Sailing Terms Beginners Actually Need

Sailing has a large vocabulary and you need very little of it to start. This is the subset you will actually hear in your first season, grouped by when you will hear it rather than alphabetically.

For the wider vocabulary that appears on club websites and in race documents, see the full glossary.

Parts of the boat#

Bow — the front. Stern — the back. Port — left when facing forward. Starboard — right when facing forward.

Hull — the body of the boat. Deck — the surface you stand on. Cockpit — where the crew sits. Transom — the flat back end.

Keel — the weighted fin under a keelboat that stops it capsizing. Centreboard or daggerboard — the retractable fin under a dinghy that stops it sliding sideways. Rudder — the blade that steers. Tiller — the handle attached to the rudder. Helm — steering, or the person doing it.

The rig#

Mast — the vertical spar. Boom — the horizontal spar along the bottom of the mainsail. Shrouds and stays — the wires holding the mast up.

Mainsail — the sail behind the mast. Jib or headsail — the sail in front of it. Spinnaker or kite — the large downwind sail.

Halyard — a rope that pulls a sail up. Sheet — a rope that controls a sail's angle. This distinction matters: halyards go up, sheets go in and out.

Going sailing#

Rig — to prepare the boat. Launch — to put it in the water. Windward — toward the wind. Leeward — away from the wind.

Points of sail — the angles you can sail relative to the wind. Upwind you cannot sail directly at the wind; you zigzag. Beat or upwind — sailing as close to the wind as possible. Reach — sailing across the wind, usually the fastest and easiest. Run or downwind — sailing with the wind behind.

Tack — turning the bow through the wind. Gybe — turning the stern through the wind, which is the one that requires care because the boom crosses fast.

Ready about — the call before a tack. Lee-ho — the call as it happens. Clubs and crews use variations; ask what yours uses.

On the water#

Trim — adjusting a sail for the angle you are sailing. Sheet in — pull the rope to bring the sail closer. Ease — let it out.

Luffing — the sail flapping because it is too far out or you are pointing too close to the wind.

Heel — the boat leaning. Normal in moderation.

Hike — leaning out to keep the boat flatter. Trapeze — a wire that lets you stand on the side of a fast dinghy.

Capsize — the boat going over. Turtle — fully inverted, mast pointing down.

Gust and lull — more wind and less wind. Header and lift — a windshift that makes you turn away from or toward the mark.

Racing#

Start line — between the committee boat and a mark. Windward mark — the one upwind. Leeward mark — the one downwind.

Rounding — going around a mark. Water — a call requesting room at a mark. Starboard — a call telling another boat you have right of way on starboard tack.

Elapsed time — how long you took. Corrected time — your time after a handicap is applied. Series — a set of races scored together.

PHS, yardstick, IRC, ORC — handicap and rating systems. You do not need to understand these to start racing.

Ashore#

Burgee — the club's flag. Notice of race and sailing instructions — the documents governing a series. Race officer — the person running the racing. Duty — the rostered job most club members do a few times a season.

The only rule that matters at first#

If you do not know what someone means, ask immediately. Everyone on the boat was new once, and a crew member who asks is considerably safer than one who guesses.