as not to create excessive drag. This is
the most efficient system of mainsail reefing in that it flattens the sail
for stronger winds.

igger The small mast (and also the sail) which is carried right aft in
American yawls. On both sides of the Atlantic, ‘Mizzen’ is the more
modern term of both mast and sail, and especially the sail. Where
differentiation is needed, one says mizzen mast, but never ‘mizzen
sail’.

ockey pole See Reaching strut.

OG Junior Offshore Group. Provides races for IRC-rated yachts.

umbo A large staysail, usually associated with a cutter. Long in the

foot, it is set to the hounds, and is thus lower than the typical Genoa
of conventional Bermudan-rigged yachts.

umper stay A stay on the foreside of a mast, to prevent it from

bowing forward. It is taken over a jumper strut, the strut providing the
 rearward push at the desired point, commonly where a forestay
meets the mast about three-quarters of the way up.

unk, junk rig Junks are the native craft of China and they take many
forms, with up to as many as five masts with a variety of features
which could fill a book in themselves. It is the rig which has attracted
many Europeans for its effectiveness, cheapness and ease of
handling and reefing. In brief, the junk rig sets a Lugsail on an
unstayed mast, as shown in the illustration. The sail is made up of
many panels, with full-chord bamboo battens between. Each batten
acts effectively as a boom, and each has its own sheet, with all the
sheets leading to a single control.

Junk rig

ury An adjective describing any temporary or makeshift device, such

as a rudder made from a table, a mast from an oar, or an anchor
from an outboard motor.
 K

K ‘Kilo’ in the phonetic alphabet. ‘K’, as a flag, means ‘I wish to

communicate with you’. In Morse code it is – . – .

Kedge A relatively light and secondary anchor used for a variety of

purposes, such as backing up the main or Bower anchor, or for a
temporary stop when great security is not required. To anchor in that
way is ‘to kedge’. To ‘kedge off’ is to haul the boat off the mud, or
into another position, by laying the kedge anchor out from the
dinghy. To make such work easier and lighter, the kedge is normally
used with a rope cable rather than chain.

Keel A word with several associated meanings. In the first place it is

the principal fore-and-aft timber member of a boat’s backbone. To
the keel proper may be bolted a Ballast keel of iron or lead. The first
kind of keel is a structural component, the second a dynamic
component with the functions of holding the boat upright and
reducing her leeway. In the second category are Bilge keels, or Twin
keels. These may be fitted to a hull which has a structural keel, or to
a moulded resinglass hull which has no such member. But even if
the boat has a real keel, her bilge keels would, in that case, not be
attached to it: they would be carried by bilge stringers or bilge plates,
one to each side of the hull. A false keel is added externally, beneath
the keel proper, to increase the draught – for example, to give a
rowing boat additional area to resist lateral drift.

Keelson A fore-and-aft timber fitted above the keel, and above the
transverse Floors which link the frames. The complete backbone
structure may consist of the keel timber, the Hog, which is wider and
 shallower to provide a landing for the Garboards, and above that,
sandwiching the floors, is the keelson.

Ketch A two-masted sailing boat, with the after or mizzen mast

forward of the rudder. Well, that’s one definition, and its corollary
says that a Yawl has the mizzen aft of the rudder. But it is not always
as simple as that, and when deciding whether to call a boat a ‘ketch’
or ‘yawl’ you must pay attention to the proportions of her main- and
mizzensails. A yawl will have a mizzen amounting to only a quarter,
or at most a third the area of the main, whereas a ketch’s mizzen will
be from 50 per cent upwards. In boats of less than about 40 feet, the
drawback with either two-masted rig is that the mizzen and its rig
take up useful space in the region of the cockpit and afterdeck – and
cost more.

Kevel A large upright timber, usually the head of a frame prolonged

above deck level, whose purpose is to belay warps. Not to be found
in yachts and small pleasure craft, but would be found on a larger
and older boat, often in the form of two uprights with a crossbar.

Kevlar See Aramid.

Kicking strap A tensioned strop to prevent the boom from lifting.

Usually running from the foot of the mast to meet the boom at about
45 degrees, but in a more sophisticated arrangement its lower end
runs in a curved track or Horse on deck, thus giving a vertical pull.

King plank In a wooden boat, a strong central timber in the deck.

More than just a deck plank, it will often be several inches thick,
especially in the region just Abaft the Stem, where it may make a
base for Bitts or anchor Windlass.

King spoke A distinctive spoke on a steering wheel to show when the

wheel is centred.

Kitchen rudder A steering device in the form of a pair of metal

clamshells enclosing the propeller. When the shells are open the
water flows directly aft. By closing them aft of the rudder they form a
 rounded ‘bucket’ which turns the water flow forward and thrusts the
boat astern. With the shells open they may be turned in unison, to
port or starboard, to steer the boat. (Spelt with a capital ‘K’ after the
name of the inventor.)

Kite A lightweight, light-weather sail, flown high up. Slang for

spinnaker, if you hadn’t guessed!

Knees Approximately L-shaped pieces of timber, or metal, used to

support Thwarts or deck beams, or indeed to strengthen the joint
between any two components meeting at something near a right
angle. Hanging knees are fitted vertically, lodging knees horizontally.
A wooden knee may be cut from a piece of timber with suitable
grain, or it may be laminated by bending and gluing thin strips.

Knock See Windshift.

Knot Knots, like Bends and Hitches, are ways of joining rope to
something else. But don’t ask me which is which, I’ve already said
my little piece under ‘hitch’.

Knot (speed) Generally used as a term for a speed of 1 Nautical mile

an hour. Some people get very cross if you talk about ‘knots an
hour’, while others delight in producing seemingly sound arguments
in support of that usage. In fact, and in real life, when people talk
about knots they mean speed, not distance.

Knuckle A relatively sharp curve in a frame or in the contour of a hull.

This is one of those terms which are freely used by boatbuilders and
designers, but which are hard to get hold of until you actually know. If
you think of a traditional timber boat and liken her frames to fingers
you get the point. The numerous breeds of Laurent Giles-designed
Westerly boats (Pageant, Centaur, Renown, etc) all show knuckle in
their Bows.
 L

‘Lima’ in the phonetic alphabet. As a single letter in the International

Code of Signals it means ‘You should stop your vessel immediately’.
In Morse code it is . – . . .

acing eye (and Hook) A lacing eye is a small bridge-shaped metal

fitting with a hole at each end to attach it to coaming, deck or
whatever. A lacing hook is half a bridge, or finger, with two screw
holes to hold the foot.

aid deck A deck made of narrow planks of teak, each about two
inches wide, and caulked between with black Marine glue. Lovely to
look at, kind to bare feet, and rather tedious to maintain (if you can
afford it).

aminate To make a wooden component, usually curved, by gluing

together relatively thin strips or sheets of wood. Or to build up a
composite structure of glass-reinforced resin by putting down
successive layers of glass material and impregnating them with the
resin. A ‘laminator’ in modern terms is one who earns his living (and
‘earns’ is right) by doing this messy work with resin and glass.
‘Laminate’ as a noun is a sheet of material, usually resinglass, made
by laminating.

anby Made from the initial letters of Large Automatic Navigational

Buoy, this word defines a type of buoy which is steadily replacing
light vessels. Big enough to provide refuge for seamen in distress,
these buoys house a diesel generator and a variety of sophisticated
equipment, much of it controlled by radio from the shore.
and The overlapping part (or ‘lap’) of two planks in a Clinker-built
boat. (Alternatively, the place which lovers of the sea so frequently
yearn for.)

and breeze See Sea breeze.

andfall The land which is first seen or met at the end of a sea
passage. A landfall buoy is one with a tall superstructure sited a mile
or so to seaward of a harbour or channel to help mariners locate it.

anolin A grease extracted from sheep’s wool which protects human

skin, wire shrouds, ironwork and other metal components. Very thick
and heavy in its natural state, it is easily applied if first dissolved in
warmed white spirit. But take care to buy only anhydrous lanolin,
which is free from water. (Cosmetic lanolin ‘creams’, by contrast,
have been deliberately emulsified with water, and apart from being
poor value, are useless as a protective for metals.)

anyard A short length of cord or rope, used as a safety line to

prevent loss of an object overboard, as a line to raise a bucket of
water from the sea, to secure a whistle or knife, and especially to set
shrouds taut with Deadeyes. Before the introduction of Rigging
screws, lanyards and deadeyes were always used for that purpose,
and some owners still prefer them for their lightness and low cost.

apstrake A form of hull planking where each Strake (plank) overlaps

the next plank below. In England this construction is more commonly
known as ‘Clinker’, though ‘lapstrake’ is still the normal term in some
parts, as it is in the USA.

arge A useful word that seems to have been forgotten. ‘Sailing large’
is to have the wind somewhere between the beam and dead astern.
The nearest common term is Broad reach.

AT Lowest Astronomical Tide. (See Chart Datum.)

ateen A triangular sail with the foot more or less horizontal and the
leech more or less vertical. The luff is laced to a long spar which
extends forward of the mast and slants upward toward its after end.
It can be seen on the Nile boats and Red Sea dhows, and on some
European dinghies, though its former popularity in the West has
waned.

ater (in shipping forecast) Expected after a lapse of 12 hours from

the time of forecast issue. (See Imminent.)

ateral buoyage A fairway or ‘street’ system of buoyage, with flat-

topped red buoys to port, and conical green buoys to starboard,
when you are moving in the same direction as the Flood tide. (See
IALA buoyage system.)

ateral plane The projected underwater area of the hull, keel and
rudder as it would be seen on a flat drawing of the side elevation. It
is the total area available to resist Leeway.

ateral resistance The ability of a hull to resist Leeway, or sideways

movement through the water. It is especially desirable in sailing craft
because of the lateral force of the sails.

atitude The position of a place on the Earth’s surface, measured as

an angle from the Equator. (See Longitude.)

aunch A small open boat driven by mechanical power at

displacement speed. A launch is invariably of traditional character,
and usually of some elegance.

ay The lay of a rope or cable is the spiral twist of the strands which
compose it. In making a splice, the strands tucked in may spiral in
the opposite direction, ‘against the lay’, or in the same direction, ‘with
the lay’.

ay, to When one draws a course on a chart, following the appropriate

calculations, one is said to ‘lay it off on the chart’. If the boat
subsequently sails to that course she will be said to be ‘laying her
course’. (Compare with Fetch.) If the wind is in the wrong direction,
you may find that the boat ‘can’t quite lay the course’. As a result of
that, she won’t ‘fetch her mark’ either. But when she finally reaches
harbour, her skipper will use the verb in quite another way, and will
say ‘I’ll lay her Alongside the quay’. By that he means that he will
bring her to rest at the quay, and nothing more. The next step will be
to moor her, the laying alongside ending when she comes to a stop.
Nevertheless, after that she may lie at (or to) the quay for the next
two or three weeks. (See Lie.)

ay out, to To take an anchor out from your boat, in a dinghy or

across the beach on foot, as distinct from dropping it underfoot, from
the boat herself.

ay up, to 1 To take a boat out of service. She may be laid up either

ashore or afloat, and with or without her mast stepped and fuel in her
tanks. But she will not be in her normal state of readiness for
seagoing. An insurance company charges less to cover a laid-up
boat, but the company will not consider her laid up if you are cooking
and sleeping aboard.
2 To make a laminate of glassfibres and resin. The ordinary process
of making a fibreglass shell or component.

ay-up A laminate of glass and resin.

azarette A locker in the stern.

azy block A block fitted to a deck plate so that it is upright when

loaded, but will lie down when not actually working (the type of block
commonly used for genoa sheets). If possible, a lazy block should be
held upright by a length of shock-cord leading to the guard rail or
other convenient point. Alternatively, the eye may be bound with
rubbery tape. It can be very irritating to those below if it is left free to
keep thumping the deck.

azy guy Where separate spinnaker sheets and guys are used, the
guy that is not in use, ie the leeward one.

azy jacks A pair of ropes passing from the mast down each side of
the mainsail to a point somewhere inboard of the end of the boom.
Their purpose is to gather the sail as it is dropped. Several lazy jacks
may be used together, spaced along the boom as in the junk rig.
Lazy jacks are much appreciated on gunter-rigged boats, where the
yard might otherwise clout somebody on the head if lowered without
great care. The same term is used for the set of lines which may be
looped between mast and forestay so as to prevent a spinnaker from
wrapping itself around a stay. (See Anti-fouling net.)

azy lead A free-swivelling block for wire rope, used in steering gears
and held up by the tension in the cable. Like a lazy block, it will fall
down if not kept at work.

azy sheet A sheet that is unused on the current tack.

BP Length Between Perpendiculars is a term rarely used in full,

indeed rarely used at all nowadays, though one may come across it
in reading. It is the length between a perpendicular dropped from the
stemhead of a hull and another dropped from the after face of the
sternpost. You will see that we are talking of timber construction, and
you have to remember that many boats had a counter extending aft
of the sternpost and rudder. The counter was a sort of elegant
addendum to the basic fishing boat-type of hull and, when added, it
made the distinction between Length Over All (LOA) and LBP. The
significance of LBP is that it was the figure used for the calculation of
Thames tonnage.

ead 1 A lump of lead attached to a light line and used for taking
Soundings. Naval practice specifies the precise weight of the lead,
and the manner in which the line is to be marked, but that has little
value for small craft. It is better to make up your own mind, in
accordance with your own needs. Though you may have an Echo
sounder, it is prudent to carry a lead-line aboard. Even if the echo
sounder does not go wrong, its transducer is located at a single
point. With the lead-line you can sound all round the boat and so
know whether the bottom is level or if you are about to ground on a
bank that slopes at 45 degrees.
2 Pronounced ‘leed’, it refers to the direction in which a rope runs, a
matter of some importance on boats where ropes are used so much.
To get a fair lead, with minimum chafe and friction, is the objective,
and fittings called ‘Fairleads’ are made for that very purpose.

eading marks (or lights) Clearly seen objects, natural or artificial,

which lead a vessel on a safe course when kept in alignment, or in
Transit.

eading wind The same as a Following wind.

ee Both noun and adjective. A ‘lee’ is shelter from the wind, so you
may anchor close under a wooded shore to get a lee. Qualifying
something else it means on the side, or in the direction, towards
which the wind is blowing. Driftwood blows up on to a lee shore; a
lee-going tide is a tidal Stream running in roughly the same direction
as the wind. But usage is not simple: a lee shore is to Leeward
(pronounced ‘loo-erd’) of the viewer; it therefore has the full force of
the wind blowing on to it. (See Weather.)

ee helm A sailing boat which has ‘lee helm’ must have the helm held
down to Leeward to maintain a straight course when on the wind.
Lee helm is necessary because she is trying to Pay off, or Bear
away; the rudder must hold her head up to the wind. Designers avoid
lee helm because any increase in wind speed tends to turn the boat
more across the wind, increasing the heeling force. This may be
dangerous, whereas Weather helm works in the opposite sense and
is a safety feature. Some boats show a modest amount of lee helm
when the wind is very light, but change to weather helm as soon as
the wind is fresh enough to cause a few degrees of heel; that is quite
acceptable, of course.

ee rail under The Rail from which the term originates was the
capping timber along the bulwark, but is now more likely to be the
narrow outboard plank forming the deck edge, or the toe-rail. Don’t
be impressed by anyone telling you ‘We had her lee rail under’ – few
boats sail well with this part under water.

ee shore A shore towards which the wind is blowing. A natural place

of danger, since a vessel tends to be blown on to it.
ee bowing Sailing on a tack that has the tidal stream carrying the
boat towards the wind. This makes a track closer to windward
possible, and also increases the relative wind speed of the boat.
There is a corresponding term, ‘weather bowing’, for the other tack,
where the stream takes you downwind.

ee-oh! Before tacking, the helmsman gives the warning call ‘Ready
about’, followed after a sufficient interval by ‘Lee-oh!’ as he puts the
helm down to leeward.

eeboard Normally in pairs, port and starboard, though a small boat

may have a single one that is shifted to the leeward side as required.
Most commonly seen on Thames barges and the wide variety of flat-
bottomed Dutch boats, the leeboard is pivoted on the side of a
shallow hull so that it can be lowered into a more or less vertical
position where it acts as a hydrofoil to resist Leeway. It has the same
function as the Centreboard in a sailing dinghy, but avoids the
problem of building a centreboard trunk and leaves more space free
for fish or cargo. The plan form of leeboards varies from broad to
narrow, but long before aerodynamicists had studied wing sections,
simple boatbuilders were making their leeboards with cambered
aerofoil sections to generate lift to weather. The pressure so
generated holds the leeward leeboard firmly against a heavy Wale
on the hull side. There is much more that could be said about the
design and use of leeboards, but its practical value would be limited
to the one boatowner in ten thousand whose boat may be equipped
with one.

eech Probably originally ‘lee edge’, this is the extreme after edge of
a sail – what aircraft people would call the ‘trailing edge’. (See Luff
and Foot.)

eech line A control line used to tension the leech of a sail and to
stop it fluttering.

eeward Downwind. In the direction toward which the wind is blowing.

The opposite of Windward. Strangely, it is pronounced as if spelt
‘loo-erd’. But the lee side of the boat is not called the ‘loo-side’...
eeway The sideways movement of a sailing boat when sailing on the
wind. When close-hauled in a calm sea it may be slight, so that the
difference between her Heading and her Track may be less than five
degrees. But this Leeway angle becomes greater as the sea
becomes rougher. Much also depends on the form of hull and its
Lateral plane. It is no simple matter for the navigator to estimate
leeway, even though they may know the boat well, for the helmsman
will often tend to steer slightly Higher when going to windward.
Attention to the compass will show whether variations of heading
tend more to the weather or to the lee side – or they may reveal that
you have (or are) a perfect helmsman, maintaining a correct average
heading.

eft bank Of a river, this is on the left when facing downstream, but
the ‘port hand’ would normally mean ‘to port’ when facing upstream –
ie the right bank.

eft-handed Of a propeller, turning anticlockwise when viewed from

the rear – ie the upper blade moving towards the left. Of a rope, with
the strands slanting upward and to the left when you hold the rope
vertically before your eyes.

eg 1 A tack to windward, as in ‘We made a long leg on port, followed

by a short one to starboard’.
2 A strut of timber or metal which can be shipped on the side of a
boat to hold her upright when she dries out. Usually in pairs, held to
the hull by bolts passing into plates in the hull sides, and braced fore
and aft by rope guys.
3 One side of a racing course.

ength The ‘length’ of a boat is her length. Obvious enough, but

boating jargon is not as rational as that. With that strange human
desire to use three words where one would do, we tend to say
‘length over all’ (LOA) to mean the length from stem to stern, when
you might reasonably think that it would mean the length over all,
including bowsprit, Bumkin and any other extras. But it does not.
This silly term is abbreviated as LOA and is nearly always found in
the company of LWL, which is ‘Length of the hull at the WaterLine’.
et draw, to When going About, there comes a point when the
headsail sheet must be let fly so that the sail can pass to the other
tack. When that is to be done the order is ‘Let draw’, whereupon the
old sheet is let fly and the new one is trimmed as quickly as possible.
Probably very few pleasure sailors bother with orders of this kind,
since they can rely on each other to do the right thing. But there are
times, especially when leaving an anchorage or manoeuvring in
close quarters, when the headsail must be held Aback for a period in
order to force the boat’s head round smartly. ‘Let draw’ then finds its
use.

ie ahull To lie in a heavy sea with all sail lowered and stowed.

ie alongside A boat lies alongside another in a harbour berth, but

husband and wife rarely get a chance to lie alongside in a berth
below decks, a deprivation for which yacht designers must take the
blame.

ie, lie-to A boat which is stationary ‘lies’. In the open sea in heavy
weather she ‘lies-to’ under bare poles. In harbour she lies Alongside
a wall or another vessel. In winter she lies in a mud berth, and if you
are buying and want to view a boat, the broker will tell you she is
‘lying Exmouth’, in the jargon of his trade.

ifebelt, Lifebuoy These terms tend to become confused, but since

the ring type has largely given way to the horseshoe type, perhaps
‘lifebuoy’ is the better. If you do get a ring type, take care to get a
mansized one of 30 inches (760mm) diameter. The object of the
exercise is lifesaving, not neat appearance or easy stowage.

ifeboat Ships carry lifeboats (also called ship’s boats), and lifeboats
of quite different types are owned and manned by the Coast Guard
in the USA, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution in Britain, and
equivalent bodies in other countries. Private pleasure craft are not
big enough to have dinghies which can serve as lifeboats, though
the better-quality inflatable dinghies are a good compromise. The
true ship’s lifeboat for a yacht is the inflatable Liferaft.
ifejacket A vest or jacket worn like a garment and giving buoyancy.
To earn its name it must be designed in such a way that the wearer
naturally floats on his back, with mouth and nose held up clear of the
water. A distinction is made between a lifejacket proper and various
kinds of buoyant waistcoats and vests giving lesser degrees of
buoyancy (but greater freedom of movement). It all depends on the
type of boating you do. In the USA the generic term is PFD
(Personal Flotation Device). Several grades of PFD are approved by
the US Coast Guard, for differing circumstances.

ifeline Sometimes the guard rail around the deck, sometimes the
short line linking your personal harness to the boat, and sometimes
the Jackstay along the deck to which you can attach your lifeline.

iferaft The modern liferaft is an Inflatable, experience in the Second

World War having indicated that the inflatable raft, with protective
canopy, is a better lifesaver than the rigid lifeboat.

ift 1 A line of wire or rope giving support to a part of the rig. The
Topping lift supports the boom and can usually lift it. But a lift may be
static – for example, a short wire stay above a spreader to ensure
that it cannot drop down to the wrong angle.
2 See Windshift.

ight vessel (or lightship) A moored and usually engineless vessel

fitted with a lamp powered by generators and manned by a crew,
marking a hazard. No longer in use.

ignum vitae A hardwood, traditionally used for Parrel balls, for

Blocks and for Fairleads.

imber hole One of a series of holes made in the frames (or floors)
where they meet keel, Hog or perhaps Keelson, so that water can
drain aft to the bilge pump.

ine Generally the smaller sizes of rope carried aboard.

ine start In racing, a start across a line lying between two fixed
points. (See Gate start.)

ines A boat’s lines are simply the lines drawn on paper to show her
hull shape in plan, end elevation and side elevation, including
waterlines, buttocks, sections (at stations) and diagonals. (See
illustration.)

Lines diagram

ink shackle A shackle in the form of a ‘C’, whose opening is closed

by a screw nut.

ist, to See to Heel.

izard A short length of rope with a hard eye spliced into one end.
The other end can be hitched to another rope or chain, and by
passing a further rope through the eye you can get the purchase of a
single whip for a good heave. It may also prove useful as a
temporary Fairlead.

loyd’s Register of Yachts A useful ‘Who’s Who’ of private pleasure

craft, their builders and their owners, which was published annually
in Britain until 1980. ‘Classified by Lloyd’s’ means that the boat has
been built under the supervision of a Lloyd’s surveyor and that she
has been kept up to standard by periodic surveys and appropriate
remedial work.

