A
Abaft: anything located aft something else.
-(a schooners mainsl' is abaft its forsl')
Abeam: Direction at a right angle to the centerline of the boat.
About: Across the wind in relation to the bow. When a sailboat tacks into the wind to bring it from one side to the other, she is said to go about.
Adrift: Floating free. A boat which can not move by its own power.
Aft: Toward the back of the boat
Alee: Away from the direction of the wind.
Aloft: Above the deck, overhead on the mast or in the rigging.
Akas: Lateral struts that attach outrigger hulls to a trimaran or proa.
Ama: The outrigger hull(s) of a proa, or trimaran.
Amidships: The middle area of the boat.
Angle of attack: The angle of a sail in relation to the direction of the wind.
Angle of Heel: The degree of list a vessel has when underway.
Apparent wind: The difference between natural and movement generated wind.
Aspect Ratio: The relationship between the sails height (luff ) and length along the foot.-high aspect ratio means a sail that is tall and narrow, low aspect ratio is a short, wide sail.
Astern: Backwards, somewhere behind the vessel, or towards or behind the stern.
Athwartships: From one side of a ship to the other.
Avast: A command to stop or cease what one is doing.
Awash: Water washing over. A boat when almost submerged.

B
Back stay: A cable supporting the mast, from stern to the top of the mast.
Bale:A fitting on the end of a spar, such as the boom, to which a line may be led.
Ballast: Weight below decks that keeps the boat upright.
Battens: Strips of wood or other materials used to support a sail or sail area.
Batten Down: Secure hatches and loose objects for approaching bad weather.
Barque: A sailing ship with three to five masts, all square-rigged except the after mast (last), which is fore-and-aft rigged.
Barquentine: Sailing ship with three or more masts. Square rigged on foremast, fore and aft rigged on the others.
Beachcomber: A sailor who does not want to work that loafs around ports. -To salvage goods found washed up on shores.
Beam: The widest dimension of a boat's hull.
Beam Reach: A point of sail where the boat is sailing at a right angle to the wind (wind coming from abeam).
Beat (also) Beating: To sail towards the wind by making a series of tacks. -Sailing close hauled.
Before the Wind: Sailing with the wind from astern, in the same direction the wind is blowing,
Belay: To secure a line to, cleat, bollard, bitt, etc.
- A command to stop or cease action.
Belaying Pin: A wood pin fitted into racks, around which lines can be belayed or secured.
Below: Beneath the decks, i.e., inside a cabin or in a hold.
Bermuda Rig: The most common sail plan, sails are tall triangular shape.
Bight: (knots) The part of a line between the ends. A loop in a line. - An indentation in the coastline larger than a bay.
Bilge: Hull area between the keel and the boats sides.
Bitter End: The last part of a rope or final link of chain. The end made fast to the vessel, as opposed to the "working end", which may be attached to an anchor, cleat, other vessel, etc.
Boat: Generic name for all water vessels. A boat is a small open vessel, compared to a ship that has decks and cabins.
Boatswain: Also bosun, Crew member who has immediate charge of all deck hands, oversees deck crew, maintenance and upkeep of the ship.
Bobstay: A stay underneath the bowsprit that counteracts the upward pull of the forestay.
Bollard: A large post on a wharf or pier and on the deck of a ship for securing mooring lines.
Boom: A pole running at a right angle from the mast supporting the sails foot.
Boomkin: A Pole or spar that extends from the stern.
Bosun's Chair: A seat attached to a halyard to raise and lower someone to work on the mast.
Bow: The front area of a boat.
Bow Line: A docking line leading from the bow.
Bowline: A knot use to form an eye or loop at the end of a rope.
Bowsprit: A spar that extends from the bow.
Braces: On square rigged ships, lines attached to the ends of each yard
 used to pivot (brace) the yards to trim the sails.
Breakers: Waves breaking over rocks or shoals. A wave that approaches shallow water, causing the wave height to exceed the depth of the water it is in, causing a cresting wave with water tumbling down the front of it.
Bridge: The location from which a ship is steered and controlled.
Brig:A two-masted square rigged vessel. On the aft mast, there is also a gaff sail.
Brigands: pirates.
Brigantine: A two-masted vessel with foremast square rigged, and mainmast fore and aft rigged.
Brightwork: Varnished woodwork and/or polished metal.
Bring About: To reverse or change directions, to turn around.
Broach: The turning of a boat out of control, broadside to the wind or waves.
Broad Reach: A point of sail where the boat is sailing away from the wind, but not directly downwind with the sails let out nearly all the way.
Bucko: A bullying and tyrannical officer.
Bulkhead: A watertight vertical partition or wall which separates different compartments and adds strength to the hull.
Bulwark: A railing around the deck of a boat to keep things from going overboard and the seas from coming aboard - the part of a ship's side that extends above the main deck to protect it against heavy weather.
Buoy: A floating anchored object used to mark the navigable limits of channels, sunken dangers, isolated rocks, etc.
By the Lee: Sailing downwind with the wind blowing over the leeward side of the boat.
By the Wind: Sailing close-hauled. Same as "on the wind"

