CHAPTER 1

THE LANGUAGE OF SAILING

The language of the sea is deeply rooted in the era of square-rigged ships, andtoday sailors around the world use a kind of shorthand that has evolved fromthat period. We were reminded of the importance of sailing language when weraced our 54-footer with crew from various countries. We could all communicateeasily during those races—even though we didn't share a common tongue.

To the uninitiated, sailor-talk may sound strange. But it's an essentiallanguage to learn. There are times on a boat when the correct action must betaken quickly and at the right moment, or problems will result. You can't affordto say, "Let go of that thing over there!" when you really mean, "Free thejibsheet!" Through repetition, you will learn the necessary sailing terms tohelp you sail well.

Although there are many types and sizes of sailboats, the learn-to-sail sectionsin the first part of this book are focused on one type of boat—the Colgate26, a family sport boat designed for training, racing, and family fun. TheColgate 26 is characterized as a sloop-rigged keelboat. The word sloop refers toa boat with one mast; the keel is a heavy fixed fin beneath the boat thatprovides stability. What you learn on this boat can be applied to any sailboat.

IMPORTANT WORDS TO KNOW

This chapter covers some key terms that are important to learn, along withsummary lists that will serve as an easy reference.

If you are standing on a sailboat facing forward, you are looking at the bow,with the starboard side on your right and the port side on your left.Conversely, if you are facing the back end of the boat, you are facing aft andlooking at the stern, with the starboard side on your left and port to yourright. The widest part of a boat is called the beam. Some people confuse stern(the whole back end of the boat) with the word transom, which is the vertical orslanted part that goes from the deck to the water.

When identifying a direction, another boat, or something you need to take noteof, the words ahead, astern, and abeam come in handy. A buoy you're looking formay be ahead, or forward of the boat. The dinghy you are towing is astern, orbehind the boat. A lighthouse ashore might be abeam, at a right angle off theleft or right side of the boat. "Abeam" is a word that takes on specialimportance when you learn to identify the proximity of other boats, especiallyat night, as you'll learn later.

SAILING LINGO

* Bow: forward end of boat

* Stern: back end of boat

* Port: left side when facing thebow

* Starboard: right sidewhen facing the bow

* Beam: widest part of boat

* Ahead: in front of boat

* Astern: behind boat

* Abeam: at right angles fromboat.

HOW TO MEASURE A SAILBOAT

Open any sailing magazine and you will find a list of dimensions, usuallyabbreviated, alongside sailboat designs. These are the terms you use indescribing the length, depth, and width of a sailboat.

LOA stands for length overall. This is the total length of the boat from the bowto the end of the stern in a straight line. LOA does not include the bowsprit(if your boat has one), which is a pole that extends beyond the bow of a boat.When you rent or buy a sailboat, LOA is a very common specification—ascommon as MPG is to a car shopper.

LWL is the load waterline length, or simply waterline length. This is thestraight-line distance from the point where the bow emerges from the water tothe point where the stern emerges from the water. Sailors need to know the LWLwhen calculating the potential speed of a sailboat.

Draft is the vertical distance from the water surface to the deepest part of theboat (the bottom of the keel). This measurement will tell you where you can andcannot sail. If your boat touches bottom in 3 feet of water, its draft is 3feet. Stated differently, your boat draws 3 feet. When you ask a marina for aslip to rent you will probably be asked, "How much does your boat draw?" Youwill also be asked the LOA of your boat, because slip fees are calculated indollars per foot.

Instead of a keel, some boats have a centerboard—a relatively thin panelmade out of wood, fiberglass, or metal that can be raised or lowered to changethe draft of the boat. In this case, you might hear someone describe the boat ashaving two drafts: "My boat draws 6 inches with the board up and 4 feet with theboard down."

The freeboard of a boat, which is measured vertically from the edge of the deckto the waterline, is an important determinant of its interior space. The morefreeboard a boat has, the more headroom there will be in its cabin (assuming theboat has one). Some sailors erroneously use freeboard interchangeably with thetopsides of the boat, but the latter term actually refers to the sides of thehull above the waterline.

The beam of the boat described earlier is its maximum width, not its width atdeck level as one might expect. The topsides on some boats curve outward fromthe deck and back in at the waterline. In this case, the beam is measured at thewidest part of that curve.

SAILING LINGO

* LOA: length...