OA Length Over All. (See Length.)

ock-off A device which holds a rope by bearing down on it with a

cam and lever. Also called a ‘Stopper’ or ‘Clutch’.

oft Noun and verb, closely related. The large flat floor of a loft was a
good place to draw the outline of a sail or the frames of a hull in
chalk. The process of laying out and drawing at full scale thus
became ‘lofting’, no matter whether it was done in the basement or
on sheets of hardboard in the back garden.

og 1 Short for logbook, in which all necessary navigational

information and ship’s progress is recorded. Was originally a ‘log-
board’, taking the form of two black-painted boards hinged together
to open like a book, on which the readings of the log (2) could be
written in chalk.
2 Short for log-chip (or log-ship), a fan-shaped wedge of wood,
weighted to float upright, which was streamed astern on a line of
known length so that the ship’s speed could be determined from the
time taken for the line to run out. About 100 years ago the Patent log
began to come into use, streaming a spinner at the end of a plaited
line which rotates the mechanism in the recorder on board, showing
distance run, which is far more valuable than speed. Rarely used
today.

ong in the jaw A rope which is old and well stretched becomes long
in the jaw, the ‘jaw’ being the length occupied by a strand in making
one full turn.

ong splice See Splice for both the long and short splice, as well as
others.

ongitude The position of any point on the Earth’s surface measured

as an angle east or west of the Greenwich meridian, which is also
known as the ‘prime meridian’ and is zero longitude. (See Latitude.)
ongitudinal Any fore-and-aft structural member of a boat’s hull.

oom 1 The reflection on the clouds of a light which is too distant to

be seen directly because it is below the horizon. Occasionally the
loom of a distant light is clear enough to reveal its characteristic, and
so offers a useful navigational aid. Also the hazy appearance of land
through mist.
2 That part of an oar’s shaft which the oarsman grips – the opposite
end to the Blade.

oose-footed A mainsail is loose-footed when its Clew is extended by

a boom but its Foot is not attached along the length of the boom.
There are also boomless mainsails, and these are better so termed
to distinguish them from those which have a boom with foot
unattached.

op A short choppy sea with no weight in it. A term appropriate to

sheltered water, whereas a Chop would be found in more exposed
water.

ORAN LOng RAnge Navigation. A positioning system using low-

frequency radio transmitters that uses multiple transmitters. The
current version of LORAN in common use is LORAN-C, but this has
been discontinued in the USA.

ubber’s line, Lubber line A reference line against which the

compass scale is read.

uff The forward edge of a fore-and-aft sail. What an aviator would

call the ‘leading edge’. (See Leech and Foot.)

uff spar A slender spar, usually of metal or wood, to which the luff of
a Headsail is attached. Its purpose is either to give a clean
aerodynamic edge, or to permit reefing by rolling the cloth around
the spar.

uff tackle Uses one single and one double block to obtain an
advantage of three to one.
uff rope See Bolt rope.

ugsail A four-sided fore-and-aft sail whose upper edge is attached to

a Yard which extends ahead of the mast. The Dipping lug has no
boom, and the yard has to be ‘dipped’ and passed round the mast
when the boat tacks. The Standing lug has a boom whose forward
end pivots at the mast. (See illustration.) The Balance lug has a
boom which projects forward of the mast but is not attached to it: the
boom is Bowsed down with a lanyard. The Chinese lug has a boom
and a number of battens extending from luff to leech, all of which,
like the boom, extend forward of the mast. These boomed lugsails
are not dipped. Some say it’s the best choice for a sailing dinghy: the
balance lug for boats up to 10 or 11 feet, the standing lug for
anything bigger. It is the ideal sail for pleasure boating as opposed to
formula racing. (See Gunter lug, and the illustration of the Balance
lug, which names the parts of the sail.)

Dipping lug
 Standing lug

utchet Neither the word nor the device is much used these days. It is
similar to a Tabernacle, but extends below deck level and has one
side open to clear the foot of the mast when it is lowered. A lutchet
makes it possible to fit a counterbalance weight to the foot of a mast
below deck level.

WL The Length of a hull at the WaterLine. The same abbreviation is

sometimes used for Load Water Line, meaning the waterline of the
boat at her average working weight with stores and crew aboard,
and water and fuel tanks half filled. (See Length.)
 M

M ‘Mike’ in the phonetic alphabet. As a single letter in the International

Code of Signals the letter ‘M’ means ‘My vessel is stopped and
making no way through the water’. In Morse code it is – – (two
dashes).

M Magnetic Of bearings, courses and the like, this means that the
direction is measured as an angle related to magnetic north rather
than true north. (See North.)

MAIB Marine Accident Investigation Branch – examines and

investigates all types of marine accidents to or on board UK ships
worldwide, and other ships in UK territorial waters.

Mainmast The taller of two masts is the mainmast. If it is the after of

two, then the forward one is the Foremast, but if the main is to the
fore, then the lower after mast is the Mizzen.

Make sail To set sails. ‘To make more sail’ is to add a sail here and
there, i.e. to set a Topsail or a Water sail.

Man overboard (MOB) ‘Man overboard!’ is the most important and

serious order you can ever hear, and it is an order which means
instant action by everyone, no matter who gives it. Devise a plan
which will suit your boat and your crew.

Manila A natural rope fibre much used in the past for warps and
general purposes, but now displaced by synthetics.
Marconi rig Though not much used now, the word refers to tall-
masted Bermudan rig which, in contrast to the old gaff mast, needed
sophisticated wire bracing akin to that of a wireless mast ashore.

Marina Artificial yacht harbour.

Marine glue An old term for caulking material for the seams of Laid
decks, which would consist of rubber, pitch, naphtha and shellac.
Modern chemistry offers us caulkings superior to the old marine
glue.

Marker buoy Usually a racing mark rather than a navigational buoy.

The latter tend to be called ‘buoys’ – others have prefixes such as
‘mooring’, ‘marker’, ‘wreck’, ‘telephone’, ‘DZ’ etc.

Marline (pronounced as in ‘twine’) Small line, properly made of two

tarred strands laid up loosely. Can be used for Whipping or Serving.

Marline spike A fat bodkin with an ogival taper to its point, used for
opening the strands of wire or rope cable when splicing. Some
people use the pointed end to turn shackle pins, but the curved taper
is not appropriate to that application, and the spike is likely to slip out
of the pin and into your flesh. A shackle key is better, and some
prefer a pair of pliers. (See Fid.)

Marling hitch (See illustration.)

Marling hitch

MARPA Mini ARPA. A version of ARPA (Automatic Radar Plotting Aid)

for small boats. Typically limited to around 10 targets.

MARPOL International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution

From Ships. The word is a contraction of MArine POLlution
Mast On a sailing boat, this refers to the pole from which the sails are
rigged. A motor cruiser may have a mast that is no longer than a
sailing cruiser’s ensign staff, but it is still called a mast. A mast has a
Head at the top and a Foot at the bottom. The head of a wooden
mast is usually capped with a disc called the ‘Truck’ which covers the
exposed end-grain of the mast itself against water. A mast is
supported by Shrouds and Stays, and it may have Spreaders to
spread the shrouds and widen their angle of pull. Lower shrouds
meet the mast at the roots of the spreaders, and this region is called
the ‘Hounds’. The foot of the mast may step on deck in a large
socket structure called a ‘Tabernacle’, or it may pass right through
the deck and be stepped on the keel itself. Note that a mast steps on
things with its foot, and that the after part of the underside of the foot
is even called its ‘Heel’.

Mast coat A sleeve of canvas designed to prevent water from passing

down below decks. Both the lower and upper edges of the coat must
be well sealed, the upper to the mast and the lower to the deck.

Master The chief officer of the vessel. The one who does the
worrying.

Masthead float Catamarans and trimarans, being normally

unballasted, float with great stability either way up. A float at the
masthead should prevent the immersion of the mast, and thus
ensure that the craft never gets into the stable, inverted attitude.
Some floats are made of lightweight foamed plastic, or are air-filled
hollow chambers. Others are bladder-like, to be inflated
automatically from a carbon-dioxide cylinder if the boat goes beyond
a certain angle of heel.

Masthead light See Steaming light.

Masthead rig A rig where the forestay attaches at the masthead.

Mayday The international spoken word of distress, corresponding to

SOS. It derives from the French ‘Venez m’aider’, ‘Come and help
me’. The accepted format of a Mayday call is to repeat the word
 ‘Mayday’ three times in succession and without haste, then give the
name of your boat, her position, the nature of the trouble, and what
action you are taking. In short, tell them what they are to look for,
and where they are to look.

MCA Maritime and Coastguard Agency. Implements UK Government’s

maritime safety policy, co-ordinating search and rescue at sea,
inspecting ships and preventing pollution.

Measured distance An accurately measured distance marked by two

pairs of beacons ashore. Sometimes it is exactly a sea mile, but the
actual distance will be shown on your chart. The chart will also show
the correct course to sail when checking speed – you must sail
parallel to the measured line, of course.

Mercator’s projection Most commonly used method of showing the

spherical world on flat paper, it shows parallels of latitude parallel. It
also shows meridians of longitude as parallel, which they are not,
because in practice they meet at the North and South poles.

Meridian One of the imaginary lines which run due north and south
between the poles of the Earth, denoting longitude. The meridian
which passes through Greenwich (England) is zero longitude, and all
others are measured as so many degrees east or west of that.

Metacentre In naval architecture the metacentre shows the

relationship between the Centre of gravity of a vessel and her Centre
of buoyancy when heeled. By relating those two centres it provides
an index of her righting or restoring tendency. By plotting the
positions of the heeled metacentres for sections along the length of
the hull, the designer traces a curve called the metacentric shelf.
This curve is considered to give a good guide to the fore-and-aft
Balance of a boat under sail.

MHWN Mean High Water, Neaps.

MHWS Mean High Water, Springs.

Microspheres Sometimes called ‘microballoons’, these are tiny
bubbles of air, encased in shells of glass or resin. So small that the
resultant material looks and feels like powder, they are mixed with
resin to make a relatively low-density filler for cavities in moulded or
foam sandwich hulls.

Middle ground A shallow bank which divides a channel or fairway into

two parts. It is marked with middle-ground buoys which usually
indicate the deeper of the two channels so formed.

Millibar A unit of pressure as marked on a barometer, which is itself

one thousandth of a bar (one bar is a pressure of one million dynes
per square centimetre).

Miss stays, to Is to fail to Go about. A sailing boat misses stays when

she Luffs up into the wind and then falls off on the same tack instead
of on the intended new tack.

Mitre A seam in a sail where the cloths meet at an angle, usually

approaching a right angle.

Mizzen (mizen) The fore-and-aft sail set on the after mast of a Ketch
or Yawl. The mast is called the ‘mizzen mast’, and associated rigging
and fittings take the same prefix when necessary, as in ‘mizzen
boom’, ‘mizzen halyard’ and so on. (See Jigger.)

Moderate (in shipping forecast) 1 Visibility between 2–5 nautical miles.

2 Wave height of 1.25 to 2.5m.

Mole A stone pier or breakwater protecting a harbour from seaward,

and normally one against which vessels may lie – it would not be
used of a breakwater of roughly heaped boulders, for example.

Monkey’s fist An easily made knot which has many turns so it builds
up into a ball of rope. Used to weight the end of a heaving-line,
sometimes with a piece of lead or a stone buried within the ‘fist’.
(See illustration.)
 Monkey’s fist

Moor To make a vessel fast to a laid mooring, Alongside a quay, or to

the bottom by means of two of her own anchors. The first two uses
of the word require no further explanation, but the third always
denotes a clear distinction between ‘anchoring’ with only one anchor,
and ‘mooring’ with two.
If a boat lies to a single anchor there is a likelihood that the pull on
the anchor will be reversed from time to time by changes in wind and
tide. An anchor is designed to support a directional pull, and those
changes mean that it may have to re-bed itself several times a day.
Therefore, if a boat is to be left unattended for longish periods, it is
prudent to moor her with two anchors, placed in up- and downstream
positions. There are several ways of doing the job, of which this is
but one: drop the main or the normal length of cable, then take out
the Kedge in the opposite direction in the dinghy and drop it at the
extremity of its cable. Now make fast the kedge cable to the bower
cable (normally with a Rolling hitch) and veer a couple more fathoms
of the bower cable so that the hitch is well below the boat’s keel and
rudder. If you have plenty of bower cable you can manage the job
without a dinghy, by first veering at least double the normal amount
of cable, then dropping the kedge Underfoot and hauling in half the
main cable again, before making the rolling hitch.

Mooring An arrangement of anchors, Clumps and chains which are

left permanently in position so that a boat may lie to them. There is
commonly a ground chain running along the bottom between
anchors, clumps or similar, and a riser chain leading up from a
Swivel on the ground chain to a mooring buoy. In some cases the
boat makes fast to the buoy, in others the buoy is brought aboard so
that the riser may be made fast to the cleats, bitts or Samson post.
Morse code light A beacon light which flashes a letter of Morse code.
Rather rare.

Motorsail To sail, usually to windward, with the motor providing some

additional push. A very sensible way of making progress, quicker
and easier than sailing, quicker and more comfortable than just
motoring.

Motorsailer Most modern sailing cruisers have at least as much

mechanical power as the motorsailers of the past, and many have
more. They also have more sail area. Perhaps the main
distinguishing characteristic of most motorsailers is that they retain
the sort of shelter and comfort that motor cruiser owners are sensible
enough to demand, but which sailing people seem to think
degenerate.

Mould, mold The spelling is different in Britain from that in the USA.
To a ‘real’ boatbuilder a mould is a pattern or template of an internal
hull section. Moulds are set up along a centreline in the builder’s
shed and braced to the roof. The hull is then built around them and
they are eventually removed. On the other hand, a mould to a
modern boatbuilder is hollow, like a jelly mould, inside which
laminates of glass and polyester resin can be laid up. That kind of
mould has the dimensions of the exterior of the boat, and is itself
made by ‘moulding’ over a solid wooden Plug, which has to be made
as accurately as is humanly possible. A hull laid up of resin and
glass inside a mould is said to be ‘moulded’. But so is one made
from strips of wood veneers glued in layers over a male plug. A
wooden boat may be Cold moulded, as is usual, which means that
the glue sets at ambient temperatures without heating. More rarely it
may be hot moulded, which involves baking the glue at quite a high
temperature. Anything made in or over a mould is called a
‘moulding’, whether it be as large as a hull or as small as a ventilator.
By contrast, there is the more ancient moulding, the half-round or
quarter-round timber strip used by a traditional boatbuilder to fit into
such corners as that between a hatch coaming and a deck.
Moulded and sided Boatbuilders’ usage, meaning the dimension of a
timber between its curved faces. So a frame or rib might be
described as ‘four inches moulded and three inches sided’, meaning
that it is four inches between the curved faces and three inches
between the straight faces. In a deck beam, ‘moulded’ is the
thickness top to bottom, and ‘sided’ is the fore-and-aft dimension. In
a keel, ‘moulded’ is the vertical dimension, ‘sided’ is the lateral or
side-to-side dimension.

Moulded depth This term is one whose meaning has changed slowly
over the years. Except in strictly technical terms, it would nowadays
be taken to mean the body depth of a hull. That is to say, the depth
between deck and keel. The term is used of any type of boat,
whether of moulded construction or not.

Mouse, to To close the open mouth of a hook by taking several turns

of a lashing across it. Double or sister hooks are moused with a
lashing of marline to keep them closed.

MRINA Member of the Royal Institute of Naval Architects.

MSI Maritime Safety Information. Weather, navigation and tidal

warnings broadcast on the BBC, Navtex, VHF and other media by
the MCA.

Mud berth A hollow in the shore near High water mark where a boat
may lie when laid up. When the mud is soft she may create her own
berth by the combined action of her weight and of the water flow
around her bottom.

Multihull A boat with more than one hull, such as a catamaran (two
hulls) or trimaran (single hull with two outriggers).

Mushroom anchor An anchor used in soft mud, sometimes as part of

a laid mooring. It is shaped like a mushroom with a very hollow
crown.
Muzzier A headwind. A wind on the nose. A wind on your muzzle – if
you happen to be a seadog.

Muzzle To restrain and hold down a sail or other piece of flapping

canvas. (See Dowse.)

Mylar A polyester film used for sails, with a high strength for its
weight. Mylar is, in fact, a trade name of its American maker.
Polyester fibre when woven into cloth for sails has the trade name
‘Dacron’ or ‘Terylene’.
 N

‘November’ in the phonetic alphabet. As a single letter in the

International Code of Signals the letter ‘N’ means ‘No’ or ‘Negative’.
In Morse code it is – . .

acelle A word deriving from the Latin navicella, ‘a little boat’, it is

used for a small subsidiary hull, such as might be found in a
trimaran, or for the pod, which bulges beneath the bridgedeck in
some catamarans to accommodate feet.

ail sick A boat has this sickness when her fastenings become loose.
If you can identify those that leak, cut them out and replace by one
size larger. Or you may clench up any that may be only slightly slack
and insert new ones between every pair of old ones in suspect
areas.

arrows A narrow part of any channel, fairway or river.

autical almanac (or nautical calendar) A comprehensive book of

tides, celestial phenomena and a thousand and one useful items of
information for the navigator. No boat should go to sea without one.

autical mile The international nautical mile is 1,852 metres. For

practical purposes it can be called 6,080 feet, or just over 2,000
yards. A mile is divided into 10 ‘cables’, each of which is therefore
approximately 200 yards.

avel pipe A metal deck fitting through which the anchor cable
passes down to its locker.
avigation Navigation is the art of finding a ship’s position in the open
sea, and of finding her way across the sea. ‘Pilotage’ is the same
thing in inshore waters, where buoys and landmarks may be
observed.

avstar GPS The official name for GPS.

avtex A radio-printer or on-screen service which enables a yacht to

receive an on-board printout of weather and navigational information,
plus any other useful operational messages such as distress and
rescue traffic.

eap tides Or just ‘neaps’. These tides occur approximately every two
weeks and have a smaller Range than Springs. (See Tide.)

eaped, beneaped Left high and dry, especially if the boat has gone
Aground on High tide at a time when the tidal range is decreasing,
so that tomorrow’s High water will not be as high as today’s. In other
words, the tides are moving towards neaps (or taking off) and the
boat will not float until neaps are over and Springs are approaching
again.

ess A cape, promontory or low headland.

ip A sharp bend in a rope, as when formed into an eye or when

running round a sheave. (See Freshen.)

MEA 0183 Electronic communication protocol universal to leisure

boat instruments. Defined by the US National Marine Electronic
Association.

MEA 2000 Electronic communication protocol. Faster and more

flexible than NMEA 0183, NMEA 2000 is becoming increasingly
common and also forms the base of many proprietary systems.
Defined by the US National Marine Electronic Association.

orth Divided into true or magnetic north. The magnetic north pole is
not at the same spot as the Earth’s axial pole, and as charts are
drawn with reference to true, while navigators use magnetic
compasses, a simple correction must be made. The correction
differs as you move across the Earth’s surface, and it is even very
slightly different from one year to the next. Corrections are printed on
Admiralty charts.

orth cone A black cone, hoisted point-up by coastguards or other

shoreside officials to indicate that a gale is expected from the North.
By night, three (red) lamps are hoisted in the form of a triangle, also
pointing up. Note that the only choice is between ‘north’ and ‘south’.
The South cone points downwards.

orth up A chart or radar plot shown with north towards the top of the
screen.

ot under command A vessel is in this condition when she cannot be

controlled, perhaps due to failure of her steering gear, even though
her master is aboard and in charge. By night, she carries two all-
round red lights, one vertically above the other, instead of her
forward and after white Steaming lights, but with her red and green
Running lights and her Stern light if she is making way. By day she
carries two Black balls or shapes, one vertically above the other.

otice to mariners Updates to published pilotage and chart

information.

ow rising (or falling) Barometric pressure has been falling (rising) or

steady in the preceding three hours, but at the time of observation
was definitely rising (falling).

un buoy A buoy which is diamond shaped when viewed from any

side. It has a pointed top and a pointed bottom.
 O

O ‘Oscar’ in the phonetic alphabet. As a single letter in the

International Code of Signals the letter ‘O’ means ‘Man overboard’. It
is – – – (three dashes) in Morse code.

Oakum Teased-out fibres of old hemp rope which are used for
caulking seams before Paying.

Oar Implement used for rowing or propelling a boat without the use of
sails or engine. Usually used in pairs. The difference between an oar
and a paddle is that the former is generally longer and used in
conjunction with a fulcrum, such as a Thole pin or a Rowlock. The
paddle is supported solely by the arms of the paddler. An oar has a
shaft, with a Blade at one end and a Loom at the other for the hands
to grip.

Observed position A more elegant term for a ‘Fix’, ie a position

determined in relation to observable fixed objects or radio beacons,
rather than the calculated position of Dead reckoning.

Occulting light A steady light with periods of darkness at regular

intervals, but the general effect being more light than dark. A steady
light with dark flashes. A group occulting light has two or more of
these dark flashes at intervals, and is the dark complement to a
group flashing light.

Off the wind Downwind sailing. Sailing with the wind anything freer
than a Reach.
Offing That part of Inshore waters which is well clear of shoals and
shore dangers, but still visible from the land.

Offshore Further to seaward than Inshore. Not precisely defined, but

the change from inshore to offshore would be understood to begin
somewhere more than ten miles out, and roughly where the land
disappears from sight. ‘Offshore’ is also sometimes used as an
adjective – for example, to describe a wind blowing seaward from
the shore.

Oil bag A porous bag containing oil which is trailed astern so that the
oil will gradually seep out and calm the sea. Detergent would
probably do the job better, and would counterbalance the growing
amount of unwanted oil that is polluting (but not calming) our seas...

Oilies Short for oilskins, a word still used to describe waterproof

clothing, even when made of modern breathable materials.

On the beam Location description of an observed object to one side

or the other. See also Abeam.

On the bow Said of something observed anywhere from dead ahead

to 45 degrees to port or starboard. More helpful if ‘port’ or ‘starboard’
is specified.

On the wind Sailing Close-hauled or on a Fetch – with the wind

coming from forward of Abeam.

One two three rule See Rule of Twelfths.

OOD Either: Officer of the Day or Offshore One Design.

Orthophthalic A polyester resin that was widely used throughout hull

laminates until the 1980s. Now usually replaced by isophthalic in the
outer layers.

Osmosis A condition affecting glassfibre/FRP hulls that have

absorbed water into the laminate to the extent that blistering can be
 seen in the gel coat.

Outdrive See also Stern drive.

Outboard Anything mounted or fitted beyond the normal area of the

deck, or rail or bulwarks. A Bowsprit is ‘outboard’, as is an outboard
motor.

Outfall buoy A buoy marking the seaward end of a sewer pipe.

Outhaul A rope used to pull something in an outward direction in

relation to the centre of the boat. An outhaul pulls the tack of the jib
to the bowsprit end.

Outrigger One of a variety of objects rigged outboard of the hull. In

some rowing boats it is a bracket which carries the Rowlock crutch
outboard of the hull itself. In some sailing boats it is a subsidiary
balancing hull set outboard of the principal hull by means of beams.

Overfalls A turbulent area of the sea, with overcurling waves, usually

caused by the Tidal stream running over a submarine ridge. The
same thing is seen in shallow and fast-running rivers. The chart may
indicate ‘overfalls on the ebb’, say, or ‘overfalls with strong easterly
winds’. Take note and keep clear – unless you actually prefer rough
water.

Overhangs Overhanging ends – bow and stern – enabling an easier

ride through waves, known as a Counter stern.

Overhaul, to 1 Although you may ‘overhaul’ the engine of a boat just

as you would a car, the word has a special use in connection with
running rigging or block and tackle. It means to extend a tackle or
sheet rather than to haul it in. Sometimes in light wind the mainboom
will not swing out because of the friction in the blocks of the
mainsheet. In that case you ‘overhaul’ the sheet to ease it out.
2 To overtake another boat, usually to windward.
Overtaking light The same as the Stern light. Any vessel
approaching in the arc through which this white light shines (67.5
degrees to port and starboard of dead astern) is an overtaking
vessel in the meaning of the International Regulations, and must
keep clear. The same arc holds force in daylight, of course.
 P

‘Papa’ in the phonetic alphabet. As a flag, ‘P’, the Blue Peter, is one
of the best-known ashore and afloat. Its principal meaning when
flown by a ship is ‘About to proceed to sea’. But the same flag, flown
in the open sea by a fishing vessel, means ‘My nets have come fast
on an obstruction’. . – – . in Morse code.