Line Control model sailboats, beach fun, and sailing know how. Find out more, (click the pic)

C
Camber: The curvature of an object such as a sail, keel or deck.
Capsize: When a boat is turned over.
Capstan: A vertical revolving cylindrical device used for heaving in lines or anchors.
Captain: The person in charge of a vessel and responsible for it and its occupants.
Cable: A rope or chain made fast to the anchor.
- A unit of distance, 1/10th of a nautical mile (608 ft.) or 100 fathoms.
Caravel: Small trading vessel also used for exploration. Three-masted, usually square rigged on the two forward masts, and having a lateen rigged mizzen mast.
Carrack: Three-masted trading vessel similar to the Caravel, but larger.
Carrick Bend: A knot used to tie two lines together.
Catamaran: A twin hulled boat.
Catboat: A sailboat rigged with one mast and one sail.
Catspaw: A puff of wind on the water caused by a mass of cool air plunging down through warm surface air.
Caulking: Forcing material such as oakum into the seams of planks on a deck or a boats sides to make them watertight.
Celestial Navigation: To calculate your position using time and the position of celestial bodies.
(center-U.S. spelling) Centre board: A board that retracts horizontally into a chamber (well) built into the boats hull.
Centre of buoyancy: The centre point of a boats floating ability.
Centre of effort: The centre point of a sails energy producing area.
Centre of lateral resistance: The epicentre of a boats ability to resist leeway.
Centre line: Imaginary line running the length of a boat at the centre.
Chief Mate: The officer second in command of a ship.
Chine: An angle where the sides of a hull meet the bottom.
Chop: Small, steep chaotic waves.
Cleat: A fitting to which lines are made fast.
Clew: For a triangular sail, the aftmost corner.
Coamings: Built up sides around the cockpit that prevent water from coming in.
Come About: To change tack when sailing windward.
Centre board: A board that retracts horizontally into a boats hull, adjusting the depth of the keel.
Cuddy: A small shelter cabin in a boat.

D
Dagger board: A type of centre board that adjusts vertically in the well.
Day sailor: A smaller sailboat, not meant for overnight voyages.
Dead Ahead: A position directly in front of the vessel.
Dead Astern: A position directly aft or behind the vessel. Deadhead: A floating log.
Deadrise: The angle between the bottom of a boat and its widest beam. - A vessel with a 0º deadrise has a flat bottom, high numbers indicate deep V shaped hulls.
Deck: A covering over a compartment, hull or any part of a ship serving as a floor.
Derelict - Any abandoned vessel.
Design Waterline (DWL):Also length waterline or load waterline (LWL) - The length of the boat where it meets the water when loaded to its designed capacity.
Dinghy: A small open boat often used as tender and lifeboat for a larger craft.
Displacement: the volume of water measured buy its weight, that a boat displaces as it floats.
Displacement Hull: A hull that plows through the water, with little or no lift qualities displacing water equal to its own weight.
Distance Made Good: Distance traveled after correction for current, leeway and other errors not included in the original distance measurement.
Down haul: Adjusting the tension of a sail's luff.
Draft: Distance between the waterline and the lowest part of the keel or hull. -The amount of bend in a sail's shape.
Drogue: An object used to increase the drag of a boat to slow her down.
-Typically shaped like a parachute or cone opened underwater.

