Common Nautical Terms
Ahoy: The first in a series of four letter words commonly
exchanged by skippers as their boats approach one another.
Amidships: Condition of being surrounded by boats.
Anchor: A device designed to bring up mud samples from the
bottom at inopportune or unexpected times.
Anchor Light: A small light used to discharge the battery before
daylight.
Grounding: Embarrassing situation in which a sailor returns to
shore without leaving his boat.
Hatch: An opening in a deck leading to the cabin below with a
cover designed to let water in while keeping fresh air out.
Hull Speed: The maximum theoretical velocity of a given boat
through the water, which is 1.5 times the square root of its water-
line length in feet, divided by the distance to port in miles, minus
the time in hours to sunset cubed.
Bar: Long, low lying navigational hazard, usually awash, found
at river mouths and harbour entrances, where it is composed of
sand or mud, and ashore, where it is made of mahogany or some
other dark wood. Sailors can be found in large numbers around
both. Landlubber: Anyone on board who wishes he were not.
Boom: A laterally mounted spar to which a sail is fastened,
used during jibing to shift crew members to a fixed, horizontal
position. Moon: Earth’s natural satellite. During periods when it displays
a vivid blue colour, sailing conditions are generally favourable.
Cabin: A cramped, closet like compartment below decks where
crew members may be stored — on their sides if large or on end
if small — until needed.
Channel: Narrow stretch of deep or dredged waterway bordered
by buoys or markers that separates two or more grounded boats.
Clew: An indication from the skipper as to what he might do
next.
Course: The direction in which a skipper wishes to steer his boat
and from which the wind is blowing. Also, the language that
results by not being able to.
Crew: Heavy, stationary objects used on shipboard to hold down
charts, anchor cushions in place and dampen sudden movements
of the boom.
Current: Tidal flow that carries a boat away from its desired
destination or toward a hazard.
Dead Reckoning: A course leading directly to a reef.
Displacement: When you dock your boat and can’t find it later.
Estimated Position: A place you have marked on the chart
where you are sure you are not.
Flashlight: Tubular metal container used on shipboard for
storing dead batteries prior to their disposal.
Galley: Ancient: Aspect of seafaring associated with slavery.
Modern: Aspect of seafaring associated with slavery.
Gear: Generic term for any pieces of boating equipment that
can be forgotten in the back-seat or boot of a car, left behind on
a pontoon, soaked in the bottom of a dinghy or lost over the side
of the boat.
Gimbals: Movable mountings often found on shipboard’s lamps,
compasses etc which provide dieting passengers an opportunity
to observe the true motions of the ship in relation to them, and
thus prevent any recently ingested food from remaining in their
digestive systems long enough to be converted into unwanted
calories.
Leeward: The direction in which objects, liquids and other
matter may be thrown without risk of re-encountering them in
the immediate future.
Motor Sailer: A sailboat that alternates between sail/rigging
problems and engine problems.
Motor Sailer: A hybrid boat that combines the simplicity and
reliability of sail power with the calm and serenity of a throbbing
engine.
Pilotage: The art of getting lost in sight of land, as opposed to
the distinct and far more complex science of navigation used to
get lost in offshore waters.
Pontoon: Harbour landing place that goes crack, crunch when
hit.
Propeller: Underwater winch designed to wind up at high
speeds any lines left hanging over the stern.
Radar: Extremely realistic kind of electronic game often found
on larger boats. Players try to avoid colliding with ‘blips’ which
represent other sailboats, large container ships and oil tankers.
Satellite Navigation: Sophisticated electronic location method
that enables sailors to instantly determine the exact latitude and
longitude, within just a few feet, anywhere on the surface of the
earth, of whatever it was they just ran aground on.
Single handed sailing: The only situation in which the skipper
does not immediately blame the crew for every single thing that
goes wrong.
Spinnaker: Large beautiful balloon shaped sail used in powerful
downwind sailing, collapses at the sides to make control difficult
and when lowered stores neatly into the galley and main cabin
and heads all at the same time.
Tack: A manoeuvre the skipper uses when telling the crew what
they did wrong without getting them mad.
Tides: The rise and fall of ocean waters. There are two tides
of interest to mariners: the ebb tide sailors encounter as they
attempt to enter port and the flood tide they experience as they
try to leave.
Yardarm: Horizontal spar mounted in such a way that when
viewed from the cockpit, the sun is always over it.
Vsheet -
MARCH 2019
17