-bracket See A-bracket.

actor modem A device for sending data via SSB radio.

ad eye Similar to a lacing eye, but larger and stronger, so that a

sheet block may, for example, be shackled to it. It consists of a
baseplate on which stands a roughly semi-circular bridge to form the
eye.

addle wheel effect See Wheel effect.

ainter The rope spliced into the eye at the head of a launch, dinghy
or other small craft, by which she is either towed astern or made fast.
The Oxford English Dictionary says that the origin of the word is
obscure, but directs attention to two facts: first, that in antique times
it was spelt ‘penter’; second, that in Old French a penteur was a rope
on which to hang something, and that the nautical use of ‘penteur’
relates to a lifting rope rove at the masthead.

alm A leather pad made to be worn on the hand and to protect the
palm when sewing sailcloth. The palm of an anchor is the flattened
area of the Fluke, by analogy with anatomy.
arallel One of a number of geographer’s lines drawn around the
world parallel to the Equator. Each line is defined by its angular
displacement from the Equator, measured at the Earth’s centre. (See
Meridian.)

arallel rules A pair of rules linked by pivoted arms so that each rule
always stays parallel to the other. By ‘walking’ the instrument across
the chart, a bearing or course can be transferred from one part to
another. A more convenient instrument for small boats is the rolling
rule – a single rule with inset rollers which allow it to be moved bodily
across the chart without changing its attitude.

arbuckle Traditional hauling and purchasing technique. If one end of

a rope is made fast and the other is passed around a log, say, then
as you pull the free end, the log rolls towards you. In effect the log
plays the part of a sheave in a block, and you get the two-to-one
purchase of a single whip. A possible use for the yachtsman is to get
an inert body from the water to deck level, perhaps using a sail in
place of the rope.

arcel, to To cover a rope with canvas, plastic pipe or smaller rope so

as to protect it from chafe.

arrel A rope strop holding a spar, such as a Gaff, to a mast. Also, a

similar strop holding the luff of a gaff mainsail to the mast. Wooden
balls or beads are commonly threaded on such strops to save chafe
and allow easy movement – they are then called ‘parrel trucks’ or
‘beads’ or ‘balls’, or sometimes just ‘parrels’. (See Jaws and Junk.)

art, to When a rope breaks, a sailor says it ‘parts’.

artners Paired timbers that may be put either side of a mast at the
deck for reinforcement, or either side of Bitts or a Samson post.

assage A trip in a boat from one place to another is usually called a

‘passage’. The round trip there and back is a ‘voyage’.
asserelle A gangway used for boarding from the shore, often fitted
with Stanchions.

atent log A name reserved for the type of distance-measuring

device that trails a rotator (spinner) at the end of a line. The rotator
turns the plaited line, and the line turns the mechanism in the
recorder.

ay, to To fill a seam (the gap between two planks) with Caulking
compound, such as Marine glue, pitch or some modern polymer-
based compound.

ay off, to The head of a vessel pays off when it swings away from
the wind. With a cross-wind you may leave the jib slack and allow
the head to pay off, and then sheet in and Let draw.

ay out, to To ease or slacken a rope.

BO rigging Modern rigging made from Zylon. A high-strength, low-

weight and low-stretch composite material similar to Aramid fibres,
but stronger for its weight.

eak 1 The forward or after extremities of the interior of a hull.

Normally the fore and after peaks are used for stowage, there being
little space for anything else.
2 The after upper corner of a Gaff sail, and the upper end of the gaff
itself.

elican hook A metal hook with a cam-action tongue which can be

opened, as shown. Used for joining guard rails, among other things.

Pelican hook
elorus A large circular protractor fitted with sights so that you can
take bearings of objects ashore in relation to your boat’s centreline. It
is used when Swinging the compass.

en A marina berth formed by the space enclosed between two

fingers or pontoons.

endant (or pennant) A short line, hanging from a reef point or the
tack of a sail, and used for shortening down. Ashore, as afloat, a
pennant (but not a pendant) is also a triangular flag. (See Burgee.)

erch Also a withy, this is a pole or sapling standing in the mud to

mark the edge of a channel.

FD Personal Flotation Device. A US catch-all acronym for a

buoyancy aid or Lifejacket.

henomenal (in shipping forecast) Wave height more than 14m.

ick Jocular term for Anchor.

illar buoy A buoy bearing a tall and relatively slender structure to

make it visible from a greater distance, and often placed at the
seaward end of a series of channel buoys to act as a Landfall buoy.

ilot A qualified, experienced captain with detailed knowledge of local

waters, who helps the master of a ship negotiate those waters.
Pilotage is compulsory for big ships in some harbours and their
approaches. Private pleasure craft take a pilot only when they
choose to. Fly flag ‘G’ if you need a pilot – and can afford him.

ilot book (or Pilot) A book of pilotage instructions or sailing

directions for particular waters. Either government publications,
prepared for shipping by bodies such as the United States Defense
Mapping Agency (or the US Army Corps of Engineers, for the Great
Lakes), and by the Hydrographer of the Navy in Britain, or by
commercial ventures specially suited to yachtsmen.
ilot chart A planning aid for ocean passages. Shows expected
directions and strengths of winds and currents, and likelihood of
storms during each season of the year.

ilotage The art of finding one’s way around in waters where the
coast, rocks, buoys etc provide visual references.

ilot house See Deck saloon.

inrail Also known as a Fife rail, a bar of timber with holes bored
through it to take a number of belaying pins to which halyards may
be made fast.

inch, to 1 To pinch a boat is to sail her so close to the wind that the
sails lose their drive, even though they are still drawing. You may say
‘You’re pinching her’, or simply, ‘You’re pinching’. (See Starve.)
2 A hull which has been slightly crushed or squeezed is said to have
been ‘pinched’. When buying a second-hand boat, one must look out
for distortion resulting from pinching – which is not as unlikely as it
may sound, since a small boat may easily find herself berthed
between two bigger ones. (See Hogged.)
3 A yacht with pinched ends is usually one that was designed to the
IOR handicapping rule as it stood in the ’70s. A pinched stern may
have given a racing yacht of that vintage a good rating – but they
rolled downwind. Basically, a wide beam and narrow at the ends.

inholes Tiny holes in the gel coat of a resinglass (fibreglass)

moulding, usually caused by trapped air bubbles. If not corrected
they will allow water to penetrate to the laminate, and deterioration
will follow.

intle Since pintles and gudgeons go together like bacon and eggs,
please see Gudgeon. The gudgeon is the female part of a pair of
rudder hangings, into which the male pintle fits. You need a pair of
these pairs to hang a rudder, and sometimes more may be used.

ipe cot A sleeping berth made of canvas stretched within a marginal

frame of galvanised pipe. It is usually tapered to one end, and the
pipe at the shipside edge is attached by hinged brackets so that the
whole cot can fold up against the side of the hull. The most
comfortable form of sleeping Accommodation when a boat is going
to windward and therefore heeled, especially if a tackle is fitted to the
inboard side. This allows vertical adjustment so that the sleeper can
adjust his cot to the horizontal. Strangely, seldom seen on cruising
yachts. (Compare with the Root berth whose canvas rolls up towards
the shipside.)

iston hank The metal clip with sliding plunger that is often used in
some number to attach the Luff of a headsail to the forestay.

itch 1 The rocking-horse motion of a vessel in the sea. (See Roll,

Yaw, Heave and Scend.)
2 Of a propeller, the distance that a blade would move forward in one
revolution if it were cutting through a solid. In practice there is a
certain amount of ‘slip’. In choosing a propeller it is important to get
the correct pitch and diameter. These dimensions are related to the
power of the engine, the rate (RPM) at which the propeller turns, and
the speed of the boat. The best thing is to get technical advice,
usually from the propeller manufacturer.

itchpole, to A sea pitchpoles a boat when it turns her end-over-end,

stern-over-stem. It happens so rarely that it would hardly be worth
mentioning were it not for the extraordinary experience of the
Smeetons, who had it happen twice, as recounted in their widely
read book Once Is Enough. When it does happen, the boat
pitchpoles too, so the verb is both transitive and intransitive.

itting An insidious type of galvanic corrosion that leads to the

creation of small surface holes in metal and damages deep
structures, creating weakness.

lane, to Light boats with plenty of propulsive power can ride and
skim on the surface of the water, supported by dynamic pressure.
The slower-moving or stationary boat is supported by the static
pressure of the water, summed up in the one word, ‘buoyancy’.
When a boat planes, the dynamic water pressure is higher than the
static, with the result that her weight is supported by a smaller area
in contact with the water. Friction and Drag are thus reduced and
speed increases. Sailing dinghies, which have suitably shaped hulls
and sail areas which are large for their weight, can ‘get on the plane’
in a fresh wind, though they do not quite reach the condition of a
planing powerboat. (See Displacement hull.)

lank A wooden hull is skinned with fore-and-aft planks, and is said to

be ‘planked’ in teak or larch etc. Boatbuilders tend to refer to planks
as Strakes. (See Lapstrake.) But all the strakes together make up
the planking.

lank on edge The very narrow, minimal beam hulls which were at
one time favoured because it was thought they would be fast, were
known as ‘plank on edge’ because of their proportions.

LB Personal Locator Beacon. An electronic device designed to be

carried by an individual, which sends a 406MHz distress signal via
satellite when manually activated. Most also have a homing radio
beacon operating on the 121.5MHz frequency.

lim, to To swell, or swell up. Likewise ‘to plim up’. Used of plums and
similar by fruit growers, and of the planking of wooden boats by
yachtsmen. A boat which has been long ashore may take water
when first put afloat, but just ‘give her time to plim up’ and she’ll get
Tight.

lot, to To record position, course, bearings and other observations

and calculations on your chart. The result is ‘the plot’.

lough (or plow) anchor One with a single blade, shaped like a
ploughshare. For example, the CQR.

lug 1 Bung – something that fits into a hole to bung or plug it up, such
as the drain hole in the bottom of a dinghy.
2 The full-scale model, or male mould, from which a hollow female
mould is taken for the building of glassfibre hulls. To make a plug is a
costly business: it must be very fair and accurate, with a fine surface
finish, as the mould will faithfully reproduce any imperfections, and
they in turn will be transmitted to all the hulls which are laid up inside
it.

od See Nacelle.

OI Point Of Interest. A common feature on electronic charts.

oint 1 A point of the compass is one of the 32 divisions which derived

from taking a halfway position between north and east, say, then
halving that (east north-east) and then halving again.
2 The crews of racing yachts refer to ‘the point’ as the bow end of
the foredeck. The crew ‘doing point’ is the person with their backside
wedged into the pulpit at the start, shouting or indicating to the
helmsman to go high (luff) or down (bear away). They will be the
poor soul responsible for the sail handling in the wettest part of the
boat.

oint, to A sailing boat ‘points to windward’ when she sails to

windward. Colloquially, the question ‘How does she point?’ means to
ask whether she is close-winded. Likewise, ‘Point up a little more’
tells the helmsman to bring her a little closer on the wind, and ‘She’s
pointing well’ reveals the satisfaction of a proud owner.

oints of sailing One may sail directly before the wind (run), or one
may sail across it: each is a point of sailing. Running dead before the
wind, for example, is generally said to be ‘a difficult point of sailing’.
Probably the term derives from the way the boat points in relation to
the wind, because each point of sailing is, in fact, a geometrical
relationship between the boat and the wind. In truth, there are three
main points of sailing. The first is Running, when the wind is dead
astern or up to about 45 degrees either side of astern. The second is
Reaching, when the wind is on the beam, or a little Abaft or ahead of
it. The third is Beating, when the wind is coming over either bow, say
within an angle of 40–55 degrees to port or starboard. Needless to
say, there is no precise angular definition of these expressions, and
they are usually qualified by such phrases as ‘We were running with
the wind over the port quarter’, or ‘We should be able to reach the
buoy with the wind just before the beam’.

ole mast There was a time when gaff-rigged boats had short masts,
upon which Topmasts could be set. In heavy weather the topsail was
not wanted and the topmast was ‘sent down’ to the deck, making a
tiring and irksome job for one of the hands. But then came a time
when some bright spark decided to have a single mast as long as
the main and topmast together, though with the gaff going no higher
than before. That was the pole mast, and when no topsail was set
and the bare upper end of the mast was left naked, the boat would
be described as ‘bald-headed’.

olyester resin The man-made plastic (or polymer) of which Terylene

sails and ropes are made (Dacron in the USA), and which is used in
the building of glassfibre hulls. When used in fibre form it is a
‘saturated’ resin. In fluid form, as it comes to the boatbuilder for hull
moulding, it is known as ‘unsaturated’ and is normally in the form of
a solution of polyester in styrene. When a catalyst is added the
styrene cross-links the molecular chains of the polyester to form a
polymer, which is a network of linked molecules. This cross-linkage
is known as curing, and it is a non-reversible process.

olypropylene A plastic or polymer material which can take many

forms. In boats it is used, for example, to make moulded hoods for
outboard motors, or the cases of some radios. For a boatowner, its
more significant use is in fibrous form to make rope which is strong
in relation to its cost – though not as strong as nylon or polyester in
relation to diameter. Polypropylene ropes have the advantage that
they float, whereas nylon and polyester do not. This makes them
good for dinghy painters and ski tows, but not for anchor rodes.
However, it tends to become brittle and unreliable if exposed to
sunlight, because ultraviolet radiation from the sun seriously
weakens it.

olyurethane Another polymer that can be used as varnish in one

form, as expanded rigid cellular foam in another, and as a
waterproofing for textiles in another. The ordinary boatowner knows
it best as a quick-drying varnish of great durability.

ontoon A floating box, designed to act as a walkway to give access

to boats, or to support the spans of a floating bridge. Often called a
‘Float’ in the USA.

ooped, to be In ships of the past the poop was the raised afterdeck
at the stern. We don’t have poops nowadays, but if a sea breaks
over the stern of your boat and into your cockpit she is pooped – and
you become wet and perturbed. Fortunately it is a rarity, but if you
ever find yourself in conditions where pooping seems likely or
possible, clip yourself firmly to the boat so as not to be washed
overboard.

oor (in shipping forecast) Visibility between 1,000 metres and 2

nautical miles.

op rivet A rivet which can be closed from one side with a special
tool. The rivet is hollow and has a mandrel up its centre. The tool
pulls the mandrel into the rivet so as to expand the inner end of the
tube, and then snaps the mandrel off short. An inexpensive way of
fixing attachments to an aluminium mast, for example.

ort 1 The vessel’s own left-hand side.

2 A commercial harbour.

ort tack Sailing with the wind on the port side. If you then meet a
boat on starboard tack (wind on her starboard side) it is your duty to
keep clear. Colloquially, people speak of being ‘on port’ or ‘on
starboard’.

ort-hand buoy A buoy to be left on your port hand when

approaching from seaward or in the direction of the main Flood tide.
Where the flood tide flows in a variety of directions, a conventional
direction may be decreed and will be shown on the chart. Beware of
the fact that you can rely on this information only where IALA System
A applies, so if you are travelling far and you arrive in System B
waters you can either make your approach astern or reverse the
information.

ortland plotter See Breton plotter.

osition line, Line of Position (LOP) A line drawn on a chart to pass

through the position of your boat. If you take a bearing of a fixed
object ashore and draw the corresponding line seaward from that
object, it is assumed to pass through the observation point – your
vessel. A position line may be obtained by a visual bearing, a radio
bearing, by a Transit or Range, by Soundings, or by a sextant sight
of a star or planet.

ot life The time interval, after the catalyst has been added, during
which a resin remains sufficiently fluid to be used. Pot life depends
mainly on the type and quantity of Accelerator added to the resin, but
as most amateur resins have the accelerator already added when
you buy them, there’s not much you can do about it. Once you add
the catalyst, you probably have between 10 and 15 minutes before
the stuff gets too sticky for use.

ound A small pool (or pond) in which dinghies may be kept afloat.
Also used for an enclosed area ashore where dinghies may be kept
high and dry.

owerboat Level 2 Basic RYA powerboat qualification.

ram, praam A dinghy with a Transom at both ends. The other kind,
with tapering bows, is called a ‘stem dinghy’ to differentiate.

ratique Quarantine clearance on arrival in port. Primarily a medical

clearance, it is nowadays just as often used for customs clearance.
The actual official meaning of the signal letter ‘Q’, flown as the yellow
‘Q’ flag when we go abroad, is ‘My vessel is healthy and I request
free pratique’. Neither goods nor people may be put ashore until you
have clearance.
re-bend The fore-and-aft bend of a mast, set by the tension in its
standing rigging.

reventer A device or line used to prevent the boom swinging across

during an accidental gybe. (For Preventer backstay, see Backstay.)

rime meridian The Meridian which passes through Greenwich

(England), Longitude zero.

rismatic coefficient A number that describes the fullness or

fineness of the ends of a hull in relation to its beam. The higher the
number, the fuller the ends.

roa Whereas a catamaran has two hulls of equal size and the same
proportions, a proa has one hull and a small outrigger. The latter
serves partly as a float (to hold up), and partly as a weight (to hold
down). But a proa is normally sailed with the wind on the outrigger
side, and instead of tacking through the wind, she swings her sail
round to sheet at the other end, and what was the stem becomes the
stern and vice versa. That may involve shifting the rudder (or
steering oar) from one end of the craft to the other.

rohibited area An area marked on the chart where anchoring,

fishing or even passage may be forbidden for one reason or another.

rolonged blast A sound signal consisting of a single hoot lasting

from 4 to 6 seconds. A short blast lasts about one second.

ropeller Known also as a ‘screw’ or a ‘prop’, it is the familiar two- or

three-bladed device which propels a boat by screwing its way
through the water. Water not being a solid, there is a certain amount
of ‘slip’, defined as the difference between the actual movement of a
water screw and the theoretical movement of a similar screw working
in the solid. A propeller is right-handed if it turns clockwise when
viewed from astern, left-handed if it turns the other way. Most
propeller blades are at a fixed Pitch, but some have Variable pitch
(VP) blades, and some have reversible pitch for going astern. With
reversible pitch, the shaft turns always in the same direction, and
there is no need for a reversing gear. It is often possible to Feather
the blades of a VP prop, so that they stand edge-on to the water flow
and have minimum Drag when the boat is under sail. Some
propellers fold to reduce drag – ie the blades hinge backward and
come together like the palms of the hands in prayer, and so present
a form somewhat like a fish’s tail. (See Pitch.)

row An obsolescent word for the front end of a boat which embraces
the head of the boat, including the Stem and Cutwater as far back as
the Bows, which are, strictly speaking, the boat’s shoulders.

udding, puddening A pad or mattress of rope, coir matting or

whatever you have handy to serve as a fender or anti-chafing gear.

ulpit A curved rail above the prow of a boat, running from bow to
bow via the stem, where you may stand without fear of toppling
overboard. (See Pushpit.)

unt A flat-bottomed boat, whose bottom fore and aft slopes up to

square ends. Mostly associated with quiet rivers on Sunday
afternoons, but there are fast-sailing punts in some parts of the
world.

urchase The mechanical advantage gained by a Tackle or a lever, ie

three to one, two to one etc. It may also refer to the tackle itself.

ushpit A protective rail around the after end of a boat, the Pulpit’s
‘opposite number’. A pushpit is a plain tubular structure and has
none of the elegance of a Taffrail.

ut about, to (or Put the boat about, to) This is to change from one
Tack to the other.

ut off To leave the shore in a boat, or to leave another boat in a

lesser boat. ‘We anchored off Cowes, and put off in the dinghy to go
ashore.’
utty The jocular term for mud – used most often in association with
running Aground.

Y Number Portsmouth Numbering System (or yardstick). This is a

handicapping system based on recorded results of many races. It is
used for mixed classes of boats and attempts to average the relative
performance of various types in many clubs over a long period. The
numbers are published by the Royal Yachting Association in Britain.

yrotechnic A firework used as a signal. This may be a Flare, red or

white, some kind of rocket signal or star shell, or an orange smoke
generator for daylight use. Red pyrotechnics (and orange smoke)
are used only to indicate distress.
 Q

Q ‘Quebec’ (pronounced as in French, ‘Kebek’). The single-letter signal

in the International Code of Signals means ‘My vessel is healthy and
I request a free pratique’. The ‘Q’ flag is flown on entering a foreign
port, or returning home from abroad. The ‘pratique’ that is requested
is permission or ‘licence’ to come ashore and may relate to health,
customs or immigration rules. Hence the association of ‘Q’ and
‘quarantine’. In Morse code it is – – . –.

Quadrant 1 A quadrant or fan-shaped metal fitting at the rudder head

which receives the steering cables. It ensures that the point of
contact of each cable is tangential to a circular arc centred on the
axis of the rudder.
2 A now outdated instrument for measuring angles, similar to and
superseded by the Sextant.

Quadrantal error In radio direction-finding (rarely used today), a

displacement of the apparent direction of the transmitting station
resulting from interference (reflection and re-radiation) caused by
metal aboard the boat herself. Wire rigging and guard rails are the
most likely causes of quadrantal error, especially when the wire
forms a closed ring. A guard rail with ‘breaks’ in it is less likely to
cause trouble.

Quant A long, and often heavy, pole with a fork at one end and a
wooden ‘truck’ or pad against which you can shove with your
shoulder to drive the boat along in shallow water. Most seen
nowadays on the traditional types of Dutch boat. The word is also
used as a verb.
Quarter The after end of the side of a vessel. The starboard quarter is
the ‘back right-hand corner’. The quarters complement the Bows,
and like bows they indicate no precise point, but rather a region and
a direction. Thus a ship may be seen ‘coming up on the port quarter’,
which is equivalent to an approach from over your left shoulder.

Quarter badge A protective piece of timber fitted at the extreme after

end of the ship’s side where it meets the Transom. Usually given a
pleasing shape, and often designed to run in with a Rubbing strake.
(See Badge, Bow.)

Quarter knee The Knee joining the Gunwale to the Transom. One on
each side.

Quick flashing light A light which flashes at a rate of 60 times a

minute or more.
 R

R ‘Romeo’ in the phonetic alphabet and . – . in Morse. No meaning in

the International Code.

Race A fast-running stream or current, usually caused by the tide and

occurring where the stream is constricted, either because a channel
narrows or because it shoals. Eddies and Overfalls are commonly
found in a race.

Racking seizing A way of binding two ropes together (or Seizing

them) by winding the line between and round so as to make a
number of figure-of-eight turns.

Racon A RAdar beaCON with a transponder, which detects a ship’s

radar emission and responds to it by transmitting its own signal. (See
Radar reflector and Ramark.)

Radar reflector Usually mounted on the mast to make a yacht more

visible on radar. Passive reflectors simply reflect incoming radar
pulses; active reflectors amplify the pulse before returning it.

Radio Two-way communication at sea is still commonly conducted

using radios on Medium Frequency (MF), High Frequency (HF), or
Very High Frequency (VHF). VHF is most commonly used by private
boatowners because it is cheaper and more compact than the other
kinds – but its range is much less. In what is called ‘simplex working’
both parties speak over the same channel, and you cannot receive
while your ‘transmit’ button is pressed. Hence each party must say
‘Over’ to signal to the other that he has finished speaking and is
 ready to listen. Duplex operation works on two channels, and permits
ordinary conversation without need for the ‘Over’ drill. Single Side
Band (SSB) is capable of transmitting across oceans.

Radio beacon A fixed radio transmitter (now rarely used), usually

identifying itself by a Morse code signal, on which a bearing can be
taken with a Radio direction-finder. Marine radio beacons are sited
specifically to assist sea vessels, but a small-boat skipper can also
make use of aero beacons if they are sited near the coast. (But
some aero beacons transmit on VHF, whereas marine beacons are
usually in the low-frequency band.)

Radio direction-finding Commonly known as RDF, and even more

commonly as DF, this useful navigational aid is now rarely used.
Lighthouse authorities would maintain transmitting beacons at well-
chosen locations, any one of which could be identified by its own call
sign in Morse code. The receiver’s aerial would be rotated until the
reception reached a minimum – the null point. When the signal was
at a null, the aerial was pointing towards the station.

Raffee A small triangular or square sail set flying from the masthead in
clippers and other big sailing craft.

Raft, to To moor several boats side by side, all lying to the single
anchor or mooring of one of them.

Rail Very often called a ‘Toe-rail’ nowadays, the rail is the piece that
forms the deck edge. Not as high as a Bulwark, it may nonetheless
have a capping piece. In the past it was made of timber, but
nowadays it may be of angle-section aluminium alloy, with close-
spaced holes which provide useful attachments for this and that. An
undecked boat does not have a rail, but has a Gunwale. The railing
that stops you falling off some decks is best called the Guard rail.