E
Ebb tide: A receding tide.
Entrance: The area of a bow that first meets the water.
Ensign: A nautical version of the national flag of a country usually flown at the stern. -The rank of a officer equivalent to that of midshipman.
Even keel: When a boat is floats evenly to its waterline, well balanced.
Eye splice: (knots) Braiding the end of a line into itself to form a loop.
Eye of the wind: The direction that the wind is blowing from.

F
Fair: To adjust to proper shape or size.
Fair Wind: Wind when it is favorable to the course being steered.
Fairlead: A fitting that a line passes through to guide it in a particular direction.
Fall Off: To change direction so as to point farther away from the wind.
Fathom: A unit of measurement relating to the depth of water or to the length of line. -one fathom is 6 feet or 1.83 meters.
Fetch: The distance that the wind travels over open water that determines the size of a wave - the longer the fetch, the higher the waves.
Fid: A pointed tool used to separate strands of rope.
Figurehead: An ornamental carved and painted figure on the stem of the vessel.
Fin Keel: A fixed keel that is narrow and deeper than a full keel.
Flare: The upward bulge or angle of a ships sides.
Flotsam: Debris floating on the water surface.
Following Sea: An overtaking sea (wind and waves) that comes from astern.
Fore: Toward the front of the boat.
Forefoot: The point where the stem joins the forward end of the keel.
Fractional Rig: A design where the forestay (and its sail) does not go to the very top of the mast.
Freeboard: The sides of a boats hull above the waterline.
Full and By: Sailing as close to the wind as possible with all sails full and drawing.
Fully battened: Sail battens that run the full horizontal length of the sail.
Furl - to fold or roll a sail and secure it to its main support.

G
Gaff: A spar that supports the head of a four sided fore-and-aft sail.
Gaff Topsail: A triangular sail set over a gaff.
Genoa: A large foresail or jib that overlaps the mainsail.
Give-Way: To yield the right of way to another boat.
(GPS) Global Positioning System: Method of using satellite signals to fix a position.
Gooseneck: The fitting that connects the boom to the mast.
Ground Swells: Long wave formations during calm or light air formed by waves running into shoals.
Gunkholing: Cruising in shallow water and spending the nights in coves.
Gunwale: (gun'l) Top edge of the sides of an open boat. (from gun wall)
Gybe: To change tack, sailing downwind (also Jibe)

H
Halyard: A line that hauls a yard.
Hanks: Rings or clips used to attach sails to stays.
Hard Aground : A boat which has gone aground and cannot break free under her own power.
Hard Chine: An abrupt intersection between the hull side and the hull bottom of a boat.
Hawser: A heavy line or cable used for towing, mooring or anchoring.
Head Sea: A sea which is traveling in the opposite direction to that of the boat.
Head to Wind: Where the boat is pointed directly into the wind, sails luffing.
Head Up: Change direction to point closer to the wind. The opposite of falling off.
Headsail: A sail set forward of the foremast on the headstay.
Headstay: The stay leading from the mast to the bow.
Heading: The direction the boat is going.
Heave To: To stop a boat and maintain position by balancing rudder and sail to prevent forward movement.
Heavy Seas: When the water has large or breaking waves.
Heel: Leaning of a boat to one side in response to the wind.
Helm: The boat's directional controls, tiller or wheel of a boat.
Hike: Leaning out over the side of the boat to counteract heel.
Hull: The body, or shell of a boat.
Hull Speed: The maximum speed a hull can achieve without planing.

