Term

Sailor's Term

Boat with twin hulls

Catamaran

Device attached to a boat for steering. It is controlled by tiller or wheel

Rudder

Small boat fitted with oars and sometimes sails or an outboard engine

Dinghy

Small compartment for storing equipment

Lazarette

Back of a boat

Stern

Toilet

Head

Bedroom

Cabin

Front, or forward end, of a boat

Bow

Kitchen

Galley

Left side of a boat, looking toward the bow

Port

Right side of the boat, facing the bow

Starboard

Stairway leading form deck to cabin

Companionway

The bar to which the bottom, or foot, of the sail is attached

Boom

The part of the deck of a boat that is toward the front

Foredeck

The rudder and the tiller or wheel, used to steer a boat

Helm

The vertical spar or pole supporting boom and sails

Mast

Width (of the boat)

Beam

Window

Porthole

Device for hauling in lines

Winch

Fitting for securing a line.

Cleat

Term

Sailor's Term

Line used to control the trim of a sail

Sheet

Any material attached to the side of a boat used to prevent scraping when tied up

Fender

Rope used on a boat

Line

Line attached to the main boom that controls the mainsail

Mainsheet

Line that attaches to an anchor

Rode

Line used to raise or lower a sail

Halyard

Mooring lines used to keep a boat from moving forward and back in slip

Spring Lines

The end of a line or a rope.

Bitter End

Back Sail

Main sail

Front Sail

Jib or Genoa

To haul up, to raise the sail

Hoist

To roll a sail up

Furl

Away from the direction the wind is coming from

Downwind

Boat whose keel is touching the bottom

Aground

Direction in which a boat's bow is pointing

Heading

Position, in degrees, east and west of Greenwich, England

Longitude

Position, in degrees, north and south of the Equator

Latitude

Route between points or ports

Passage

Side opposite to Windward…

Leeward

Side the wind is blowing from…

Windward

The lateral tilting of a boat in motion, due to wind, sometimes to waves

Heel

To bring the sail from one side of the boat to the other, when sailing into the wind

Come About

To change direction in a boat in such a way that the wind passes behind the boat.

Jibe  Also Gibe

To head a boat away from the derection of the wind

Fall-Off

To loosen. To let out the line of a sail

Ease

To sail as close to the direction of the wind as possible

Close haul

To sail as far as possible to the direction of the wind

Run/Running

To sail in the direction from which the wind is blowing.

Beat/Beating

To sail to windward by alternating courses, staying as close to the wind as possible. To zigzag into the wind

Tack/Tacking

Turning the boat into the wind

Upwind

Unit of measurement for water depth. One fathom is six feet

Fathom

Unit of speed. One knot is one nautical mile per hour

Knot

A nautical map

Chart