Raise, to To raise the land, or a light, is to approach sufficiently near

that it appears above the horizon.
Rake Of a mast – its forward or aft inclination. If not specified, it will
generally be aft. Used also as a verb, and of other parts of a boat
too, notably the Transom.

Ramark (RAdar MARKer) A radar beacon that transmits a signal

without needing to be triggered by a ship’s emissions. (See Racon.)

Range 1 The alignment of two objects to give a Position line. Better

known in England as a ‘Transit’.
2 The difference in level between successive High and Low waters –
in other words, the amount the tide rises or falls on a particular day.
The Rise of the tide is the amount that high water is above Chart
datum. (See Height of tide.)

Range, to To lay out an anchor cable or suchlike on deck or some

such convenient place.

Rapidly (in shipping forecast) Moving at 35 to 45 knots.

Rat tail, rat’s tail A pointed end to a rope, made by removing strands.
Seen at the termination of a Bolt rope on a sail, for example.

Rate 1 The speed of a tidal stream or current is its rate. Usually given
in knots.
2 The daily amount by which a ship’s Chronometer gains or loses. If
the rate is consistent, it is easy enough to make allowance for the
discrepancy.

Rather quickly (in shipping forecast) Moving at 25 to 35 knots.

Rating The ‘handicapping’ of a racing yacht, based on extensive

measurements and the application of more than a few formulae to
see ‘how she rates’.

Ratline A step formed between a pair of shrouds, and made of timber

or rope. Ratlines form rungs and offer a way to the masthead, or at
least to the Hounds. A fine seaman-like term, which may come in
 handy one day, is to ‘rattle down’ the rigging. It means either that you
fitted ratlines, or that you adjusted them for neatness and tautness.

RCC Royal Cruising Club.

RCD Recreational Craft Directive. Introduced in 1998 by the EU; a set

of regulations covering aspects of design and construction, including
stability, of recreational craft from 2.5m to 24m (8ft 2in to 78ft 9in) in
length. The categories relate to a boat’s supposed ability to
withstand certain wave heights and strengths of wind, leading to
recommended areas of use. Category A is ocean, B is offshore, C is
inshore and D is sheltered.

Reach, to To sail with the wind Abeam or forward of the beam. You
may sail a close reach, but that is not as close to the wind as close-
hauled. There is a noun from this word, as in ‘We crossed the bay in
a single reach’, meaning that the boat was on the wind the whole
way but did not have to tack. (See Beat and Board.)

Reaching sheet A line used to improve headsail shape on a reach.

Taken from the clew of a headsail to a point further outboard and
forward than an upwind sheet lead, to close the leech of the sail.

Reaching strut In effect, a spreader to give a spinnaker guy a more

effective angle when reaching. The inboard end of the strut is
housed on the mast, the outboard bears on the guy. The same
device is more often known as a ‘jockey pole’ in the UK.

Ready about A helmsman’s warning to sheet hands (and to the cook

below) that he is going to tack, so headsail sheets must be trimmed,
and the cook must brace both self and saucepan. After giving a few
seconds warning the helmsman puts the helm down with the cry of
‘Lee-oh!’.

Reckon, to To make navigational calculations. The reckoning may be

the task itself, but is more commonly the result, expressed as a
position, or perhaps a distance.
Rectilinear stream (or current) A tidal stream that runs in more or
less a straight line, on flood and ebb. The other kind is Rotary.

Reduction of soundings Reduction of soundings is to correct your

depth readings to what they would have been at chart datum, usually
Lowest Astronomical Tide.

Reed horn A kind of Foghorn which uses a vibrating reed to make the
sound. (Well, what did you expect?)

Reef knot A knot for joining two ends of line together. Take one in
each hand and wrap left over right, then right over left. (See
illustration.) If done incorrectly, you end up with a Granny knot, which
is harder to undo.

Reef knot

‘Capsized’ reef

Reef, to To reduce sail area by rolling or folding part of the cloth –

usually along the foot in mainsails and along the luff in headsails,
though either form is found in either sail. The process of making a
reef is commonly called ‘tucking in’ a reef, even where roller reefing
is used and there is no actual tucking. The reverse procedure is
‘shaking out a reef’, an expression that suits a condition where cloth
has been bundled and crumpled up. A reef is, in fact, that area of a
 sail between the foot and a set of reef points, or between two sets of
reef points. Hence the expression to ‘take in a reef’.
In times past, the lowest reef was sometimes called the ‘slab’, and
this term has been revived for the folding type of reef, where a
predetermined area of cloth is taken in (ie jiffy and points). The slab
reef contrasts with the rolled reef where the amount of cloth
accommodated on the boom is continuously variable and not in
discrete steps. All types of slab reef make use of Cringles (eyes) on
the luff and leech of the sail, and these are first hauled down to form
the new tack and clew of the sail. It is then necessary to tidy up the
excess cloth along the foot of the sail, which is known as the Bunt.
Whether or not there is a boom, the bunt can be firmly held by short
lengths of cord, called Pennants or Points, which pass through
eyelets in the sailcloth.
Alternatively, but not so conveniently, a continuous length of line
may be threaded through the eyelets and around the bunt. The
modern jiffy reefing for boomed mainsails makes use of elastic cord,
a length of which is permanently threaded through the reef eyelets
from luff to leech. After the tack and clew cringles have been hauled
down to the boom, bights of the shock-cord are stretched down and
tucked under hooks on each side of the boom.

Reefing gear Mechanical apparatus for roller reefing, either of a

mainsail around its boom, or of a headsail around its luff spar or rod.

Reeve, to To pass a rope through a block or an eye in the same sense

as to thread a needle. ‘Rove’ is the past tense and participle.

Register tonnage The notional carrying capacity of a vessel used for

port dues, taxation and so forth. National authorities calculate the
figure by subtracting from the hull volume various allowances for
crew’s quarters, navigation room, engine rooms etc. Even small
private yachts may have a register tonnage, which may be a bit of
fun and may be written on forms by petty officials who ‘welcome’ you
in this port or that. But for private craft the whole thing is a nonsense.
The one thing you can say for sure about register tonnage is that it is
not a matter of weight.
Registration A commercial ship is registered with her appropriate
national authority (for example, the Registry of British Ships). The
process takes note of her Register tonnage, which is a basis for the
calculation of harbour dues. Private craft may be registered with
national authorities (and in some countries they must be).

Release agent A non-stick coating applied to the inside of a mould so

that the gel coat of a moulding (for example, a hull) will not stick to it.
An owner is not normally concerned, but carelessness in preparing
the mould may result in the need for force to extract the moulding,
with the loss of some areas of gel coat. These scars must then be
patched in, and if detectable may be an indication of the working
standards of the builder.

Render, to To ease a rope through a Block or round a Samson post.

The rope itself renders if it runs freely through a block, deadeye or
the like. Ashore, you might say ‘runs freely’ where you would say
‘renders’ afloat.

Reserve buoyancy The buoyancy provided by that part of the hull

which is above the normal waterline and which can be immersed
without flooding. An open boat with little Freeboard has less reserve
buoyancy than a decked boat with cabin and watertight portholes.

Resin There are three main types used in boatbuilding: Polyester

resin is reinforced with glassfibres (Resinglass). An amateur can use
polyester resin for repairs and odd jobs – just buy it and follow the
instructions diligently; Epoxy resin is a first-class adhesive also
available for DIY-ers, and no boat should be without a supply on
board. Epoxy resin also forms the basis of good paints and surface
treatments, as does Polyurethane, another synthetic resin.

Resin infusion A method of laminating a structure, such as a hull,

whereby resin is forced into the dry mat or laminate material.
Benefits include lower emissions and greater control of the resin-to-
fibre ratio.
Rhumb line This is what you get when you draw a straight line
between two points on a Mercator (ie ordinary) chart. Unfortunately it
is not, in fact, the shortest distance between two points because the
chart shows a distorted picture of the face of the Earth. The shortest
distance would be a ‘great circle’, and it would be a curved line on
your chart. But for distances of less than 100 miles, the difference is
negligible.

Rhythmic rolling A form of rolling motion which is induced by the

interaction of sail and sea forces acting in harmony. For example,
when running, a sea-induced roll may cause the spinnaker to start
swinging, and that may in turn augment the roll. Another cause is the
shedding of air vortices from the trailing edges of a sail.

Ribs The ribs of a wooden boat are sometimes called ‘Frames’,

usually if cut to shape, and sometimes called ‘Timbers’, usually if
steamed to shape. You will appreciate that only wood of small
scantlings is likely to be bent, so timbers are small and frames large.

Ride, to 1 A boat rides to her anchor. When anchored by night she

must show an all-round white light (two in some cases) known as a
riding light. In ordinary English a boat will ride out a storm, but that
has nothing to do with being anchored: she can do it while hove-to,
or with bare poles, and the implication is one of riding the seas.
2 A rope is said to ride on another when it crosses over and jams it.
The most common use of the word is in connection with the sheet
winches of modern sailing boats, when the loaded part rides over the
hauling part and nips it tight, a situation known as a riding turn.

Riding turn See Ride, to (2).

Rig The general term for the arrangement of spars and sails on a
boat, as in ‘cutter rig’. You can also say of a boat that ‘she’s cutter-
rigged’. But the spars, stays and sails themselves are not collectively
‘the rig’ in the sense that you might want to say ‘We removed the rig
and stored it under cover’.
 Bermudan sloop

Gaff cutter

In fact, in that case you would have to say that you have ‘removed
the spars, sails and rigging...’ The rigging includes the wire stays and
shrouds and their associated rigging screws. Various common rigs
 are discussed under their own entries: Bermudan, Cat, Cutter, Gaff,
Gunter, Ketch, Lug, Schooner, Sloop and Yawl. (See illustration.)

Yawl

Ketch

Rig, to To assemble and fit the rigging and sails up to, but not
including, the point when sails are raised.
Rigging The actual wires and ropes comprising the rig. They fall into
two sets: the Standing rigging which sustains and steadies the mast,
and the Running rigging which raises and controls the sails and
movable spars.

Rigging screw A tensioning device of shrouds and the like. It has two
eye-bolts threaded into opposite ends of a central body. One bolt is
threaded left-handed and the other right-handed, so that when the
body is turned the ends move simultaneously, either in or out. (In
other words, they move in opposite directions.) Rigging screws are
the norm on modern boats for tensioning the rigging. They are
commonly called ‘bottlescrews’, though small ones may be called
‘turnbuckles’.

Right of way Not a very good term in relation to sea rules. The
Collision Regulations are phrased in terms of duty to ‘keep clear’ or
to ‘give way’, rather than in terms of any ‘rights’.

Right-handed propeller A propeller which, when viewed from astern,

rotates clockwise. (See Wheel effect.)

Righting moment The force acting to bring a heeled yacht back to an

upright position.

Rigol Pronounced ‘wriggle’ (with a bit more of the ‘o’ at the end,
though), it means a small waterway or water channel, of which there
may be several on a boat. In particular, it describes the ‘Eyebrow’ or
miniature eave which arcs above a Scuttle to keep drips of water out.

RINA Royal Institution of Naval Architects.

Rise of the tide The amount by which High water on that day is above
Chart datum. Technically ‘height’ may refer to any hour, whereas in
the past ‘rise’ was the height just at high water.

Rising (or Riser) A light fore-and-aft member in a wooden boat

providing support for a Thwart or some other fitting. It is like a
Stringer, fitted inside the timbers.
Rising or falling (in shipping forecast) Pressure change of 1.6 to
3.5mb in the preceding three hours.

Rising (or falling) quickly (in shipping forecast) Barometric pressure

change of 3.6 to 6.0mb in the preceding three hours.

Rising (or falling) slowly (in shipping forecast) Pressure change of

0.1 to 1.5mb in the preceding three hours.

Rising (or falling) very rapidly (in shipping forecast) Pressure

change of more than 6.0mb in the preceding three hours.

RNLI Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

Roach The outward and rearward curve of the leech of a mainsail, an

unnatural shape which is maintained by Battens. Roach makes a
pretty shape, and gives untaxed area to the racing man whose sail
area is calculated on straight corner-to-corner measurements. Little
aerodynamic advantage can be expected, except in fully battened
sails of high Aspect ratio, where the sail can be given a markedly
elliptical profile. In that case, the resulting aerofoil can be very
efficient for fast close-hauled sailing. Otherwise, one is better off
without roach or battens.

Road, roadstead Both mean the same thing – a sheltered place

where boats can lie at anchor. ‘Roads’ is an alternative to ‘road’.

Roband A rope-band or short length of rope for tying around a sail or

similar. Sailors’ speech and sailors’ spelling have resulted in variants
such as ‘roban’ and ‘robbin’.

Rocker The fore-and-aft curve to the keel or bottom of a boat. A punt

has no rocker, for example, her bottom being a straight line.

Rocket apparatus Not the signal rocket you may use in distress, but
the line-carrying rocket which is fired from shore to ship, or ship to
ship, usually as a preliminary to sending over a heavier stay for
breeches buoy rescue.
Rode 1 Noun. An anchor cable, especially one of rope rather than
chain. It is also the rope that drags a trawl.
2 As a verb (present or past participle) it describes the behaviour of
a moored vessel under the influence of wind or tide. If she is lying
head-to-wind, she is ‘wind-rode’. If she went Aground when lying
head-to-tide, she was ‘tide-rode’ at the time.

Rogue’s yarn A coloured yarn embodied in the lay of a rope to

identify either its composition or its ownership. Like the devices
embodied in banknotes, it was originally a deterrent to those rogues
who sought to earn a little extra by selling government property from
the dockyards.

Roll Both verb and noun ‘roll’ describes the lateral movement of a
vessel. The other principal motions of a boat are Pitch, Yaw, Heave
and Scend. (See Rhythmic rolling.)

Roller furling headsail A general term for jibs or headsails which can
be rolled around their own Luffs, whether for reefing or just for
furling. The first, using a wooden luff spar turning on a wire threaded
through its length, was introduced by Captain du Boulay in 1887.
Modern versions of the same idea use an aluminium alloy spar. Both
these kinds may be used for reefing – that is to say, with the sail
partially deployed. The all-or-nothing furling gears have wire at the
luff, as in the Wykeham-Martin gear.

Roller reefing A system for reducing the area of a sail by rolling it

around its luff, or sometimes foot, for reefing or stowing. Headsails
are most usually found on roller furling gear, and mainsails can either
be reefed in-mast, on apparatus mounted behind the mast, or in-
boom.

Rolling hitch A knot used when the pull is to be along a spar or a

rope. (See illustration.)
 Rolling hitch

Rond anchor A type of riverbank anchor. Its single Fluke must be

pressed home by the weight of your foot, and once in the ground it
presents no danger to passing people or cattle. But such an anchor
will not penetrate of its own accord, so it cannot be used for bottom
anchoring.

Root 1 The root of a pier or jetty is the shoreward end. The seaward
extremity is the Head.
2 The top of a keel or rudder, where it joins the hull.

Root berth A sleeping berth made of canvas or similar. One edge of

the canvas is attached to the ship’s side, and the other to a bar of
wood or metal. In the daytime the whole thing is rolled up against the
ship’s side, but for sleeping it is extended and the bar lodges in
suitable supports in bulkheads or ports. (See Pipe cot.)

Roove A saucer-shaped copper washer which fits over a copper boat

nail before it is riveted up tight. Also known as a ‘rove’ or a ‘ruff’,
though in the USA it is known as a ‘Burr’.

Rope Lines, sheets, guys, ties, strings that can be of fibre or of wire.
Rope is of various ‘constructions’: plaited, braided or the ordinary
laid (which means twisted). Furthermore, laid rope may be Hawser-
laid, which means three strands twisted together in the usual
manner, or Cable-laid, which consists of hawser-laid ropes twisted
together. Cable-laid ropes are most commonly used for big hawsers,
 by the way, while hawser-laid ropes are used for sheets, halyards
and the mooring lines of small craft.

RORC Royal Ocean Racing Club.

Rotary stream (or current) A tidal stream that changes direction

during the ebb or flood, or both, so as to swirl round in a large eddy.
Such streams are found near promontories. Its opposite is called a
‘Rectilinear stream’.

Rotating mast This is a mast which is free to turn about its own axis,
not in complete circles but from port to starboard. This means that a
mast of streamlined section can turn to present its best aspect to the
wind on either tack, and when close-hauled or on a broad reach. The
Finn dinghy is an obvious example, as are many multihull designs.

Rough (in shipping forecast) Wave height of 2.5 to 4m.

Round bilge The conventional form of boat hull, where the sides turn
into the bottom in a curve. (See Bilge.)

Round the cans Colloquial term for racing round a buoyed course.

Round turn and two half hitches One of the most widely used and
useful of hitches. A double turn is even better. (See illustration.)

Round turn and two half-hitches

Round up, Round to To bring a boat’s head up to the wind.

Rovings Filaments of glassfibre, bundled loosely together to make a
thicker string. These strings may be woven into a cloth known as
‘Woven rovings’, which can be used as reinforcement for polyester
resin in hull construction. Although woven rovings is a very strong
material, Chopped strand mat is often preferred, because it is difficult
to get woven rovings to absorb sufficient resin. A mixture of the two
types of reinforcement can be very effective in certain cases.

Row, to The use of oars to propel a boat, or what you do when the
wind drops or the outboard stops.

Rowlock Technically, the rowlock is the hole into which the U-shaped
metallic or plastic rowlock crutch drops, although the term ‘rowlock
crutch’ is very rarely used in leisure boating.

Rubbing strake A Wale, usually of timber, fitted along the outside or

bottom of a hull to protect it from wear. A rubbing strake should be
fitted in a way that allows easy replacement when it is sufficiently
battered.

Rudder The foil(s) used to steer a vessel. A rudder has a Blade, the
part which acts on the water, and a Stock above it to transmit torque
from Tiller or steering gear. The lower extremity of the blade is the
Heel, and the upper extremity of the stock is the Head. A Lifting
rudder has a pivoted blade that swings up to reduce its Draught. The
blade is then fitted between cheeks, which are in turn fitted to the
stock. A rudder may be of several kinds, notably outboard or
inboard. The transom-hung rudder is outboard and easily accessible:
its hangings are the simple Pintle and Gudgeon. The inboard
rudder’s stock passes through a trunk or tube, at the bottom of which
there may be a watertight gland, similar to that used with a propeller
shaft. A spade rudder stands in clear water, away from Keel or Skeg,
an arrangement which may minimise drag but which leaves the
rudder exposed to stray ropes, painters or plastic bags. A Balanced
rudder is one which has some of its area ahead of the pivotal axis,
thus reducing loads on the tiller. Something between 10 and 15 per
cent of the total blade area is enough to have ahead of the hinge
line.
Rule of the road The colloquial term for that section of the Collision
Regulations which is headed ‘Steering and Sailing Rules’.

Rule of twelfths A means of estimating the rise or fall of tide for each
hour of the six. In the first hour the change is assumed to equal 1/12
of the range; in the second hour, 2/12; in the third and fourth hours,
3/12 each; in the fifth, 2/12; and in the sixth, 1/12.

Run 1 The distance covered in a stated time. The ‘day’s run’ implies a
24-hour day, noon to noon.
2 The after part of the underwater part of a hull.

Run, to To sail before the wind. To ‘run under bare poles’ is a heavy-
weather tactic, all sails being furled and lashed down.

Runabout This is a small open motorboat capable of a fairly high

speed – say 10–15 knots. If she were slower she would be a dinghy,
if slower and a little bigger, a launch, and if faster, a sports boat.

Runner Short for ‘running backstay’ (See Backstay.)

Running bowline A noose made in a rope by making a bowline round

the standing part. The noose is what a sailor would call a ‘Bight’, but
a ‘bowline on a bight’ is not a slip knot like this – it is a bowline
formed in a doubled rope; in other words, the bight itself is formed
into a bowline.

Running by the lee Sailing downwind with mainsail out to the

windward side. Clearly there is every chance of a gybe in such a
situation.

Running fix A useful non-GPS navigational technique. Whereas the

ordinary fix crosses Position lines taken from two or more objects as
near simultaneously as possible, the running fix uses observations
separated by an interval of time. One or more objects may be used
to provide the position lines. The essential third item of knowledge is
the distance and track made good between observations. For
example, two position lines are obtained from a single wireless mast
 ashore at an interval of, say, ten minutes. If they are now drawn on
the chart and the vessel’s track is drawn to scale, there can be only
one position where it will fit between those lines. (The technique
might equally be known as a ‘running fit’ which might make things
clearer.) For success, the boat must be steered on a constant
heading and distance must be assessed as carefully as possible,
with allowance for stream, current and leeway due to the wind.

Running lights Navigation lights as prescribed for a vessel making

way in the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea.

Running rigging The rigging used to raise, lower and control sails –
as opposed to standing rigging.

RYA Royal Yachting Association.

 S

‘Sierra’ in the phonetic alphabet. Sound signals – one to starboard,

two to port, and three astern. The single letter ‘S’ means ‘My engines
are going astern’, thus matching three hoots nearly (and
intentionally) with the three dots Morse code for ‘S’.

addle A wooden block on a spar, affording a rest for another spar, or

for a stay. A Gaff saddle is similar in form to a riding saddle, the mast
taking the role of the horse’s back. It is made of metal, but covered
with rawhide to lessen chafe.

ag, to 1 A hull ashore, supported only at her ends, will sag in the
middle. (See Hogged.)
2 Usually in combination, as in ‘sag away to leeward’ or ‘sag off’, it
describes a boat making rather too much Leeway when sailing on
the wind. Typical small family cruisers tend to sag away most badly
when the sea is rough enough to slow their forward progress.

ail (noun and verb) On a sailing boat you ‘set a sail’; you also raise
your anchor and ‘set sail’. Oil tankers ’sail’ at their departure times,
and sometimes a steamship is said to ‘set sail’ in the meaning that
she sets forth. Only when a boat has both sail and power as her
means of propulsion should you take care to distinguish between the
verbs ‘to sail’ and ‘to motor’.
 Sail parts

ail area The sail area of a boat is variable, to accommodate the wind
strength. A common reference point is the ‘working sail area’, which
is not precisely defined but may be taken to mean the total area of
the sails that the boat would set in winds of force 3 to 4.

ail area/displacement ratio Like the Displacement/length ratio, this

is a useful parameter in comparing one boat with another. The sail
area is nominal, being that which is enclosed by two triangles, one
representing the mainsail, and the other the area between mast,
forestay and foredeck. Divide that by the displacement to the power
of 2/3. Use square feet for sail area and long tons (2,240lb) for
displacement.
ailcloth Any sort of textile used for making sails. But each sail is
made up of several pieces, each of which is known as a ‘cloth’.

ail on her ear, to To sail a boat at a large angle of heel, say with the
lee rail awash.

ail plan The drawing which shows the positions and sizes of sail,
and of the spars and rigging, though there may be a separate and
additional rigging plan.

ail tie (or sail stop) A length of rope, canvas or bungee, which is
used to tie a furled sail. Also called Gaskets, especially by square-
rigged types.

ailing directions Instructions for pilotage – not for the handling of

the boat herself. Sailing directions usually take the form of a book,
and the term is almost synonymous with ‘Pilot’.

aint Elmo’s fire A corona discharge of static electricity from a boat’s

mast or her rigging. You may never see it, and when you do there’s
nothing you can do about it, so try to relax and enjoy the spectacle. It
is silent, and not in itself dangerous. It may be accompanied by a
smell of ‘ozone’ or of ‘sparks’.

alting A low-lying area which is flooded at high tide. ‘Salting’ was an

old word for field or meadow.

alvage In marine affairs ‘salvage’ has the same meaning as it does

ashore – of things saved. But there is the specifically nautical usage
(with legal implications) where a service of salvage is performed and,
if proved in court, may merit an award of money. The amount of the
award will relate to the value of property salvaged, the extent of the
danger to that property, and the risks or difficulties overcome by the
salvors.

amson post A strong wooden post rooted in the keel and passing up
through the deck where the top eight or twelve inches provide a
strong attachment point for the anchor cable, or for mooring and
towing warps.

andwich construction A form of construction used for hulls, decks

and houses, in which two relatively dense skins are held apart and
stabilised by a thicker core of lightweight material. The core may be
of balsa wood, for example, or of foamed plastic. The idea is to save
weight and achieve stiffness, for although a thick skin of plastic
material may be quite strong, it will bend easily. Two such skins held
apart and prevented from buckling by an inner core can be a
hundred times stiffer than either alone. But it is essential to get a
good bond between skins and core, and to be sure that there are no
cavities into which water could penetrate.

