01 RYA syllabus §1 · Nautical terms
The boat, and the words for it
A skipper can't shout "the rope on the left-ish bit". Learn the names for the boat's sides, ends, hull, rig and sails, and you can understand every order given on deck, and give them yourself.
Port, starboard, bow and stern
Stand on the boat facing the pointed end. That end is the bow; the back is the stern. Your left is port and your right is starboard. These four words are fixed to the boat, not to you. Turn round and face the stern, and port is still the same side of the boat, now on your right.
That is the whole point of them. "Ease the port sheet" means one rope, whichever way the person hearing it happens to be facing.
- Ahead / astern
- In front of the bow / behind the stern. Also how the boat is moving: "going astern" means reversing.
- Abeam
- At right angles to the boat, level with the middle. "The buoy is abeam to port."
- On the bow / on the quarter
- Roughly 45° either side of ahead (bow) or of astern (quarter).
- Amidships
- The middle of the boat, fore-and-aft and side-to-side. "Helm amidships" means the rudder straight.
- Fore and aft
- Towards the bow (forward) and towards the stern (aft). A fore-and-aft line runs along the boat.
- Windward / leeward
- The side the wind is coming from (windward) and the side it is blowing towards (leeward, said "loo-ard").
Port and left both have four letters, and port wine is red, the colour of the port navigation light. The questions often turn the boat round on the page to see whether you have learned the side, or just "left".
The hull
The hull is the body of the boat. Under the water a sailing yacht has a keel, a heavy fin that stops it being blown sideways and keeps it upright, and a rudder, which steers. The flat back of the hull is the transom. The cockpit is the well in the deck where the crew sit and steer, using a tiller or a wheel.
Measurements that matter
| Term | What it is | Why the skipper cares |
|---|---|---|
| LOA (length overall) | Bow tip to stern, end to end. | Marinas charge, and allocate berths, by it. |
| Beam | Width at the widest point. | Whether you fit a berth, a lock or a gap. |
| Draught | Depth from the waterline to the bottom of the keel. | The least depth of water you can float in. Every tide sum ends with it. |
| Freeboard | Height from the waterline up to the deck edge. | How hard it is to climb aboard, and how much the wind pushes the hull. |
| Air draught | Height from the waterline to the top of the mast. | Whether you pass under a bridge or power cable. |
The rig
The mast and the wires that hold it up are the standing rigging. They stay put. The forestay runs from the masthead to the bow, the backstay to the stern, and the shrouds to each side of the boat. The boom is the pole along the bottom of the mainsail.
The ropes you pull are the running rigging. Two families are worth learning on day one:
- Halyards hoist a sail up the mast (and lower it).
- Sheets pull a sail in or let it out, to set its angle to the wind. On a boat, a "sheet" is always a rope, never a sail.
Parts of a sail
- Head, tack, clew
- The top corner, the front bottom corner and the back bottom corner.
- Luff, leech, foot
- The front edge (along the mast or forestay), the back edge and the bottom edge.
- Mainsail / headsail
- The sail behind the mast, and the sail in front of it. A small headsail is a jib; a big one that overlaps the mast is a genoa.
Port is left and starboard is right when you face the bow, whichever way you are actually facing. Sheets trim, halyards hoist.
Check yourself
Exam style: one answer per question, no second go.
You are standing in the cockpit facing the stern. The port side of the boat is on your…
Port is fixed to the boat. Facing aft, the boat's left side is on your right.
A vessel is "on your starboard quarter". Where do you look?
The quarter is about 45° either side of astern; starboard is the right-hand side.
What does "draught" measure?
Draught is how deep the boat sits, so it is the least depth of water it can float in.
Which measurement tells you whether you can pass under a bridge?
Air draught is the height from the waterline to the highest point of the mast.
A crew member is asked to "ease the jib sheet". What do they do?
A sheet is the rope that sets a sail's angle; easing it lets the sail out.
Which of these is standing rigging?
Shrouds hold the mast up and are not adjusted under way. Halyards and sheets are running rigging.
The back, bottom corner of a sail, where the sheet attaches on a headsail, is the…
Head is the top, tack the front bottom corner, clew the back bottom corner.
The wind is blowing from your port side. Which side is leeward?
Windward is where the wind comes from (port); leeward is the side it blows towards (starboard).
"Helm amidships" means…
Amidships is the middle; with the helm amidships the rudder is in line with the boat.
Compared with a monohull of the same length, a cruising catamaran usually…
Two hulls make it wide and stable (no heel); the high topsides catch more wind. The names stay the same.