I
In Irons: A sailboat with its bow pointed directly into the wind, preventing the sails from filling properly and stopping the boat.

J
Jam Cleat: A cleat designed to hold a line in place without slipping. -It consists of two narrowing jaws with teeth in which the line is placed.
Jenny: A genoa jib. A large jib that overlaps the mast, also Genny.
Jetsam: Anything deliberately thrown overboard - debris, jettisoned items, floating at sea.
Jib: A triangular sail mounted on a stay from the stem or bowsprit to the mast.
Junk: A sailing vessel common in the Far East, has two or three masts carrying battened lugsails.

K
Keel: The very bottom edge of a boat, the structural member that the hull is built on.
Ketch: A sailboat with two masts, a shorter mizzen mast is aft of the main mast.
Knockabout: A type of schooner without a bowsprit.
Knockdown: To be capsized by the wind or waves.
Knot: A speed of one nautical mile (6,076 feet or or 1,852 meters) per hour. - A method of attaching a rope or line to itself, another line or a fitting.

L
Lateen: A triangular sail mounted on a spar along the sails luff.
Leach: The aft edge of a fore-and-aft sail.
Lee: The direction the wind is travelling.
Lee boards: Boards, mounted on the sides of a boat to resist leeway.
Leeward: The direction the wind is going, downwind. Opposite side of windward.
Leeway: Distance a boat drifts off course due to wind.
Lift: The energy generated by sail, hull or foils that moves a boat windward.
(LWL)Load Water Line - A line painted on the side of the vessel to which the vessel sinks when carrying its full load.
Loose-footed: A sail attached to the boom at the tack and clew, but not along the foot, or a fore and aft sail which is set without a boom.
Luff: The forward edge of a fore-and-aft sail.
Luffing: To head into the wind, causing sails to flap and flutter.
Lug or Lugsail: A four sided sail bent onto a yard.

M
Main sail: (mainsl') The largest sail on a multiple sail boat.
Main sheet: Line that controls the position of the mainsail.
Make Fast: To attach a line to something so that it will not move.
Make Way: Moving through the water.
Marconi rig: Lightweight mast supported by stays and shrouds.
Marlinspike: Pointed tool used for line work, for opening line strands for splicing, and especially for prying tight knots apart.
Mast: The vertical pole or spar that supports the boom and sails.
Mast Head : The top of the mast.
Mast Step : The fitting in the bottom of the boat in which the bottom or heel of the mast sits.
Mizzen: A small sail set behind the main sail.
Monohull:A boat with one hull.
Multi-hull: A boat with more than one hull, catamaran, trimaran etc.

N
Nautical: Of sailors or navigation.
Neap-tide: tide period in which high water is lowest.
-(soon after the moons 1st and 3rd quarter)

Let our animated knot page show you the ropes! There is a knotting glossary too!

O
Off the Wind: Sailing with the wind coming from the stern or quarter of the boat.
On the Wind: Sailing close hauled. Sailing toward the wind as much as possible with the wind coming from the bow.
One-design: Any boat built to certain standards or rules so that is like all others in the same class.
Out haul: An adjuster that tensions the sail's foot.
Outrigger: A structure which extends outboard to suspend lines or nets over the water or small secondary hull.
Overhangs: Hull areas that extend out over the water at the bow or stern.

P
Painter: A line tied to the bow of a small boat for use in towing, securing or tying up.
Peak: The upper corner of a four sided sail or top end of a gaff or spritsail.
Planning: A boats ability to lift up from the water by diverting water under its hull.
Port: The left side of the boat when you are looking forward.
Point of sail: The angled position a sail is held to the wind.
Proa: (Micronesia) An outrigger sailing canoe.