AR Search And Rescue (as an organisation or activity).

ART Search And Rescue Transponder. A device which responds to

X-band (9GHz) radar to help locate survivors. SARTs which send
AIS position reports were also introduced in January 2010.

BAS Satellite Based Augmentation System. A network of ground

stations which augment a satellite navigation system, such as GPS,
by calculating the error of the raw satellite fix and communicating it
back to the satellite to be passed on to users.

candalise, to A gaff mainsail is scandalised by lowering the Peak,

and by Tricing up the Tack on a box-footed sail, or the Clew if there
is a Boom, so that the foot of the sail is raised and the area reduced
for less power in higher winds. ‘Trice’ can properly be used for the
action of lifting anything upwards and out of the way by means of a
rope.

cantlings To a shipwright, speaking of timber, ‘scantlings’ means no

more than the dimensions to which it is to be cut or shaped. If you
say ‘Let’s look at her scantlings’, you are going to assess the
stoutness of her timbers, carlins, floors and so forth. (See Moulded
and sided.)
cend This is the horizontal or fore-and-aft movement of a boat under
the influence of waves – usually most noticeable in harbour. It is also
the vertical movement (due to waves) of the water itself – against a
harbour wall, for example.

chooner A two-masted fore-and-aft-rigged sailing vessel with the

taller mast aft. Naturally enough, this mast is the mainmast and
carries the mainsail. The foremast carries the foresail, usually with its
foot on a boom like a smaller mainsail. Ahead of the foresail will be
one or more Headsails.

cope The length of anchor cable or mooring rope. When anchoring it

is always wise to give plenty of scope, by Veering plenty of cable.

core The groove made in the shell of a block to take the rope strop
which surrounds it. A similar groove is provided to locate a rope on a
spar.

cow Various designs of small boat. In the USA a scow is long, lean,
with a box-like cross-section and with bilge boards – like
centreboards – port and starboard. But in Britain, a scow is likely to
be a clinker dinghy, 11 or 12 feet long, shallow in the body but
beamy, and setting a lugsail.

cow an anchor, to To attach the anchor cable to the Crown of the

anchor, and then seize it to the ring with a suitable twine or marling.
While the pull is along the Shank, no great load is put on the seizing,
but if the anchor is foul, the seizing will part when the cable is hauled
up short and the strain comes at an angle to the shank. When the
seizing parts, the pull comes directly on the crown of the anchor,
whose Fluke should be pulled clear.

CRIMP A trademarked name for a type of resin infusion.

cull, to To the river boatman, it is to pull a boat with a pair of oars. To

the seagoing boatman, it is to propel a boat with a single oar over
the stern by sweeping it from side to side while twisting it. A good
dinghy will have a half-round sculling notch in the transom to take
the single oar. (See Wangle, to.)

cupper An opening in a Bulwark to allow water to run off the deck.

cuttle 1 More commonly called a porthole or portlight. A round

opening window in a heavy metal frame.
2 To sink a vessel deliberately.

ea anchor A Drogue, or parachute-like construction, of timber, iron

and heavy canvas, designed to resist being dragged through the
water. In heavy weather a sea anchor may be streamed over the
bow of a boat, with the idea that it will hold her head-to-wind and
seas as she drifts stern first before the storm. Some people believe
that sea anchors are effective, many others have been disappointed,
and the whole business has provided much material for usually
inconclusive argument. Some boats will lie to some sea anchors,
others will not.

ea breeze A wind flowing in from the sea to replace air over the land
which rises due to the daytime heating by the sun. A land breeze
blows the other way when, at night, the land cools more rapidly than
the sea.

ea-kindly Describes a hull which rides comfortably at sea, whose

motion is neither too lively nor too sluggish, and whose decks do not
ship too much water. A sea-kindly boat defies precise definition, but
is recognisable as soon as you take her out.

ea mile A Nautical mile.

ea room Sufficient space to manoeuvre and to do what you wish to

do without obstruction by other ships, the land, shallows or man-
made constructions, such as piers.

eacock A valve on a Skin fitting, to control the ingress or egress of

water.
eam The gap between two planks of either the hull or the deck.
Seams are Payed with caulking on a bed of cotton or oakum. In a
sail or tarpaulin, ‘seam’ has its ordinary meaning.

eamanship The art and science of keeping out of trouble at sea, no

matter whether your craft is a fully rigged ship or a makeshift raft.

econdary port Times of High and Low water are predicted for every
day of the year for a few primary or Standard ports. The times for
secondary ports are found by reference to the times at standard
ports.

ections If you were to cut through a hull as if cutting a slice of bread

from a loaf you would see the shape of the section at that point.
Designers commonly draw ten sections for a modest-sized hull, of
which the midship section, or midsection, is sometimes called the
‘master section’, since it sets the shape for all the others and does
much to stamp a character on the hull as a whole. (See Lines, Bilge
and Chine.)

eiche (pronounced ‘saysh’) A rise and fall of the water level in a

marina or harbour, occurring at an interval of a few minutes and
unrelated to the ordinary tidal rise and fall, or to regular swell running
in from the sea. May be caused by changes in barometric pressure,
or by waves of very long period which would not be noticeable in the
open sea. In ordinary language ashore, you would probably say
‘surge’.

eize, to To bind together two ropes, two spars, or almost anything to

anything with several tight turns of small cord. The result is a
Seizing. A Racking seizing goes over and between in a figure-of-
eight pattern, instead of straight round the outside.

elective availability (SA) A system by which the US military could

dilute the accuracy of, or even switch off, GPS. The US government
has now undertaken not to use the system, and future GPS satellites
will not have the facility for SA.
elf-bailer A special type of drain for sailing dinghies in which water is
drawn out, either by the attitude of the hull which causes it to run aft,
or by the lowered dynamic pressure on the outer skin resulting from
the high forward speed. Either of those conditions is best satisfied
when a dinghy is planing. A cruising boat whose cockpit sole is
several inches above the waterline may have drains, and will usually
be called ‘self-draining’, though some people might call it ‘self-
bailing’. But such simple drains are never termed ‘self-bailers’.

elf-steering See Auto-pilot.

elf-tacking A phrase that describes a sail whose sheet calls for no

attention when passing from one tack to another. A conventional
mainsail is self-tacking, but conventional jibs are not. A headsail can
be made self-tacking either by bending a boom or club along its foot,
or by leading its sheet to a traveller, which is free to slide along a
Horse across the foredeck.

elf-tacking jib A non-overlapping headsail, usually sheeted to a

Track or Horse, that can be left to its own devices in a tack.

elf-tailing winch A winch that grips the tail of a rope to allow single-
handed winching.

enhouse slip One form of slip hook for quick release. The Pelican
hook is similar. The hinged tongue of the hook is held closed by a
ring, and when the ring is knocked free, the tongue flies open.

ennit Plaited or woven rope in more or less fanciful patterns.

erve, to To cover a rope or a splice by binding Marline or other small

stuff tightly around it. Where the end of a rope is served (to prevent
fraying), the process (and the result) is commonly called ‘Whipping’.

ervo rudder, servo tab A small surface which, when acted upon by
the water flow, moves a larger surface (eg the main rudder) by
means of leverage. (See Vane gear.)
et Both verb and noun. A boat carried by the stream of a tide may be
set to the west, or she may set towards the mouth of a river by the
current. In either case, you can say that there is ‘a set’ to the west, or
towards the mouth.

evere gale (in shipping forecast) Winds of force 9 (41–47 knots).

extant An optical instrument for measuring angles, such as that

between the sun and the horizon, between the top of a lighthouse
and the sea at its base, or (with the sextant turned on its side)
between two objects ashore.

hackle 1 A metal link which can be opened or closed. The most

common is U-shaped and is called a D-shackle, the open part of the
‘U’ being closed by a threaded pin.
2 A measure of length – and rather variable from place to place.
Usually 15 fathoms and relates only to chain cable.

haft log A strengthening member fitted on the Keel, Keelson or

Deadwood, where the Sterntube passes through the hull. Originally a
shaped lump of timber, such logs may nowadays be made entirely of
metal.

hank The central ‘stalk’ of an anchor.

hape a course, to To decide a course, and set the ship’s head on it.
Normally one shapes a course ‘for’ or ‘toward’ some specific point or
place, since the vagaries of weather and sea may enforce alterations
to the plan.

harpie A boat of simple hull form, with a more or less flat bottom,
and more or less flat sides, running together at the stem. Sharpies
may be small pulling boats, small open dinghies, or decked cruising
boats with cabins. The bigger sizes, fitted with Leeboards, are
relatively common on New England waters.

heathe, to To cover a hull or deck, usually a wooden one, with an

impervious layer. The technique which appeals to many DIY-ers is to
sheathe the boat with glass cloth (or chopped strand mat) and
polyester resin. Unfortunately, polyester does not always bond very
well to the timber – epoxy resin would be better, but it is harder to
work with and more expensive. There are proprietary types of
sheathing, some based on rubbery compounds, others using
reinforced plastics. All require that the wood beneath be sound, free
from rot and free from paint, oil, or large gaps and cracks. Copper
sheathing was formerly much used to protect wooden hulls against
Teredo in tropical waters. Although copper sheet is very expensive,
the initial capital cost is offset by the saving of the annual Anti-fouling
paint which would otherwise be necessary, so in the long term,
sheathing may prove cheaper as well as more convenient.

heave The actual wheel of a pulley Block. Special types of sheave

are made for rope, wire and chain. The larger the diameter of the
sheave, the more easily the cable will run, and there is a definite
minimum size for each size of cable. The size of block is
proportioned to the size of rope, with sheave diameter, Score and
Swallow all in harmony. The noticeably large sheaves used with
small ropes in the multipart mainsheet tackles on some racing
dinghies are made that way for easier Rendering – in other words for
maximum mechanical efficiency.

heer The curve of a boat’s gunwale or top strake when viewed from
the side. The Sheer plan is a drawing of the side elevation. A
conventional sheer runs down from a high point at the stem, reaches
its lowest somewhere near Amidships or a little aft of that, and then
rises again towards the stern. A Hogged sheer is the reverse –
humpbacked and pig-like.

heer legs, sheers, jeers Long poles, spars or struts, two or three in
number, set up to lift and step a mast, for example, or to lower an
engine into a boat.

heer pole A rod or stick fixed between the lower ends of a pair of
shrouds so that neither of them can twist.

heer strake The topmost plank in a boat’s side.

heer, to To put the rudder over to one side. Sometimes done when a
boat is at anchor, to make her lie to one side and more steadily; this
is called ‘giving her a sheer to port’, for example. (See Cast, to.)

heet A line that controls the lateral movement of a sail. Normally

attached to the clew, it adjusts the sail’s setting for the relevant wind
angle.

heet bend Knot for joining two ropes of unequal thickness. (See
illustration.)

Sheet bend

heet lead Usually relating to a headsail sheet, this refers to the run
of the sheet. The sheet must be run so that it is free of snags, and
correctly positioned to ensure the best sail shape. Most yachts have
movable traveller cars, which allow a sailor to adjust the angle of the
headsail sheet and thus the sheet lead for different sails, weather
conditions and wind strengths.

helf In timber construction the shelf is a component running fore-

and-aft along the tops of the ribs, and providing support and
attachment for the deck beams.

hell The outer casing, or shell, of a block.

hip See boat.

hip’s papers Mainly the certificate of registry, but also any

documents pertaining directly to that particular boat, such as receipts
for harbour dues, customs clearances etc.
hip, to To set a component or part in its working position. Oars must
be shipped in their rowlocks before you start rowing. Later they will
be unshipped – and then ‘boated’. You ‘ship’ winch handles in their
sockets, or oil lamps on their brackets. Also used to mean taking
anything on board, from a cargo to a crew, from a laptop to a large
wave.

hipping forecast Maritime weather forecast for the next 24 hours,

covering the 31 sea areas of the Atlantic coast of Europe and the
North Sea.

hipshape In good order, tidy and efficient.

hoal A place where the water is relatively shallow. The word is a

noun, adjective and verb – ‘There is a shoal over there’; ‘The water
is pretty shoal over there’; ‘The water shoals quite quickly on the
eastern bank’.

hoal-draught (boat) One designed to float in less water than the

average for her size. Tends to be beamy.

hore Where the land meets the sea; also a strut used to prop up a
boat on dry land.

horten sail To reduce the total sail area set, either by reefing, or by
Handing or Furling one or more of those in use.

hore power Mains electricity from the shore, supplied by cable to a

boat.

houlders The shoulders of a boat are at the forepart of the hull, just
Abaft her head.

hroud plate The fitting on the hull to which a shroud or stay is

secured. (See Chain plates.)

hrouds Stays, usually of wire, supporting the mast at each side. Cap
shrouds go to the top of the mast, ‘lowers’ go to some intermediate
point, often about two-thirds of the way up, below the Spreaders.
When there are more than one set of spreaders, intermediate
shrouds are fitted between them.

hy A spinnaker set to receive a wind more or less on the beam,

instead of over the stern, is said to be set shy.

ide lights The red (port) and green (starboard) navigation lights
fitted at the sides of a boat.

ingle up, to To cast off all mooring lines, except one at each end of
the boat, preparatory to getting under way.

keg A shallow keel at the after end of a boat, or a deeper fin giving
support to the rudder. Can also protect the rudder or propeller when
the boat grounds.

kin fittings This term embraces a variety of components associated

with necessary holes in the hull. For the main part, such fittings take
the form of metal or plastic pipes with flanges and backing plates.
Sometimes an inlet fitting will have a coarse integral strainer to keep
out the bigger particles of seaweed. A seacock itself may, on
occasions, be termed a ‘skin fitting’, though in other contexts a
distinction would be made between the seacock and the skin fitting
to which it is screwed. It is good practice to reinforce the hull in the
region of a skin fitting, usually with a backing pad. The fitting must be
well bedded, and bolts or other fastenings must be of a material
which will not corrode in sea water, nor set up a galvanic action with
the material of the fitting itself.

kipper Either a qualified master, or whoever is in charge of the

vessel – responsible for the vessel and all those on board. On larger
boats, often not the same person as the owner.

lack water The time at High water, or Low, when the tide ceases to
run.
latting The rattling, shaking movement and noise of sails which are
fluttering in the wind and are not filled and drawing. To a seaman this
is an irritating sound, partly because the sails and equipment are
being worn out to no good purpose.

lick A smooth patch of water or a patch of oil in the water. A water

slick may form in the lee of a hull, or by reason of some tidal current
effect.

lides Small, specially shaped pieces of metal or plastic which are

attached to the Luff or mainsail and hold it to the mast by sliding in
the Track.

light (in shipping forecast) Wave height of 0.5 to 1.25m.

lip hook See Senhouse slip.

lip, to 1 A boat is ‘slipped’ when she is brought to the slipway and

grounded or settled into a mobile cradle. Like so many other nautical
words, ‘to slip’ has other meanings, notably to drop your mooring, or
simply to cast off from a quayside: ‘We slipped at 0400 and, once
clear of the harbour wall, laid for the headland on port tack...’
2 ‘To slip your cable’. If your anchor is stuck, having first buoyed it
you free the Bitter end from the boat and drop it all overboard,
hoping to return and retrieve it some sunnier day.

lipway A firm sloping roadway of concrete, railroad sleepers etc,

running down into the water for the convenient launching and
retrieval (slipping) of boats. Known as a ‘slip’ colloquially.

loop Definitions vary from era to era and place to place. Current
usage, though, tends to reserve ‘sloop’ for fore-and-aft rigged yachts
of moderate size, setting only a mainsail and one headsail. A few
hundred years ago a sloop, insofar as rig was concerned, would
have had a short fixed bowsprit, while a Cutter would have had a
longer, but reefable bowsprit. The cutter could thus carry more sail in
light winds and tended to be the choice when speed was required –
as in smuggling. Speed was also required by the revenue men to
chase the smugglers, so they adopted the cutter rig too. Today,
usage links ‘cutter’ with a two-headsail rig (staysail and jib), and that
is not infrequently allied to a fixed bowsprit much shorter than those
of the old-time cutters. At the same time, the modern sloop has lost
her bowsprit completely and sets her single headsail to the
stemhead. But note that her overhanging bow may carry the
stemhead further forward than that of the old-fashioned sloop with
her straight-up stem – in effect, many a modern sloop has integrated
a short bowsprit into the hull structure itself. (See Cutter.)

lot effect The ‘slot’ is the gap formed between Headsail and
Mainsail. The best way to sum it up is to say that if you have a sail
behind a mast, you can improve the airflow over the lee side by
careful adjustment of an overlapping headsail. The slot so formed
will speed up the airflow over the lee side of the main, and reduce
the turbulence caused by the mast. But the slot is not a propulsive
device in itself: if you were to make a single sail equal to the
combined area of main and jib, and if you were to hank it on a
forestay so that it was free of the mast’s turbulence, its propulsive
effect would be greater than that of the two sails and their slot.

lowly (in shipping forecast) Moving at less than 15 knots.

lutter A word that is something of a rarity that was coined by ocean

racer design guru, John Illingworth (1903–1980), for a rig which has
something of the sloop and something of the cutter. Only one
headsail is set at a time, but there is a choice of two, one of which is
set to the masthead (light weather) and the other to some lower point
on the mast (stronger winds).

mooth (in shipping forecast) Wave height less than 0.5m.

NAME Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers.

nap shackle There are various kinds, but all use spring-loaded pins
that don’t separate from the D-ring and should therefore not go over
the side when undone. They can be operated one-handed and under
load.
natch block A block whose shell can be hinged open at one side to
allow the rapid insertion of a rope without reeving it all the way from
the end.

nub, to To jerk on a rope or a chain sharply. The boat may do it

herself, snubbing at her anchor cable in heavy weather – ie coming
up short on the cable with a jerk. A snubbing winch is a small winch
consisting of a drum with no lever, but with a ratchet mechanism so
that when you shorten a rope turned around the drum it acts as a
brake. A snubbing line has a hook on the end that goes through a
link in the anchor chain to take the strain off the windlass.

nuffer A sock-like device used to deploy and recover a spinnaker or

cruising chute.

oft eye A plain eye in the end of a rope, without a Thimble.

oft shackle A strop, made from Aramid fibre, used in place of a

metal shackle to save weight.

OG Speed Over Ground. The speed made by a vessel at any given

time after tide and leeway have been taken into account, usually as
measured by GPS.

OLAS Acronym for the protocols laid down in the International

Convention for the Safety Of Life At Sea 1974, organised by the
International Maritime Organisation (IMO). The SOLAS Convention
in its successive forms is generally regarded as the most important
of all international treaties concerning the safety of merchant ships.
The first version was adopted in 1914, in response to the Titanic
disaster, the second in 1929, the third in 1948, and the fourth in
1960.

OLAS V Chapter 5 of the International Convention for the Safety Of

Life At Sea, parts of which apply specifically to small, privately
owned pleasure craft.
oldier’s wind A fair or free wind that saves you having to sail Close-
hauled.

ole The sailor’s word for the floor. You stand on the cabin sole, or the
cockpit sole. But dinghies usually have Bottom boards or Gratings,
not soles. (See Floor.)

olent rig A jocular term for what is sometimes said to be the

weekend yachtsman’s preferred rig – ie no headsail, mainsail set but
strapped down hard, while the boat proceeds under power.

olent stay A removable inner forestay, just inside the main forestay,
on which a smaller headsail can be set.

olid laminate The lay-up of a hull, deck or other structure that does
not include any form of stiffening material between the layers of fibre
and resin.

onar A system for ascertaining the distance to an object using

sound. On leisure craft, this is usually an echo sounder or fish finder.

oon (in shipping forecast) The forecast weather is expected to arrive

within six to twelve hours of time of issue. (See Imminent.)

ound As a noun it means a navigable passage between two sea

areas, or an arm of the sea or large inlet, with good depths. As an
adjective it means ‘in good condition’.

ound, to To find the depth of the water, by means of an Echo

sounder or a Lead-line, or just a long pole. Hence a sounding.

oundings, in soundings Approaching land from the ocean, a ship

reaches the point where the water shallows sufficiently to permit
soundings to be taken – say at about 100 fathoms. She is then ‘in
soundings’.

outh cone A black cone hoisted by coastguards, harbourmasters

and other shoreside officials to indicate the expectation of a gale
from a generally southerly direction. The point is downward. By night
three, lamps (usually red) are suspended in the form of a triangle,
point down. A North cone is the other way up.

pan Usually a wire, but could be a rope or chain, stretched between

two points to spread the load. A dinghy to be lifted on deck could
have a wire span from stem to transom, the lifting tackle being
attached at roughly the midpoint of the span. The yard of a gunter
sail sometimes has a wire span along its length to which the peak
halyard is attached.

panker On a square-rigged ship, the spanker is a gaff-rigged fore-

and-aft sail set from and aft of the aftmost mast. More often now
called a Mizzen or a Jigger. (In old books you may also find the
same sail called a ‘driver’.) The sail which the Dutch sometimes set
from masthead to stern, and which they call an ‘aap’ (‘ape’), could
well be called a ‘spanker’ in English.

par Mast, boom, gaff, yard, spinnaker pole – all are spars. It is the
general term for sticks or poles used as part of a boat’s rig, whether
made of wood, metal or any other material that may come along.
(See Yard.)

par buoy A buoy with a vertical pole sticking up through its middle,
so that it looks like a toffee apple dropped sticky end down.

peak a ship, to Old nautical term meaning to communicate with

another ship at sea using flags, Aldis lamp or by any other means.

pectra See Aramid.

peed/length ratio This ratio is abbreviated as V / √L. It is the speed

in knots divided by the square root of the waterline length in feet. For
example, a boat with 25 foot WL gives a square root of 5. Then,
when she is moving at 5 knots, her speed/length ratio is exactly one.
At a speed of 10 knots her ratio would be two. The ratio is of
significance for Displacement hulls (ie those which don’t plane on the
water), because it is rare for such hulls to achieve better than a
speed/length ratio of 1.5. In fact, most don’t do as well as that: a
ballasted sailing boat of 25 foot waterline would do well to achieve a
ratio of 1.3 and to sail at 6.5 knots, though she might easily do it with
a 30hp engine in calm water.

pherical buoy According to the international buoyage system, a

spherical buoy has no port/starboard significance, but if painted
orange is used as a ‘special mark’ to indicate such things as practice
zones, sewer outfalls and other such places. If painted in red and
white vertical stripes, it indicates safe water, and you may pass
either side.

pider band A metal band carrying a number of eyes, lugs or other

pickup points which is fitted around a spar for the attachment of
stays, or simply to house Belaying pins.

pike Usually a Marline spike.

pinnaker A large parachute-like headsail of very light material, used

mainly for running downwind, but also carried in a beam wind when it
is said to be set Shy. First introduced in 1865, the spinnaker was not
always as balloon-shaped as it commonly is today, and even now a
smaller and flatter type is used by some cruising owners. The sail is
set with a pole to one lower corner, controlled by the Guy, and has a
sheet to the other corner, though those who are not constrained by
racing rules may use two poles, or none, or they may opt for a
Cruising chute.

pinnaker chute A tubular container lying along the underside of the

deck, with a bellmouth emerging through the deck near the stem.
The spinnaker can be housed in the chute with its halyard attached,
ready for rapid hoisting when the boat turns on to the downwind leg
of the race.

pinnaker sleeve (or sock) A long sleeve of light cloth in which the
spinnaker is hauled Aloft. The sail is then broken out by gathering
the sleeve up at the head of the sail, for which it has its own
continuous halyard-cum-downhaul.
pit Either a narrow strip of land projecting into the seaway, or a long
and narrow-shaped submerged shoal – longer and narrower than a
Horse.

pitfire A small Headsail (jib) of heavy canvas and stoutly roped, to

be set in the heaviest weather. Nowadays more commonly known as
a ‘storm jib’.

plice, to To join two pieces of rope by interweaving the strands. The

resulting joint is a splice. In the eye-splice the rope’s end is turned
back and woven into itself to form a loop. In the Back splice the three
strands are formed into a Crown knot and then immediately tucked
back into the rope to make a thickened end which will not unravel.
The cut splice is made by splicing the two ends of a short piece of
rope into the body of a longer piece, rather like the handle of a
basket. The short splice and long splice join two pieces of rope end-
to-end. In the Short splice the strands of each rope are unlaid, then
the ropes are married together and the strands of each are tucked
under the still-laid strands of the other, working against the lay. The
splice is thicker than the body of the rope because it contains six
strands instead of the normal three. The long splice is quite different:
strands in each rope are unlaid for a greater length and the ropes
are married. A strand of one rope is then unlaid for an even greater
length, and a strand of the other is laid up in its place. The procedure
is repeated for the other rope. The remaining two strands (one from
each rope) are cut where they meet at the middle of the splice,
allowing enough to tie them together with a reef knot. The other
matching pairs of strands are similarly tied. The result is barely
thicker than the original rope, but not very strong and consequently
not much used.
Crown knot

Back splice

Short splice
pline To the shipwright, a spline is a thin strip of wood which is glued
into a seam when the gap is too wide for ordinary caulking. Similarly,
a spline may be used to repair a cracked plank, after the crack has
been opened with the saw to make a slot of regular shape. On the
drawing board, too, a spline is a thin strip of wood (sometimes of
other flexible material) which can be used to draw curved lines, such
as hull waterlines. In the engineering shop, a spline is a raised ridge
on a shaft which keys into a corresponding slot on a pinion or other
female member. As a verb, you would ‘spline’ a crack in a hull, and
you would have a ‘splined’ shaft.

plit rig The general term for a sail plan set on more than one mast,
such as a ketch or a schooner. This allows the total sail area to be
split into smaller and more easily handled parts. Although a cutter
splits her headsail area into two, people do not normally consider her
to deserve the term ‘split rig’.

poil ground, dumping ground An area of sea bottom reserved for

the dumping of waste of one kind or another. Usually clear of any
likely anchorage, and in relatively deep water. Marked on the chart
by a surrounding dashed line, and at sea (if at all) by yellow buoys.

ponson Broadly speaking, a subsidiary structure extending from the

side of the ship. Today it is most commonly used to describe the
inflatable hull sections of a Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB). The port and
starboard floats of a trimaran would also be called ‘sponsons’, and
when used of small pleasure craft the word normally implies some
sort of stabilising float. But in ships, a sponson may be a gun
platform jutting from the side, or the platforms forward and aft of the
paddle wheels on a steamer so equipped.

poon bows These rise clear of the water and are rounded in their
lower sections. They contrast with the wedge-like bows of the old
straight-stemmed boats.

portsboat rule Race handicap rule.

preader lights Lights arranged to shine down and illuminate the
deck, and especially the region of the foot of the mast, for night work.
For convenience, they are often mounted on the undersides of the
spreaders – hence their name – though similar lights may be fitted
directly to the mast itself.

preaders Struts, normally used in pairs to hold the shrouds away

from the mast and so widen the angle at which each shroud meets
the masthead. The term ‘crosstree’ may be applied to a pair of
spreaders made in a single continuous unit, but on ships, crosstrees
may be quite short arms or brackets, whose purpose is simply to
form attachment points for various blocks and eyes.

pring A mooring rope used to restrain fore-and-aft movement of a

boat. Normally, two springs are used, one leading from aft forward,
and the other leading from forward aft. Except in the most sheltered
waters, a pair of springs is essential when mooring Alongside.

pring tide These tides occur approximately every fortnight and have
a greater range than Neaps. (See Tide.)

pring, to When a plank or other structural component lifts, or springs

away from its attachment point, it is said to be ‘sprung’. ‘Among other
damage, she had several sprung planks...’ Hence a boat will spring a
leak.

prit A pole or spar, and most commonly the long spar that extends
the peak of a four-sided Spritsail. The sprit runs diagonally from the
foot of the mast where, in Thames barge jargon, its downward thrust
is supported by a wire or chain called the ‘stanliff’.
 Spritsail barge

pun yarn A small type of cord, similar to marline but coarser. Not
much used nowadays, but was formerly used for serving warps, and
for odd lashings.

quall A sudden, but relatively short-lived increase in wind force,

often with a change of wind direction and with rain. A white squall
comes with a clear sky; a black squall comes under ominous
lowering clouds, and often with rain.

quare rig The type of rig which uses four-sided sails hanging
beneath yards, which are suspended from the mast at their
midpoints. There is thus an equal area of sail each side of the mast,
whereas the ‘fore-and-aft’ rig sets all, or nearly all, the sail to one
side of the mast.

quare sail An approximately rectangular sail which is set on a Yard,

so that its centreline coincides with the mast. Other four-sided sails
such as the Gaff, spritsail and various Lugs are set entirely or mainly
to one side of the mast.
quat, to squat As a noun, ‘squat’ (in some parts of the country only)
is a scissors-type of boom Crutch. Used as a verb, a vessel is said
‘to squat’ if she runs with her stern depressed. This often happens to
an auxiliary yacht when driven at maximum engine power.

SB Single SideBand radio – a type of medium frequency (MF) radio

used for long-distance communication at sea. Frequently carried by
offshore sailors.

SR Small Ships Register.

tability The quality in a vessel that enables her to resist, and to

recover from, a heeling force – usually ballast or weight in the keel.
Small open boats can be unstable, whereas larger, decked boats
nearly always have ample stability. There are two different types of
stability: ‘initial stability’ and ‘ultimate stability’. A wide-bottomed vase
with a heavy base will have good initial stability, but a narrow-
bottomed vase which is rather top-heavy will have low initial stability.
But even though the beamy and well-ballasted one will resist being
toppled, neither will right itself when once laid flat: neither has
‘ultimate stability’. The toy clown with rounded and weighted base
has all the ultimate stability you could ask for – he always comes
back up when knocked down. Yet the clown has low initial stability
because it is quite easy to tilt him the first few degrees. He heels
more easily than the broad, ballasted vase. Boats may have either
kind of stability, or a mixture, depending on their beam, their shape
and their ballast. In ordinary speech, a boat with high initial stability
is said to be ‘Stiff’. The converse is ‘Tender’.

taff A pole or stick used to support an ensign or a burgee. A bigger,

stouter pole is a Stave and forms the main part of a Boathook.

tanchion A vertical post, usually of metal tube, supporting the guard

rail or lifelines which surround the decks. If your boat is big enough
to have an awning, she may have taller stanchions to support it.

tand, to To head the boat in a specific direction. You can ‘stand

across a bay’, or ‘stand into it’, and in each of those examples the
implication is one of positive motion in a positive direction. But when
a vessel Stands off she may lie hove-to or sail around aimlessly,
waiting at some distance offshore. And when she Stands on and off,
she first stands (ie sails) towards the shore, and then away from it,
but only with the intention of killing time and not with the desire to get
anywhere.

tand-on vessel Under Rule 17 of the Collision Regulations, when

one of two vessels has to keep out of the way of the other, the other
‘shall retain her course and speed’. In other words she stands on.
This makes it easy for the give-way vessel to avoid her, whereas if
both change course a collision could result. Nevertheless, no vessel
is given right of way over other vessels in the Collision Regulations,
and in the last resort the stand-on vessel has a responsibility to take
avoiding action if that is the only way to avert a disaster.

tandard port A port for which times and heights of tides have been
specially and fully calculated. A Secondary port is one for which tide
times are found by applying a ‘difference’ on a standard port.

tanding part The end of a tackle that is permanently made fast, in

contrast to a hauling part.

tanding rigging The fixed rigging, such as Shrouds and Stays,

which supports the mast, bowsprit etc. Halyards, sheets and so forth
form the Running rigging.

tanding wave A surface wave which does not move forward. Seen,
for example, where a fast-running stream crosses a submerged
ledge.

tar crazing A pattern of fine cracks in the gel coat of a laminated

resinglass structure. The cracks usually radiate from a point where
an excessive load has deformed the surface, and a sensible owner
will clean them out and fill with resin, or perhaps lay on a good paint
treatment. If star crazing results from normal loads, you will know
that the structure is too flexible and you will be wise to back it with
extra stiffening.
tarboard The vessel’s own right-hand side.

tarboard tack Sailing with the wind on the starboard side and the
mainsail out to port. When two sailing boats meet on crossing
courses, the boat on starboard tack has right of way. The
International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea lay down
that a vessel with her mainsail out to port is on the starboard tack, so
the legal definition embraces running as well as reaching.

tart, to To ease a rope slightly – for example, a sheet. (See Check.)

tarve, to To sail a boat too close to the wind. Starving and Pinching
are almost synonymous.

tation pointer A pilotage instrument with three arms pivoted on a

graduated disc. If the three arms can be aligned with three fixed and
identifiable objects, the pattern so formed can be transferred to the
chart, where the focal point of the arms must correspond with the
position of the observer. Rarely used nowadays.

tations The yacht designer divides the hull length into a number of
stations, each of which is in effect a plane or cross-section of the
hull.

tave A stave is a stout pole, such as forms the main part of a

boathook. A staff is somewhat less robust.

tave in, to To make a hole in a hull by knocking, or bursting, a plank

inward. The past tense and participle is ‘stove in’.

tave off, to To fend off.

tay Usually the forward and after mast supports (forestay, backstay),
but not the lateral supports, which are called the ‘Shrouds’. There is
also the Bobstay, leading down from the bowsprit end to the
Cutwater. But the lateral stays are the ‘bowsprit shrouds’.
tay, to To turn through the wind from one tack to the other. If a boat
fails to stay she may get In irons.

taysail See Headsail.

teadily (in shipping forecast) Moving at 15 to 25 knots.

teaming light The white, forward-showing light carried by a powered

vessel by night or in bad visibility. In the Collision Regulations this is
called a ‘Masthead light’ (though not required to be carried at the
masthead), and it must show from dead ahead to 22.5 degrees Abaft
the beam on each side. A vessel of less than 50 metres length may
show one such light; those longer must show another similar light
further aft and higher up. A boat under sail does not show a forward
white light.

teep-to A shore which slopes down steeply into and beneath the
water is said to be ‘steep-to’.

teerage way A rudder has no effect in still water and no useful effect
when a boat is moving very slowly. Steerage way is simply the speed
at which any particular vessel becomes controllable in any particular
circumstance – for example, steerage way will be a higher speed in
rough water than in smooth.

teeve, to Some bowsprits are pivoted so that they can be cocked up

to a more or less vertical angle. The sprit is said to be ‘steeved’ or
‘steeved up’.

tem Traditionally a hunk of oak that forms the forward extremity of

the hull. In many modern boats it’s a laminate of polyester resin and
glassfibres, but it’s still called the ‘stem’. There is a difference
between the stem and the Bows. The lower part of the stem is the
Cutwater, and the hull immediately adjacent to that is the Forefoot.

temhead (fitting, roller etc) The stemhead is the top of the stem
and is normally capped with a metal component which may serve
more than one task, the most usual being to anchor the lower end of
the Forestay and to provide a Fairlead for the anchor cable.

tep 1 A fitting in which the heel of the mast is located. A mast is

stepped when it is installed in the boat. Furthermore, it may be
stepped on deck (often in a Tabernacle), or it may pass through a
hole in the deck to be stepped on the keel.
2 A step-shaped break in the bottom line of a high-speed hull which
allows the water flow to break away from the hull skin.

tern The extreme after part of a hull, embracing the Transom or

Counter or, in a double-ender, the Sternpost, which corresponds to
the Stem at the other end. (See illustration.)

Sterns

tern board When a sailing boat sails (or drifts) backward she makes
a stern board. The manoeuvre is sometimes intentional, but whether
intended or not, control can be maintained provided the helmsman
appreciates that the rudder will now work in the opposite of its usual
sense. (See Board.)

tern drive A form of transmission between engine and propeller in

which a horizontal shaft from the engine passes through the transom
to bevel gears, which turn a vertical shaft running down outside the
hull to a point below the waterline. Here, a further set of bevel gears
achieves a second right-angle turn to rotate a more or less horizontal
propeller shaft. This form of drive allows the engine to be sited well
aft in the hull and (usually) allows the ‘drive leg’ with the lower gear
housing and the propeller to swing clear out of the water for
inspection or repair. ‘Transom drive’ and ‘inboard-outboard’ are other
names given to this arrangement, but the term ‘Z-drive’ is the
property of a single manufacturer.

tern gland A sleeve around the propeller shaft packed with

compressible material so as to allow the shaft to turn without
admitting water. The packing can be compressed by means of a
large nut which also encompasses the shaft.

tern light A white light near the stern of a vessel showing from dead
astern to 22.5 degrees Abaft the beam on either side. This light must
be shown by both powered and sailing craft. The arc of the stern
light is complementary to that of the Steaming light, the two together
covering a complete circle.

tern sheets The volume in the extreme after part of an open boat –
often the region beneath the tiller or beneath the after thwart.

tern thruster Operating in the same way as a Bow thruster, but at or

near the stern.

ternway Making way astern. A sailing boat makes a Stern board,

which is usually a short-lived manoeuvre, whereas a powered vessel
makes sternway, which usually implies a more deliberate and
extended manoeuvre.

terntube A metal tube built into the deadwood at the stern of a hull
(or embedded in a resinglass moulding) to form a duct through which
the propeller shaft can run. The forward end of the sterntube usually
embodies the watertight stern gland, and a bearing for the shaft may
also be part of the assembly.

tiff A stiff boat is one which does not heel easily. (See Stability.)
TIX STability IndeX. A number derived from a yacht’s significant
dimensions and its righting-moment curve. The higher the number
the greater the stability.

tock 1 The crossbar of an anchor.

2 The upper part of a rudder to which the tiller is connected. The
lower part is the Blade.

tockless anchor A type of anchor that depends on great weight to

make it hold. Not often effective on small leisure boats, but more
common on ships, where it’s stowed in the hawse pipes.

tool A short box of wood to support and steady a hull ashore. A

Shore is a strut from about three to six feet long, whereas a stool is
usually not more than a couple of feet in height, and is made out of
planks about two inches thick and a foot wide, forming an open box.

top, to 1 To set a sail ‘in stops’ is to furl it up and tie it around with
stops of thin and feeble twine, rotten cotton or rubber bands. The
stops will break when the sheet is pulled and the wind begins to fill
the sail. Such a sail is ‘stopped’.
2 To pack or pay a split or small hole with putty or some other form of
Stopping.

topper 1 A rope Bent on to an anchor chain, for example, to hold it

temporarily. It might also be a rope bent on to another (Rolling hitch)
to take the load off it while you make some adjustment.
2 A device that instantly holds a sheet fast. Known also as
‘jammers’, or as ‘lock-offs’ in the USA, these valuable gadgets
usually take the form of a lever-operated cam which squeezes and
grips the rope. They are commonly used with sheets and halyards,
allowing several different ropes to be hauled taut by just one winch.

topper knot Any bulky knot which serves the purpose of preventing
the passage of a rope through a fairlead or a block, but a Figure-of-
eight knot is the most common among yachtsmen.
topping Putty-like compounds which are used to fill minor dents and
cracks before painting. Also known as ‘filler’.

topwater A wooden dowel inserted between mating pieces of timber

to prevent the passage of water. Where two pieces mate, as in the
scarf joint between stempost and keel, a hole is bored across the
joint, so that half its diameter is in one of the parts and half its
diameter in the other. If water enters, the dowel swells and so fills the
bore tightly enough to prevent further penetration.

torm (in shipping forecast) Winds of force 10 (48–55 knots).

torm cone Coastguard stations and some other authorities display

black storm cones to warn that gale winds (not necessarily Storm
winds) are expected. If the point of the cone is upward, the gale is
expected from the North; if the cone is downward, it is expected from
the South.

torm jib See Spitfire.

tormbound Stuck in harbour due to poor conditions at sea.

tove in Part of a hull that is broken inward by a force from outside is

said to have been ‘stove in’. (See Stave in.)

tow, to The nautical term for ‘put away’, meaning safely stored for
the conditions likely to be encountered at sea.

trait A narrow sea passage between two lumps of land.

trake The whole of one plank in a boat’s hull. Even if it has been
necessary to use more than one length of wood to stretch the length
of the boat, the result is normally considered one strake.

tranded Run ashore, usually accidentally.

tray current corrosion Occurs when two metals immersed in salt

water become accidentally connected electrically, causing galvanic
corrosion.
tream In British parlance the rise and fall of the tide produces tidal
streams. In the USA these are tidal currents. ‘Stream’ can also mean
large-scale movements of oceanic water, such as the Gulf Stream.

tream, to Towing something on a line astern, such as a sea anchor

or heavy warps, to slow you down in a storm. Obsolete term referring
usually to a patent (Walker) log. You ‘stream the log’ when you put
the rotator and line into the water. At the end of the passage you
‘hand the log line’, which means that you pull them back on board.

tretchers Transverse wooden battens in the bottom of a pulling boat

against which the oarsmen can brace their feet.

trike, to To lower some item or other – perhaps a burgee, a sail or a

topmast. (See Send down.)

tringers In wooden construction, fore-and-aft members running the

length of the hull. Some may be quite light, others (for example, bilge
stringers) quite heavy. A moulded resinglass hull may have light
wooden stringers bonded into the laminate for extra stiffness.

trop A ring of rope, perhaps with an eye for a shackle, which is used
to make an attachment to a spar, a barrel or similar.

trum box The strainer that fits over the intake end of the bilge
pumping system. It may actually be in the form of a metal box with
perforated walls, but whatever its shape, its purpose is to keep
shavings and other cloggers out of your bilge pump.

tyrene Glassfibre boats are built of resin reinforced with glass, and
the resin is commonly polyester dissolved in styrene. The styrene is
a monomer which, with the help of a catalyst, links (polymerises) the
chains of polyester molecules into a three-dimensional structure.
This is the curing process. You need enough styrene, but not too
much, and any little that is left over gives rise to the typical smell of a
‘fibreglass’ boat.
ugar scoop A transom that’s extended or hollowed out to
incorporate a bathing platform.

uit of sails A boat is equipped with a suit of sails. All her sails may
comprise more than one suit, and collectively they are her ‘sail
wardrobe’. The place where the sails are stowed in their bags is the
sail locker! And the owner keeps his shore-going suit in a ‘hanging
locker’, not a wardrobe.

urface tissue A finely woven cloth of glassfibres which, when

laminated with resin, will result in a relatively smooth finish.

urge, to To pay out, or ease off, a rope a little at a time by letting it

slip round a bollard or winch drum.

urvey A technical examination of a vessel’s hull, rigging or

machinery to determine their condition and fitness for service. But a
survey is not a valuation.

waged end The old way of making an eye in the end of a wire was
to turn it back and splice it. A quicker and easier way is to swage the
two parts of the wire together by clamping them in a sleeve of
compressed metal. The die which forms and compresses the metal
is itself a swage.

wallow The passage between the Shell of a block and its Sheave,
through which the rope must render freely. (See Breech.)

wash (or swatch) A shallow area which does not uncover at low
tide, but whose presence makes itself known by disturbing the seas
on the surface. Its presence may also be revealed by a ‘swashmark’,
a line of bubbles, foam and debris on the surface of the sea that is
roughly related to the area of the swash below.

washway (or swatchway) A navigable channel through a region of

Swashes.
way, to ‘To sway’ had a special meaning in the old sailing ships, but
is now used by yachtsmen to mean the lifting or lowering of stores
etc with a rope. You may sway your kitbag from deck to quayside, for
example. (See Fleet, to.)

weep A long oar, often of the kind used for steering or sculling over
the stern.

well 1 A thickening of the Gunwale of a small boat (often by means

of an extra bolster of wood) to provide strength for a Rowlock.
2 A long ponderous undulation of the sea, but whose waves do not
break.

wift, to To draw tight with a line or lanyard, usually with a transverse

pull, as may be done with a line that holds a halyard away from the
mast by hauling towards a shroud. If, for example, you have twin
backstays, you can tighten them both by swifting – that is to say, by
drawing them towards each other with a linking lanyard.

wifter A rope used for Swifting. The rope linking each capstan bar to
the next, so forming a complete ring.

wig, to To ‘swig’ on a rope is to make the end fast around a cleat, for
example, and gain slack by hauling laterally, then taking up what is
gained.

wing a compass, to A compass which suffers deviation due to

magnetic material in the boat can be checked by ‘swinging’. That
means to hold the boat approximately at one point, but with her head
at successive directions around the horizon. When the boat is
brought to rest at each point, the bearing of some fixed point ashore
is read from the compass. Since any magnetic material in the boat
will have been moved around the compass during this process, the
deviation it causes on each heading can be noted. These errors can
be noted on a Deviation card, or they may be plotted as a curve on
graph paper.
wing the lead, to A slang term meaning to feign sickness so as to
escape duty. A seaman who wants to take a sounding will Cast the
lead, not swing it.

wivel (or swivel link) A connector whose two parts can rotate in
relation to each other. A swivel would be inserted in a mooring chain,
for example, to avoid an accumulation of twists over a period of
months.

wivel block A block whose eye is free to swivel.

yntactic foam A lightweight filler consisting of resin mixed with

microscopic glass bubbles. (See Microspheres.)
 T

‘Tango’ in the phonetic alphabet. 1 The single-letter signal means

‘Keep clear of me, I am engaged in pair trawling’. This is an
important signal for pleasure craft skippers, and since the signal flag
consists of red, white and blue in three vertical bands, you might
mistake it for the French ensign. In Morse code it is – (one dash), but
the above signal cannot be made by a single hoot because that
means ‘I am altering my course to starboard’.
2 True. (See North.)

ab, Servo tab 1 A small surface which, when acted upon by the
water flow, moves a larger surface (for example, the main rudder) by
means of leverage.
2 The fixed end of a piston hank.

abernacle A metal or wooden structure, in the shape of an open box,

which locates and supports a deck-stepped mast. A bolt passing
through the tabernacle and mast can provide a pivot point for
lowering the stick. Although the tabernacle supports the downward
thrust of the mast, it should not suffer any of the wrenching or side
loads, which are taken by Shrouds and Stays. (See Lutchet.)

abling Those parts of a sail which are reinforced by doubling or

trebling the thickness of the material and oversewing.

achometer An instrument for measuring the rate of revolution of the

engine.
ack 1 The lower, forward corner of a sail. May be hauled down tight
by a tack line or a tack Tackle. (See Clew and Head.)
2 A turn of the bow through the wind while sailing.

ack, to When sailing close-hauled, to turn the boat’s head through

the wind so that the sails draw on the opposite side. When sailing
with the wind coming from port, the boat is ‘on the port tack’, and she
is ‘on starboard’ when the wind comes from her starboard side. To
make progress to windward by sailing first on one tack and then on
the other is ‘tacking’ or ‘beating to windward’. Although tacking
usually implies close-hauled sailing, it is sometimes desirable to ‘tack
downwind’, turning slightly off the wind, first to one side and then to
the other. That may be faster than running directly downwind, and it
may avert the risk of an accidental gybe. (See Wear, to.)

ackle An assembly of one or more blocks with one or more ropes to

achieve a mechanical advantage. There is a variety of names for
their many forms – the ‘Spanish burton’, the ‘single whip’, the ‘gun
tackle’ and the ‘luff tackle’, for example. Sadly, they are little used on
modern craft and are to be seen mainly in mainsheets, kicking straps
and tack downhauls.

affrail The rail around the stern of a boat which may save you from
falling overboard. Modern yachts do not have the elegant wooden
rails of their forebears, but have tubular metal railings instead, called
Pushpits.

ail, to The act of pulling on a rope that is round a winch.

ake a turn, to To pass a rope around a post or bollard.

ake the ground, to A boat takes the ground when the tide recedes
and leaves her there. This is a gentler process than running
Aground, which almost always implies an error, whereas taking the
ground suggests that it was the skipper’s intention – or at least his
expectation.
ake up, to A planked wooden boat may become so dry ashore that
the planks shrink and allow water to leak between them when she is
put afloat. But as the wood swells she will ‘take up’, which simply
means that her seams will close up.

alurit A patent form of Swaged splice for wire rope. Also the machine
which enables you to tailor it...

ang A metal strip, bolted or riveted to a spar, to provide an

attachment point for shrouds, stays and similar.

elegraph buoy (beacon) One that marks the position of an

underwater cable. The point where a cable reaches the shore is
marked by a ‘telegraph cable landing beacon’, which can be
identified by its diamond-shaped, red and white topmark.

elltales 1 The compass which the skipper mounts over his berth so
that he can check what you are doing at the helm even when you
think he is asleep.
2 A short length of cotton or tuft of wool which is attached to sail or
shrouds to show the direction and steadiness of the air flow.

ender 1 Any small boat used to take people or stores out to a bigger
one. Your inflatable dinghy, for example.
2 An adjective that describes a boat that heels rather easily. It refers
to a boat’s initial Stability, rather than the ultimate.

eredo The ‘shipworm’ is a mollusc that looks like a worm. Of

microscopic size, it penetrates underwater timber and there spends
the rest of its life, eating your boat away. Remaining within the
thickness of the planking it can grow to a foot or more in length and
as fat as your finger. The galleries made by teredos will destroy the
structure of a wooden ship. But they do not abound in temperate
waters. They can be held at bay by a sound coat of Anti-fouling
paint, or by copper sheathing, and they die if the boat is removed
from salt water for a fortnight or more.
erminals The fittings that form eyes or attachments in the ends of
wire ropes. There is the Swaged, or Talurit, type of eye, and there
are patent devices with screw-together bodies which clamp the end
of the wire in some way.

hames measurement (or tonnage) When an owner talks about his

‘five tonner’, he refers to a peculiar type of tonnage which has
nothing to do with weight. More than a hundred years ago the Royal
Thames Yacht Club adopted a formula for estimating the tonnage of
yachts, and we still can’t break free of it. The formula takes no
account of weight, but relates entirely to length and beam. The
measurements are taken in feet. Because beam acts twice as a
multiplier, fat boats have disproportionately large tonnages. (See
Displacement and Register tonnage.)

hermal wind A wind caused by differential heating, usually of sea

and land. For example, the sun heats the land more rapidly than the
sea, the air rises over the land and a Sea breeze flows towards the
shore to replace it. By night the land cools more quickly than the sea,
and the result may be a Land breeze in the opposite direction.

himble A metal or plastic eye that fits inside an eye formed in rope or
wire rope to prevent chafe. A thimble may be round or pear-shaped.

hixotropic Thixotropic paints and resins are those which do not

easily run when applied to a vertical surface, though they are quite
easily brushed out or spread.

hole pins Wooden pegs or dowels shipped vertically in pairs in the

gunwale so as to constrain an oar for rowing. Most people now use
Rowlocks.

hroat 1 The space in a block where the rope passes through, but
‘Swallow’ is the preferred term.
2 The upper forward corner of a gaff sail.

humb cleat A small cleat with only one horn. To some people it looks
like half a cleat.
humb knot An ordinary pretzel knot joining two rope ends not under
load. (See illustration.)