R
Reaching: Sailing across the wind, with the wind on the side of the boat.
Reefing: Reducing the amount of sail area.
Rig: The arrangement of a boat's mast, sails and spars.
Rigging: The cables and lines that support or control a boat's rig.
Roach: A curvature in the leach of a sail.
Rudder: Underwater part of a boat used for steering.
Run: The hulls underwater bottom near the stern.
Running: Sailing with the wind blowing from astern. Sailing downwind.

S
Schooner: A fore-and-aft rigged ship with two or more masts.
Sheet: Ropes that control the sail position.
Ship: Large sea going vessel, a full rigged sailing ship often refers to one with a bowsprit and three or more masts.
Shoal: Shallow areas of water.
Spar: The term for a mast, boom or gaff.
Spring tide: High tide occurring after full and new moon.
Sprit: A spar that supports the peak of a four-cornered sail extending from the mast.
Spreaders: Arms extending from the mast supporting shrouds (supporting cables).
Stand-On: To hold a boats course and speed.
Starboard: The right side of the boat when you are looking forward.
Stays: Lines that support the mast.
Stem: The tip of the bow.
Stern: The back end of a boat.

T
Tack: The direction of the wind on sails (port tack or starboard tack)
- the forward lower corner of a sail.
Top sail: A sail mounted above another, usually above the main.
Transom: The wide area at the very back of a boat spanning between its sides.
Trim: To adjust the sails to make the most of the wind.
Trimaran: A three hulled boat with a main hull and two smaller outrigger hulls.
True wind: The actual direction from which the wind is blowing.
Trunk: A chamber that houses a boats centerboard.

V
Vang: A device used to keep the boom from rising.

W
Wake: Moving waves, that a boat leaves behind it, when moving through water.
Waterline: Where the waters surface meets the hulls side.
Well: A chamber that houses a boats daggerboard.
Windward: The direction the wind is coming from, upwind.
Work Boat: A boat used for earning a living.

Y
Yard: A rod or spar fastened across a mast to support a sail.

Z
Zephyr: A gentle breeze. - The west wind.

Signal Flags

A (Alpha) - Diver below (when stationary); I am undergoing a speed trial B (Bravo) - I am taking on or discharging explosives (Dangerous Cargo) C (Charlie) - Yes (affirmative) D (Delta) - Keep clear of me, I am manoevering with difficulty E (Echo) - I am altering my course to starboard F (Foxtrot) - I am disabled, communicate with me G (Golf) - I require a pilot H (Hotel) - I have a pilot on board I (India) - I am altering my course to port J (Juliett) - On Fire; Keep Clear - I am going to send a message by semaphore K (Kilo) - Desire to Communicate L (Lima) - you should stop, I have something to communicate M (Mike) - I am Stopped; I have a doctor on board

N (November) - No (negative) O (Oscar) - Man overboard P (Papa) - the Blue Peter - all aboard, vessel is about to proceed sea. (At sea)- your lights are out or burning badly Q (Quebec) - my vessel is healthy and I request free practique R (Romeo)- the way is off my ship. You may feel your way past me S (Sierra) - my engines are going full speed astern T (Tango) - do not pass ahead of me U (Uniform) - you are sailing into danger V (Victor) - I require assistance (not distress) W (Whiskey) - I require medical assistance X (Xray) - stop carrying out your intentions and watch for my signals Y (Yankee) - I am dragging anchor; I am carrying mail Z (Zulu)- to be used to address or call shore stations; Require a tug

Weather warning flags.

A single red pennant signals a small craft warning-wind speeds Up to 38 mph winds Two indicate a gale- windspeeds from 39-54mph

A storm warning 55-73 mph winds Two indicate a hurricane warning 74+ mph. winds

Still can't find what you are looking for? Try the on line dictionary..

home | Fairlead | FAQ | Line Control Model Sailing | Animated Knots

-If you have any questions or need more information, contact us by email.