Thumb knot

hwart The thwartships plank which forms a seat in an open boat.

There may be several, depending on the size of the boat, and in
addition to their role as seats they may also be essential
components of the boat’s structure. Some dinghies also have seats
to port and starboard, called ‘side benches’.

idal atlas A hydrographic booklet which shows the direction and

speed of the tidal streams around the coast for each hour of the
Flood and Ebb. There is a tidal atlas for each section of coast – see
the Catalogue of Admiralty Charts.

idal stream The rise and fall of the water level in the great oceans
naturally causes a flow out of or into narrower seas, such as the
English Channel, though some (like the Mediterranean) are so
narrow and shallow at their entrances that the effect is very limited.
The flow of a rising tide is called the ‘Flood’, and that of a falling tide
is called the ‘Ebb’. If the tide starts to come in, one may say that it is
‘making’, though the same term is used for the period of days
between Neaps and Springs when tidal heights are growing greater.
During the reverse process, after springs, tides are said to be ‘taking
off’. Tidal streams are important to small craft because they
commonly attain speeds of 2 or 3 knots, and in a 4 or 5 knot boat
there is a world of difference between 2 knots against you and 2
knots with you. Apart from its influence on your speed of progress,
the direction of the tidal stream is important in relation to the wind:
‘wind against tide’ tends to kick up a rough sea. (See Tidal atlas and
Height of tide.)
idal wave The combined gravitational pulls of the sun and the moon
draw up the Earth’s ocean into a hump, called a tidal wave. This
wave moves across the water as the Earth rotates, and though it is
only a low lump (unnoticed by seafarers), its effect when it reaches
the shallower waters near land is to create the to-and-fro surges
which we call ‘Tides’. It may be worth mentioning that the expression
‘tidal wave’ is commonly misused for a phenomenon which should
be called a ‘tsunami’.

ide Tides are one of the most important factors to be taken into
account by the coasting skipper. ‘Tide’ is the rise and fall of the level
of the sea at regular intervals, corresponding to the phases of the
moon. This is because the moon’s phases are an indication of her
position in relation to the sun, and it is the combined gravitational
attraction of those two bodies which raises the sea. The moon’s
monthly (28-day) cycle gives the tides a fortnightly cycle, the tides
being greatest when the sun and moon are either on opposite sides
of the Earth or on the same side, and least when they are at a right
angle.
The greatest tidal Ranges are called ‘Spring’ tides and arise at the
new and full moon; the least are called ‘Neaps’ and occur at the
quarters. The fortnightly cycle of tides is rather convenient to live
with: if High tide is around midday this weekend, then it will be
around midday in a fortnight’s time, but at morning and evening next
week. (See illustration.) The times of High and Low tides for each
day of the year are shown in Tide tables, often free from chandlers’
shops, but also found in Almanacs and suchlike. Also shown are the
Heights. (See Tidal stream.)
 Tides

ide gauge Usually takes the form of a post standing up in the water
and marked in metres. It shows the current height of the water
surface above chart datum – that is to say, the depth which is at that
time additional to soundings shown on your chart. To be absolutely
correct, it shows the height of the tide. Be aware, though, that it does
not show directly the local depth of water; that is the function of the
Depth gauge.

ide rip A stretch of water where a fast-flowing Tidal stream creates

turbulence, usually because the bottom shallows.

ide-rode A boat lying at anchor is said to be ‘tide-rode’ when her hull

is laying primarily in the direction of the Tidal stream. Alternatively
she may be Wind-rode.

ight Short for watertight. Used of a good hull which does not make
water.

iller The lever or handle by which the rudder is turned. In some

dinghies a tiller extension may be necessary for the helmsman who
sits so far outboard that he cannot reach the tiller itself. In big, heavy
boats, tiller lines rigged with tackles may be needed to augment the
muscular power of the helmsman. Tiller lines without tackles may
also be used to fix the helm in a chosen position.
imbers The ribs of a hull are called ‘Frames’ and ‘Timbers’. Timbers
are usually bent to shape, after steaming, while the heavier frames
are usually sawn to shape or laminated.

ingle A patch applied to a hull to stop a leak. Commonly a copper

sheet nailed down over a piece of cloth which has been well coated
with tallow, but the exact ingredients are likely to be a matter of
improvisation.

ip The bottom of a keel or rudder.

M Thames Measure (tonnage).

oe straps Lengths of webbing running fore-and-aft in a racing

dinghy, and arranged so that the crew can hook their feet under
them when ‘Hiking’ out.

oggle An elongated wooden button. Found on the hoist of a signal

flag or the front fastening of a duffel coat.

onnage The various kinds of tonnage are a great source of

confusion. As far as private owners are concerned, the three kinds
that may matter are Displacement, Thames measurement, and
Register tonnage. The matter is further confused, though, by the
racing classes, who compete for quarter, half and one ton cups in
craft whose design is closely controlled by lengthy and complex
rating formulae which have nothing to do with tonnage in its ordinary
sense.

op hamper All the structure above the hull, notably the deckhouse,
Doghouse, companion, rails, radar scanner and so forth. All of which
create windage, affect stability, and generally hamper the boat in her
efforts to cope with wind and sea.

opmast The true topmast – in the form of a separate spar which

could be ‘sent up’ to extend the height of the lower mast, and struck
and ‘Housed’ on the foreside of the lower mast when its weight and
windage Aloft would be an encumbrance – is now rare. There are
 still a good many gaffers around with longish pole masts,
approximating to the total length of former mast-plus-topmast
assemblies, and the upper part of such a long mast may
conventionally be called the ‘topmast’.

opping lift A rope from the mast to the boom end which supports the
boom and allows you to lift or lower it. (See Lift.)

opsail On a Gaff-rigged boat the topsail sets above the mainsail and
fills the triangle between gaff, mast and sky. It may do more if set on
a ‘topsail yard’, a pole which extends higher than the mast and to
which the luff of the topsail is laced. (See Jackyard.)

opsides The sides of the hull between the waterline and the deck.

osher A small, open Cornish fishing boat noted for her good carrying
capacity, which is a result of plenty of freeboard and firm bilges.

rack 1 The locus of the ship’s progress over the face of the Earth –
the actual line along which she travels. (See Course.)
2 A channel or ridge, running from top to bottom on the after side of
the mast, and in or on which the Slides on the luff of the sail can
slide.

rack up See Head up.

railboards Carved decorative boards fitted to port and starboard of a

hull, at Bows and Quarters (or both). Although a word not much used
in day-to-day life, a ‘trail’ is any design or pattern based upon trailing,
intertwining tendrils, curlicues and so on. (See Quarter badge.)

railing board A plank bearing rear lights, flashing indicators and the
registration number of the towing vehicle, which is fitted to a dinghy
being trailed on the road.

railing edge The after edge of a sail, a keel or a rudder – or any

other surface subject to fluid flow. Specifically used in relation to
 aerodynamics and hydrodynamics. Note that the trailing edge of a
sail is at the Leech, while the leading edge is at the Luff.

raining wall A sea wall or embankment built for the purpose of

directing the current or stream in the required direction. For example,
at a river mouth, where the water would naturally slow down and
deposit silt, a training wall will constrain the water to move faster,
and so carry its silt out towards the deep.

rampoline A net of rope or webbing filling the gap between the two
hulls of a catamaran, usually forward.

ransducer An electronic sensor relaying data (for example, of depth,

wind or speed) to instruments.

ransferred position line A fix is usually taken by crossing two

Position lines observed within a few minutes of each other. But
where a significant time must elapse between the observing of the
two position lines, the first must be translated along the ship’s track
by the distance that she has travelled in the interval.

ransit A transit is taken by sighting two objects in line. If the objects

can be located on the chart, the observer is obviously somewhere on
an extension of the line passing through them, and such knowledge
is invaluable in pilotage. Furthermore, if the bearing of such a transit
is observed with the compass, the reading can be compared with the
magnetic bearing derived from the chart, and any compass deviation
can be deduced. A practical navigator will always be on the lookout
for pairs of objects which provide good transits, and will frequently
use them to check his compass.

ransom In house building and shipbuilding a transom may be simply

a cross-beam, but in small craft the word refers specifically to the
transverse after end of the hull, including any stiffening beams or
structure. A hull may have a pointed stern, a cut-off transom stern, or
an upsloping and overhanging Counter, which itself may end in a
miniature ‘transom’ which is called an ‘archboard’.
ransom flap Rather like a cat flap, a transom flap opens to allow
water to escape from inside a planing dinghy.

rapeze Used in sailing dinghies, a trapeze is a length of wire

attached to the mast near the head and ending in a sling-seat in
which a crewmember can support themselves with legs braced
against the gunwale, and with all weight out to windward.

raveller A fitting which attaches a sheet to a Horse, most commonly

used to move the cockpit end of the mainsheet tackle more to the
windward or the leeward side of the boat. Another example would be
an iron ring which slides along a bowsprit so that you can attach the
tack of the jib from the foredeck and then haul it outboard. A third
example is a ring which travels up the mast of a lugger. The halyard
is made fast to the ring, and the yard of the lugsail is hooked
beneath. Modern mainsheet travellers are track and car systems for
adjusting mainsail trim.

raverse tables Tables that show the course and distance from point
A, where you are, to point B, where you want to go. Points A and B
are expressed in degrees of latitude and longitude. Alternatively, if
you know where you started, and how far and on what heading you
have travelled, the tables will reveal where you are now. On the
whole it’s easier, more reliable and more satisfying to draw a line on
your chart.

reenail See Trunnel.

riatic stay A fore-and-aft stay running between the heads of two

masts.

rice up, to (or Truss up, to) This can be used in much the same way
as a farmer talks of trussing up a chicken. You can trice up almost
anything with cord or rope, but in practice this old term lives on
mainly in gaff-rigged boats which have loose-footed mainsails. Such
craft will have a tricing line attached to the Tack of the sail, running
through a block at the Gaff jaws, and down to the deck. The tack of
the sail can thus be hauled up to reduce the sail area and spoil its
 shape so that the boat moves slowly. The sail is then halfway to
being Scandalised.

rick A period of duty at the helm or on watch. To ‘take a trick at the

helm’ is more nautical (and possibly more schoolboy-humourish)
than ‘steering for a bit’.

ricolour lamp A lamp showing red in the port sector, green in the
starboard sector, and white astern. The International Regulations for
Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972, permit sailing boats of less than
12 metres length to carry such a ‘combined lantern’ at the masthead.

rim tab A small underwater plate fitted at the stern of a motorboat to

act like the elevator of an aeroplane. Often mounted in pairs, trim
tabs are usually required to lift the stern and so make the hull trim to
a running angle which causes least drag in the water. Some trim tabs
are at a fixed angle, others can be controlled by the helmsman.

rim, to 1 To adjust the set of the sails to best advantage.

2 To adjust the sit of a boat in the water to the best advantage,
usually so that she floats parallel to the designed waterline, though
there may be times when it is desired to trim a boat by the head
(bows down) or by the stern (bows up) for some special purpose. In
a rowing boat, the request ‘Trim the boat’ requires the passengers to
shift their weight so that the boat will be level. The verb may also be
intransitive, for the boat herself may be observed to ‘trim by the
head’, for example.

rimaran Although this word has been formed from ‘catamaran’, it is

misleading if it suggests that because a catamaran is a two-hulled
boat a trimaran is three-hulled. The trimaran, like the Proa, has a
single hull which is too narrow to be stable without the assistance of
a Sponson or an Outrigger. But whereas the proa has only one
sponson, a trimaran has two. In most tris, only the leeward sponson
is in contact with the water, the other being lifted clear by the slight
heel of the boat.
rinity House The General Lighthouse Authority (GLA) for England,
Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar, responsible for aids to
navigation.

ripping line A line attached to the Crown of an anchor and leading

up to the deck so that the anchor can be broken out of the ground.
The tripping line may be seized to the Shank of the anchor by a
flimsy bit of line to avoid accidental tripping, while a strong pull for
intentional tripping will break the line and so apply the pull to the
crown end of the anchor. A tripping line may lead to the deck, or to a
free-floating Anchor buoy. In the latter case, a few feet of rope
immediately beneath the buoy should be weighted so that it will hang
straight down, clear of the propeller or rudder of any passing craft. If
you have a fair idea of the relevant depths, a simple scheme is to
use a shorter tripping line, with its upper end seized to the anchor
cable itself. The line should be short, but long enough to be above
the water, and at hand when the cable is hove short.

ruck A circular wooden capping piece for the top of the mast. It
keeps water from entering the end-grain, and its overhanging rim
offers a suitable place for the fitting of a burgee-halyard sheave. Also
an obsolescent name for a Parrel bead.

rue wind The wind with the direction and velocity as measured by a
stationary observer (for example, on an anchored vessel). By
contrast, the Apparent wind is the wind observed from a moving
vessel.

runk 1 A vertical passage open at the top and bottom, such as the
housing in which a daggerboard slides up and down, or the broader
passage which allows an outboard motor to do the same. An air duct
to or from an engine compartment is likewise called a ‘trunk’, but
only if it is relatively short and uncomplicated. Where it is long and
tortuous you are more likely to talk of ‘trunking’.
2 The fabric or plastic tubular drain that can be raised or lowered
from the transom of a RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat) to let any water out
of the rigid hull is often known as the ‘elephant’s trunk’, because the
fabric is often grey in colour.
runnel, treenail, trenail A nice rounded West Country man’s way of
saying ‘treenail’, which may also be pronounced as spelt, or as
‘trennle’. Anyway, it is a wooden spike or nail, used for holding
planks to timbers etc. As a fastening it is not likely to be used in
private pleasure craft, being better fitted to craft of bigger size, where
the Scantlings give sufficient thickness for a trunnel to get a grip.

rysail A small sail of heavy canvas, set on the mast in place of the
mainsail, and sheeted aft with powerful tackles. It is, in fact, a riding
or steadying sail which dampens the rolling of the hull in gale or
storm conditions.

SDY Twin Screw Diesel Yacht.

-terminal Used at the end of rigging wires to secure the wire to the
mast.

uck The underwater part of the stern of a hull, corresponding to the

Forefoot at the other end. At the tuck, the sides, bottom and transom
(if any) all merge neatly together.

uck in, to 1 Where reef points, slab or jiffy reefing are used, we say
‘tucking in’ a reef, or even ‘taking a tuck’. ‘It was blowing pretty hard,
and we had a couple of tucks in’ is a good way of saying that the first
and second reefs had been made. Properly speaking, a reef is that
actual area of canvas between two rows of reef points, and when
that panel has been tucked in and tied down you have certainly
‘taken in a reef’.
2 A seaman also ‘tucks in’ a splice, and uses the expression where
‘make’ would be the ordinary word.

umblehome An inward slope of the upper parts of a hull or cabin

side. The opposite of Flare.

urk’s head An ornamental knot, used to make a stopper or handhold

at a rope’s end. Looks more like a turban or Turk’s hat than his head.
urn in all standing, to A nice expression for going to bed fully
dressed and ready for all the pleasures of leaping out again at a
moment’s notice.

urn of the bilge The part of the hull where the ‘bottom’ meets the
‘side’, and there is a general curving upwards. In fact, it is that very
part of the hull properly called the ‘Bilge’, a word which itself derives
from ‘bulge’.

urn of the tide The period of slack water when the tide is about to
flow the other way.

urn to windward, to Turning to windward is what most people call

‘tacking’ – but with the implication that the boat tacks repeatedly and
makes progress to windward. Idiomatically, there is no such thing as
one ‘turn to windward’ in the way one turns a boat’s head to the
wind. In short, it is not the same as mere Luffing, but the process of
getting to windward, first on one Board and then on the other. (See
Beat, to.)

urn turtle To turn completely upside down. The expression is used

only in relation to craft, whereas ‘Capsize’ is used of a coil or rope, a
fried egg, or anything (or anyone) else.

urnbuckle The same thing as a Rigging screw, though the

implication is of small size.

VO Tractor Vaporising Oil. In former times this fuel was used by

some marine engines. Now extremely rare.

weaker A light line attached to a Sheet at some midpoint so that the

lead or tension in the sheet may be adjusted more finely. The
tweaker may be made of elastic cord in order to maintain a constant
tension.

welfths rule See Rule of twelfths.

win keels This is the correct term to use for those (sailing) boats
which have a pair of keels, but no central keel. ‘Bilge keels’ is the
term to use for those craft (sail or power) which have a main central
keel and a subsidiary keel on either side of it.

wisted shackle The shape of twisted shackle is deliberate, and not

the result of straining. This type of shackle has the axis of the pin at
a right angle to the plane of the bow. In most shackles they lie in the
same plane.

wo blocks When two blocks of a tackle meet and no further

movement is possible. (See Chock-a-block.)

yfon An acoustical beacon – a foghorn – operated by compressed

air and emitting a medium-pitched note rather similar to the whistle
of a steamer. (See Diaphone.)
 U

‘Uniform’ in the phonetic alphabet. The single-letter signal is one that

every skipper should know because it may be of some importance to
them: if ‘U’ ( . . – in Morse code) is made to you by light, sound or
flag, it means ‘You are running into danger’. But be careful not to
confuse it with ‘V’, which is only one dot different.

na rig The single-sailed type of rig used by the American catboat

Una, which aroused much enthusiasm (and copying) when she
appeared at Cowes in 1854. Although that particular rig raised the
Gaff by a single halyard and a complex system of blocks, the term
‘una rig’ is generally applied to the Catboat pattern, where the mast
is stepped well forward and no jib is carried (but not to the various
kinds of lug which are used without a jib).

ncovered In pilotage, a rock or other obstruction which is never

covered by water at any state of the tide.

nder bare poles With no sail set. (But understood to be making way,
due to the wind pressure on hull and rigging.)

nder command See Not under command.

nder sail For the purpose of the Collision Regulations, a vessel

being propelled by both sail and power is regarded as ‘under power’
and subject to the relevant rules.

nder the lee On the leeward side of something, such as a headland,

a harbour wall, a ship’s hull...
nder way Making way through the water. Often confused with ‘under
weigh’, which is a term specific to an anchor, meaning that the
weight of the anchor is off the bottom and on the cable. The foredeck
hand may call out that the anchor is ‘under weigh’, whereupon the
helmsman may feel free to get the vessel under way (though slowly).
The cause of confusion is pretty obvious.

nderrun, to If you have a line out to a post and you work your boat
along the line towards the post, then you underrun that line. The
same expression applies even when the end of the line is being
brought aboard and coiled on deck.

nderfoot An anchor, a mooring buoy, or any other object is

underfoot when it lies vertically beneath the vessel’s Forefoot,
whether it’s at the surface or on the bottom.

ndertow The current which flows to seaward from a beach on which

waves are breaking. The flow is below the water surface.

nwatched Obsolete chart term meaning a light which is not

continuously under human supervision, and could therefore be
extinct for some time before being put to rights.

p (up helm etc) A sailor’s life is much influenced by wind and tide,
and the terms ‘up’ and ‘down’ are much used in the sense of
‘towards’ or ‘away’ from wind or stream. Thus ‘up helm’ means that
the tiller should be moved to the upwind side of the boat, which is
usually topographically up as well, being towards the higher side of a
heeled boat. Down helm is the opposite. To sail Higher, or to Point
higher, is to sail nearer to the wind, but ‘lower’ is rarely used in this
sense. (See Bear away, to.)

p anchor An exhortation to get on and weigh the thing, or just a

verb, as in ‘We’ll up anchor as soon as we’ve heard the early
forecast’.

p together, Up port, Up starboard Instructions to oarsmen, asking

for oars to be pulled equally, or more strongly on one side than the
other.
 V

‘Victor’ in the phonetic alphabet. ‘V’ as a single-letter signal means ‘I

require assistance’. Compare with ‘W’, and also note that this is not
a signal of dire distress (as the letters ‘NC’ would be). In Morse code
‘V’ is . . . – .

acuum bagging A form of resin infusion that makes use of a

vacuum.

ane gear Automatic steering gear which holds the boat at a constant
angle to the Apparent wind. The vane senses the wind direction and
actuates the tiller so as to correct any deviation from the preset
relationship between boat’s head and wind direction. In some cases
the vane acts directly on the tiller, in others it acts through a Servo
rudder or tab. Both the latter are underwater surfaces which, when
displaced to a small angle by the windvane, apply the power of the
water flow to the task of moving the tiller. There are many
permutations of vane gear.

ang A rope attached to the upper end of a Gaff or a Sprit so that it

can be pulled towards the centreline of the boat to reduce twist in the
sail. By analogy, a foreguy which is rigged to prevent a boom
swinging aft when running with the danger of a gybe. The American
term for ‘Kicking strap’.

ariable pitch propeller (VP prop) A propeller, the pitch of whose

blades can be controlled while under way. That much is fairly
obvious, but more careful observation reveals that most VP props
are also reversible, with the range of pitch extending from course
ahead to course astern. An extension of the idea is the VP prop
which also feathers, in that the blade pitch goes beyond any usefully
propulsive angle to the point where the blades are edge-on to the
water flow and the drag while sailing is minimised. The conventional
VP and reversing prop turns always in the same direction, requires
no reverse gearbox, and should permit fine control of thrust by
varying blade pitch without changing the throttle setting.

ariation (magnetic) Charts are drawn with North towards the Earth’s
geographical North Pole, but the Magnetic pole is not in the same
place. Thus, over most of the world’s surface a compass needle will
point to east or west of the true pole, and the angular difference
between that heading and true north is called the variation.
Furthermore, the magnetic poles (north and south) do not remain in
the same spots, but move slowly at a predictable rate. Fortunately
the variation, and the yearly rate of change, is shown on charts, and
there is no more difficulty in allowing for the difference between
‘magnetic’ and ‘true’ than there is in allowing for a watch which reads
fast or slow. So don’t allow the ‘experts’ to frighten you, nor to
obliterate common sense with mumbo-jumbo. Just look and see
what it says on the chart. (See Deviation.)

ector A vector is, for our purposes, a line drawn on a chart. Its length
is proportionate to a distance travelled, and its direction on the chart
corresponds to the actual direction of movement. A vector diagram
combines two such lines; for example, the southward movement of a
vessel over the sea, and the simultaneous eastward movement of
the sea itself, to produce a resultant.

ee bottom A form of hull, the two halves of whose bottom meet at

the keel in a shallow ‘V’. Most such hulls are, in fact, what is more
commonly called ‘Hard chine’, as in ‘Sharpies’.

eer, to 1 To pay out a rope or cable – especially of anchor chain.

The wind ‘veers’ when it shifts in a clockwise direction – for example,

it veers from south to west. Conversely, it ‘Backs’ when it shifts
anticlockwise, from west to south.
entimeter Obsolete: a trade name for a neat, effective and
economical Anemometer.

ery high (in shipping forecast) Wave height of 9 to 14m.

ery light Named after the inventor, Very, this is a flare which is
projected to a good height from a special pistol.

ery rapidly (in shipping forecast) Moving at more than 45 knots.

ery rough (in shipping forecast) Wave height of 4 to 6m.

essel Under the Collision Regulations a ‘vessel’ is defined as ‘every

description of water craft, including non-displacement craft and
seaplanes, used, or capable of being used, as a means of
transportation on water’.

essel coding See Coding.

HF Very High Frequency radio transmissions, used mainly for

radiotelephony, and effective over moderate ranges only.

igia A warning on a chart to be vigilant for a possible danger, not

exactly specified, nor even certain to exist. Reported potential
dangers, which may or may not exist and whose position is doubtful,
are themselves called ‘vigia’.

inylester A type of resin which, in its structural qualities and

resistance to water absorption, is between polyester and epoxy.

iolent storm (in shipping forecast) Winds of force 11 (56–63 knots).

MG Velocity Made Good. The speed made by a vessel in the desired

direction after tide, leeway and tacking have been taken into
account.

RM Variable Range Marker. Used in radar to measure the distance

to a target.
 W

W ‘Whisky’ in the phonetic alphabet. As a single letter the signal

means ‘I require medical assistance’, and could therefore be one
worth committing to memory. In Morse code it is . – – .

WAAS Wide Area Augmentation System. System for improving GPS

accuracy in and around the USA. See SBAS.

Waist The middle part of a boat and, oddly enough, the region where
her beam is greatest. So named because old ships often had high
forecastles and high poop decks, so the middle looked waisted when
viewed from the side.

Wake The turbulent or smooth water left astern of a moving boat. The
wake reveals the actual track of the vessel through the water. If the
line of the wake makes an angle with the centreline of the hull, that is
the angle of leeway.

Wale A strake, strip or plank which stands proud of the rest of the hull.
The gunwale is properly a finishing strake above all the others in a
hull, but the term is used for the upper edge of any hull, whether
planked or not. An inwale is a separate stringer running fore-and-aft
on the inside of the upper edge of the hull. Incidentally, the word
itself is of the same origin as ‘weal’, a raised ridge on the flesh.

Wall knot A knot which makes a useful ‘knob’ on a rope. It has the
advantage that it can be made at the end of a rope (as a handhold,
say) or in the middle of a length of rope. For the latter, the rope must
 first be unlaid as far as the knot, and then laid up again after the knot
is made.

Wangle, to A verb used for the process of sculling over the stern with
a single oar or a Yuloh. Most people call it ‘sculling’, but that term is
equally used of two oars used Abeam.

Wardrobe The complete tally of a boat’s sails is called her ‘wardrobe’.

(See Suit.)

Warp, to To move a vessel by hauling on ropes.

Warp A rope normally used for mooring the vessel to a quayside or

other fixed point, and stout enough for that purpose. Some people
talk of an ‘anchor warp’, but the idiom is more commonly ‘cable’
when an anchor is concerned.

Wash The turbulent wake left by a moving hull. Wake causes no

appreciable disturbance, but wash upsets teacups.

Washboard A removable board which can be fitted across any

opening to keep water out. Usually, a companionway or cabin
entrance is closed by several washboards, fitted one above the
other, and lodged in vertical channels.

Watch Either a period on duty, or a detachment of crewmembers

acting as a unit for watchkeeping purposes. Thus one watch
(detachment) may take the first watch (first period on duty), while
another watch is off duty and enjoying the ‘watch below’. Although
ships normally keep watches of four hours, with two 2 hour dog
watches in each 24 to break the daily repetition of the same
watches, family crews on small craft usually make their own special
routines. (See Dog watches.)

Watch tackle Another name for a Luff tackle.

Watching Used almost always of buoys, it means that it is visible

above the water. A waterlogged buoy, only just visible, is said to be
 ‘only just watching’.

Waterline The line traced by the water level around the sides of a
floating hull, or a drawing of the same outline. The Length on the
WaterLine (LWL) is the straight-line length from stem to stern in the
plane of the waterline, also called the waterplane. The actual
waterline of a vessel may be higher or lower than the Designed
WaterLine (DWL), to the extent that she is heavier or lighter than the
designer intended. For the purpose of design, the hull is deemed to
be sliced fore-and-aft in planes parallel to the real waterplane – but
above and below – and the outlines of these sections are also known
as ‘waterlines’ to naval architects. They are, in effect, the waterlines
that would occur if the boat were loaded much above or below the
normal – assuming she did not sink or capsize. (See Lines.)

Watermanship The art and practice of handling small open craft, such
as a rowing boat, in relatively sheltered water.

Water sail An extra sail set low down – for example, beneath the
mainboom when running in very light wind.

Waterways Channels or grooves around a cockpit, for example, or

under the lid of a cockpit locker, whose purpose is to drain water off
in the same manner that the gutters of a house carry rainwater away.

Wave Where a landsman would say that a big ‘wave’ struck the ship, a
seaman would commonly call it a ‘sea’. On the other hand, a
seaman speaking or writing technically about the length, height and
intervals of these surface disturbances will use the word ‘wave’.
‘Sea’ and ‘seas’ are the words used for direct personal experiences,
when the speaker might actually have got wet.

Way Movement through the water. A boat ‘makes way’ when she
moves, either ahead or astern. She is ‘under way’ when actually
moving, and then she is said to ‘have way on’. If she has a lot of way
on, the implication is one of considerable momentum and potential
danger. (Incidentally, an anchor is often weighed when a vessel is
 about to get under way, but the vessel herself is never ‘under
weigh’.)

Way enough (Way’nough) Mainly used as an order to cease rowing

and let the boat carry on under her own way, but the expression is
also used with the same meaning as ‘that’s enough’ in ordinary
speech, whether the listener is hauling a halyard, or pouring Scotch
into your glass.

Waypoint A position which a navigator chooses to suit his own

convenience. It may be an actual geographical feature, or just an
arbitrary point on the surface of the sea, for which a course may be
laid. Waypoints are now most commonly used in electronic
navigation, as all these systems demand specific destinations to
which to navigate, such as one mile off your intended harbour, for
example.

Ways Rails or tracks of wood or metal down which a vessel is

launched. Note that a slipway, or slip, is more like a road sloping
down into the water. Such a slip could have ways recessed in its
surface, like tramlines in a city street.

Wear, to 1 To turn a sailing craft from one tack to the other by turning
downwind, or to gybe if the craft is rigged fore and aft.
2 Craft wear their flags and burgees. People, on the other hand, ‘fly’
their club burgees and house flags. In other words, when you are
flying your burgee your ship is wearing it.

Weather, to To pass on the windward side of any obstacle, object or

craft. As far as I know, there is no verb for passing to leeward of an
object. One covers such events by a negative statement, such as
‘She won’t be able to weather it’, or ‘We failed to weather the buoy,
and a few minutes later we were on the putty’. Such statements
imply an unaccomplished desire to weather the mark. Where the
intention was to pass to leeward, one might say ‘We left the buoy to
weather’ or ‘We passed to leeward of the buoy’.
Weather As an adjective, as in ‘weather side’, ‘weather shore’, it is to
the side (or shore) from which the wind is blowing. ‘Going to
weather’ is going to windward. (See Lee.)

Weather cloth A canvas (or similar) screen erected to protect the

crew from wind and spray. The ‘dodgers’ fitted at each side of a
cockpit are the most common form of weather cloth.

Weathercock, to The tendency of a boat to turn head-to-wind. Mainly

used of a boat at anchor, or moving under power, and not used of
the griping or luffing tendency of a sailing boat on the wind.

Weatherfax An analogue system of sending weather charts via SSB.

Weather helm A sailing boat that requires the tiller to be held up

towards the weather side of the boat is said to ‘carry weather helm’.
The weather helm is required to resist the yacht’s natural tendency
to luff, or turn into the wind. This tendency is common to most single-
hulled sailing craft and results from the fact that when the boat is
heeled, the thrust of the sails acts well to leeward of the drag of the
hull, resulting in a rotating couple. Some boats carry lee helm in light
winds, when they are sailing almost upright – that’s to say, the helm
has to be held Down towards the leeward side to prevent the boat
turning away from the wind. Although quite acceptable in light winds,
lee helm is undesirable if it persists in fresher breezes. Weather
helm then has the benefit that the boat’s natural tendency in a gust is
to turn head-to-wind, and so relieve the heeling (and possibly
capsizing) pressure of the wind on her sails. (See Balance.)

Weatherly Describes a boat which can sail close to the wind – ie

which makes good progress to weather.

Weep, to To leak slightly or slowly, in a mere trickle or a drop at a

time. The result is ‘a weep’. A weep may flow inward, as through a
stern gland, or outward when rainwater from the deck finds its way
out through a topsides seam. Rust marks may result, and these are
called ‘weeps’.
Weigh anchor, to To break out the anchor from the seabed and lift it
clear of the bottom.

Well 1 A small cockpit set in an area of deck. Most modern yachts

have broad cockpits and relatively small sidedecks – or even none at
all. The other extreme is a large area of deck and a small well –
perhaps only big enough to accommodate the legs and feet of the
crew who actually sit on the deck itself.
2 A hollow trunk in the after end of a small boat through which an
outboard motor may be shipped. The sides of the well rise above the
waterline, and the lower end is open.
3 ‘Well, that’ in naval parlance means ‘enough’. In other words, stop
hauling or winching.

Westing Distance made good to westward. ‘Easting, northing and

southing’ correspond.

Wet exhaust Unlike that of a car, the exhaust from a boat’s engine is
rarely exposed to a flow of air and is best cooled. The common way
of doing this is to inject into the stream of gases some, or all, of the
water which has already circulated through the cooling galleries of
the cylinder block. The presence, or absence, of water at the
exhaust outlet provides a primary check on the working of the whole
cooling system.

Wetted surface The total underwater area of a boat. Part of the drag
of a hull results from the friction of the water (skin friction), and the
greater the wetted surface the greater that component of the total
drag. Aerodynamicists also use the term when talking about surfaces
exposed to air friction, and it may be used in that sense in yacht
design too, though ‘windage’ is the nautical term for the totality of air
drag.

WGS84 World Geodetic System 1984. Defined by the US Department

of Defense, WGS84 mathematically approximates the shape of the
Earth. Especially important as it is the datum used by GPS. WGS84
is most accurate in the USA.
Whaler Traditionally, a clinker-built pulling or sailing boat, usually
about 27ft (8.2m) long with a relatively narrow double-ended hull and
a centreboard. The name has more recently been used to describe a
rigid-hulled open powerboat of similar length.

Wheel effect The sideways push of a rotating propeller, especially

noticeable when it first begins to turn or when its speed increases. If
the propeller is ‘right-handed’ (turning clockwise when viewed from
astern) it will tend to take the stern to the right (starboard). The same
propeller when running in reverse will tend to take the stern to port.
The effect is as if the propeller were a wheel, though with a very poor
grip, and it is easy to picture the direction in which the wheel would
run.

Wheelhouse A permanent and fully enclosed steering position with

windows above deck level. A wheel shelter is either less permanent
– of canvas, for example – or not fully enclosed, like a tractor cab.
(See House.)

Whelps Raised ribs on the barrel of a winch or capstan, or raised

strips along the after end of a boom. On a winch barrel their function
is to grip, but on a boom their function is to increase the diameter
locally for better roll-reefing. The greater diameter takes up more
cloth in the after part of the sail and so prevents boom droop.

Whip, to To bind the yarns of a rope’s end so that they will not fray.
Hence ‘whipping’.

Whip (or Single whip) A tackle using one moving block and given a
two-to-one purchase.

Whipstaff A type of tiller which stands more or less vertically, turning

about a more or less horizontal axis. Whereas the conventional tiller
sweeps a large area of the cockpit, a whipstaff springing from the
region of the cockpit sole is much less obtrusive. But there are
mechanical complications in transmitting the motion to a vertically
pivoted rudder.
Whisker A strut or spreader extending from the stem to widen the
angle of a bowsprit shroud. Usually in pairs, of course.

Whisker pole A light spar used to hold the clew of a headsail

outboard when running.

Whistle The technical name for a ship’s hooter or siren, which gives
forth a deep resonant note.

Whistle buoy A navigational buoy which hoots, honks, booms, groans

or moans. Actuated either by a gas bottle or by the pumping action
as the buoy rises and falls with the seas.

White Ensign The white flag, with a red cross and the Union flag in
the upper corner by the hoist, which is worn by ships of the Royal
Navy, and by members of the Royal Yacht Squadron.

White horses The gleaming white crests of just-breaking waves in the

open sea.

White squall See Squall.

Wimple A long masthead pennant, or streamer, of the kind that is

flown by Dutch flat-bottoms.

Winch It is difficult to make absolutely precise distinctions between a

capstan, a windlass and a winch. Capstans are normally big and are
found on ships’ decks or on quays. Their barrels normally turn about
vertical axes. A windlass may turn on either a vertical or a horizontal
axis. The windlass has a chain gipsy because its purpose is to bring
home the anchor cable. A winch, though, does not have a gipsy and
its drum is used only for ropes such as halyards, sheets and mooring
warps. The axis of a winch may be vertical or horizontal. In practical
terms, a yacht could commonly have one anchor windlass, one or
more halyard winches, and a couple of sheet winches. If she has a
centreboard or leeboards, she may lift them with winches. (See
illustration.)
 Winch

Wind generator/turbine Usually a three-bladed propeller turned by

the wind to generate charge for topping up batteries.

Wind gradient The difference in wind speed close to the sea surface
and at some height above it. The gradient is most noticeable on
rivers, where the nearness of the land – with all its slowing objects,
such as bushes and trees – has maximum effect. Note that this is
not the same as a gradient wind.

Wind-rode A boat is wind-rode when she lies at anchor with head-to-

wind. If the effect of the tidal stream is stronger, she will lie tide-rode.
In the same anchorage, and at the same time, some craft will be
wind-rode and others tide-rode, depending on their relative
proportions of wetted area and windage.

Wind sail A canvas chute or funnel which is rigged above decks in hot
weather so as to catch any available breeze and deliver it down
through a hatch to the Accommodation below.

Wind shadow The region to leeward of an object where the wind

speed is diminished because of the interference of that object. (See
Dirty wind.)

Windage Either the wind drag itself, or the extent of the drag-creating
parts of a craft which are exposed to the wind, as in ‘She’s got a lot
of windage’, meaning that she has a high superstructure. (See Top
hamper.)
Windlass See Winch.

Windshift A change in the wind direction. If it changes to allow you to

point closer to your destination, it is a ‘lift’. The opposite is a ‘header’,
or ‘knock’.

Windward Toward the point from which the wind is coming. The
opposite of leeward.

Wing A horizontal appendage on a keel or rudder, designed to

improve its efficiency.

Wing-and-wing Running downwind with two sails extending on

opposite sides of the boat. (See Goosewinged.)

Wing mast A rotating mast that turns to stay in line with the mainsail,
thereby reducing drag.

Wing sail A solid aerofoil, often with adjustable flaps, which has the
potential to be much more efficient than a conventional sail.

Wishbone A double spar in the form of a flattened ellipse, with a sail

lying between the two parts. As each part has an aerofoil curve, and
the canvas lies against each in turn as the boat tacks, the sail can
adapt to a better shape than is possible with a straight gaff or boom.
(See illustration.) The one thing to be noted about a wishbone spar is
that its shape is in no way reminiscent of a chicken’s wishbone.
 Wishbone spar (viewed from the deck)

Work the tide, to To plan a passage so as to get the best advantage

of any tidal stream towards the desired destination.

Work, to A hull ‘works’ when parts move in relation to each other.

Leaks commonly result.

Working sails The sails that are carried in winds of about force 3 to 4.
There’s nothing very precise about this term, but it excludes heavy-
weather sails on the one hand, and light-weather sails on the other.

Worm For shipworm see Teredo.

Woven rovings See Rovings.

Wrecks Abandoned craft either Adrift or cast up on the shore are,

technically, wrecks. In the United Kingdom any person recovering
such craft, or parts of them or their equipment or cargo, must declare
their salvage to the Receiver of Wrecks, who may be contacted
through the nearest harbourmaster.

Wring, to If you have wrung out a wet pair of socks by twisting them,
you will get the point. Of hulls in particular, mariners say ‘wring’
where a landsman would say ‘twist’. Thus the heeling moment of a
mast when sailing close-hauled can impose a high wringing stress
 on the hull. A hull which has been distorted by twisting is said to be
‘wrung’. (See Hogged.)

Wung-out A sail which is freed off until it is effectively at a right angle

to the line of the boat is said to be ‘wung-out’. (It should,
grammatically, be ‘winged-out’, but long ago someone found it easier
and funnier to say ‘wung’, presumably by association with ‘fling,
flung’.)

WX Weather transmissions.

Wykeham-Martin gear A simple roller furling device for jibs, which

was introduced in about 1907. The jib has a wire luff which is
shackled to a ball bearing swivel on the halyard. The tack is
shackled to a drum rotating on ball bearings, and the drum is turned
by a length of line which leads to the cockpit. Because the wire luff
cannot transmit any useful degree of torque, the system cannot be
used for reefing.
 X

‘X-ray’ in the phonetic alphabet. The single letter, which may be

signalled by any means, conveys the message ‘Stop carrying out
your intentions and watch for my signals’. In Morse code it is – . . – .

TE/XTK Cross Track Error. The distance a boat is away from its
planned GPS route.
 Y

‘Yankee’ in the phonetic alphabet. The single letter means ‘I am

dragging my anchor’, and that could be very significant if you find
yourself lying astern of a large vessel making ‘Y’. In Morse code it is
–.––.

acht, yachtsman Here we have the most difficult word of all. It is

broadly correct to call almost any pleasure or sporting craft a ‘yacht’,
but convention expects a certain status or size of any craft referred
to as a ‘yacht’. A sailing dinghy is not a yacht because she is too
light and flighty, yet an open ballasted-keel boat of no greater size
earns the title of yacht by her sobriety. A small, fast motor cruiser is
not a yacht, but a big, fast motor cruiser probably is, and a big, slow
motor cruiser certainly is. Sailing boats with cabins are all yachts,
provided they are used for what we call pleasure, hell though it often
is.
People who own, skipper or crew on pleasure craft propelled by
sail are all called ‘yachtsmen’, even though they may sail dinghies,
which are not yachts. The people concerned with power craft,
however, become yachtsmen only when the craft themselves are
staid enough to become motor yachts. Boats propelled by oars or
paddles aren’t yachts, nor are the people in them known as
‘yachtsmen’. To add to the confusion, there are local and regional
usages: in some places ‘yacht’ is any boat with a sail, a ‘cruiser’ is
any powered craft with a cabin, and a ‘motorboat’ is a powered craft
which is open. Probably none of this matters very much. The only
really important thing is never to call your own boat a yacht. An
owner who talks about ‘my yacht’ marks himself as a bounder, a
braggart, a parvenu or just a pedant... but certainly not as a
yachtsman. A yachtsman always owns a boat.

achtmaster Qualification administered by the RYA, subdivided into

Yachtmaster Coastal, Offshore and Ocean.

ankee A big jib with a high Clew, ie with the foot running upward and
not holding low down on the rail.

ard 1 A spar setting across a mast and normally used to support a

sail. A Gaff, which terminates at the mast, is not called a ‘yard’, but
the spar which forms the head of a Gunter sail is more often called a
‘yard’ than a ‘gaff’, even though no part of it should cross the mast.
2 The ordinary term for a boatyard – in other words, a place where
boats are built, repaired or stored...provided that it stands by the
water. Inland boatbuilding factories are never called ‘yards’.

arn Threads or filaments become yarn when twisted or spun

together. The yarn may then be used in that state, or several yarns
may be twisted together to make a strand.

aw A hull in the water has six principal degrees of freedom – ie six

main ways in which it can move. It can Roll from side to side; it can
Pitch, see-saw fashion; it can Yaw, turning left to right; it can Heave,
rising or falling vertically; it can make Leeway or drift sideways; and it
can Scend, accelerating or decelerating in the fore-and-aft line. What
is more, it can do several of these things at once.

aw, to A boat ‘yaws’ whenever she turns to left or right. A hull may
have an inbuilt tendency to yaw one way or the other, and a towed
dinghy may yaw repeatedly, first to one side and then to the other.

awl A two-masted vessel whose after mast (mizzen) is stepped well

aft (as sketched under Rig). It used to be said that a yawl’s mizzen
must be stepped aft of the rudder post, but that no longer applies, as
you may see under Ketch. The main merit of the yawl is that in
heavy weather it permits the setting of a riding sail right aft, helping
to keep the boat head-to-wind and sea. This is especially valuable if
you want to ride to a sea anchor.

BDSA Yacht Brokers, Designers and Surveyors Association. The

umbrella association of the ABYA, YDSA and PCA (Professional
Charter Association).

DSA Yacht Designers and Surveyors Association.

oke A cross-member on the head of a rudder, from the ends of which

lines may be taken for steering. This device is used on rowing boats
and on some motorboats.

uloh The Chinese name for a long oar specially designed for sculling
over the stern. It is not the same as the long oar which is called a
‘Sweep’ in English, since its shaft is either curved or cranked, and
may also be slightly flexible. These special features allow the blade
of the yuloh to twist on each stroke so as to bite the water. The
inboard end of a yuloh is held down by a rope strop which supports
both the weight of the long outboard part and also the thrust of the
blade.
 Z

‘Zulu’ in the phonetic alphabet. As a signal ‘Z’ means ‘I require a tug’,

but when shown by a fishing vessel (which you will recognise by her
lights or shapes) it means ‘I am shooting my nets’. In Morse code the
signal is – – . . .

-drive Trade name of a particular brand of Stern drive.

enith In navigation, the point in the celestial sphere which is directly

above the observer – ie the extension of a line joining yourself to the
centre of the Earth.

ylon See PBO rigging.

Published by Adlard Coles Nautical
an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
50 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3DP
www.adlardcoles.com

This electronic edition published in 2013 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Copyright © original terms Denny Desoutter 1991 and 2000

Copyright © new terms IPC Media Ltd 2010

First edition published 1991

Reissued 2010

Print ISBN 978-1-4081-2676-9

ePub ISBN 978-1-4729-0152-1
ePDF ISBN 978-1-4081-4636-1

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