Comparing Yacht Insurance Costs - How To Make The Search Easier
There are now many companies providing yacht insurance cover with confusion often resulting as owners seek to find the best provider for their needs. Each insurance provider wants to encompass elements that are not available elsewhere but at the same time each policy holder’s individual requirements also need to be met. This article includes some basic information which is often overlooked but can help in your decision when comparing yacht insurance costs.
Carry out a check on the financial stability of the company in question and try to look at their previous year’s submitted accounts. The financial stability of a yacht insurance provider speaks much about the security of your own insurance. Search the Internet for top rated insurers of marine vessels - those with large customer bases are often rated highly by the industry watchdogs and probably the best companies to start with.
There may come a time when you need to claim on your policy and you need to be assured that the customer services department will answer your claim quickly and efficiently. To help ensure this is the case search for a marine insurer that has many outlets. The outlets should include emergency services, agencies and helpful representatives. A good reputation is often a hard won thing and important to the business that has won it. How a company’s customer service representatives act (i.e. do they seek to uphold the company’s reputation) will give a potential customer an idea on how well they will be looked after should the need arise.
The type of yacht insurance policy required is based on the ability of a company to provide services at a reasonable cost; avoid those that promise everything at the lowest cost. Be aware that marine policies can be complex and will most likely take longer to assess than regular insurance policies. Each person will have specific ideas about what they want covered with their policy; do not use an insurance provider that only has limited options available.
Consider which aspects of yacht insurance are most important to you before doing anything else: researching the finer details of each policy is easier when you have already produced a smaller list of requirements. Carrying out these simple suggestions you should help you to more easily compare yacht insurers and yacht insurance costs. The last thing anyone needs after signing their policy is to find there’s a problem with their marine insurance company.
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yacht insurance costs go to http://www.aboutinsurancesite.com/yachtinsurancecosts.html
Rules and Equipment for Boat Owners
For anyone who owns a boat, there are ten rules which should always be kept in mind. There is also certain equipment which should always be carried aboard ship.
1. Check your boat thoroughly and never leave your mooring until you have done so.
2. Never over-load your boat and at all times be especially careful about non-swimmers and children.
3. Carry a life preserver for every person on board. Be sure they’re worn when doing deck duty in rough weather.
4. Carry filled fire extinguishers.
5. Exercise extreme caution when filling fuel tanks - no smoking - turn off all fires and electric accessories - hold filling nozzle firmly against fill pipe (ground it) - wipe up spillage - thoroughly ventilate engine compartment and all enclosed spaces before restarting motors.
6. Observe carefully weather, wind, tide and current conditions before starting. Plan emergency harbors on long hops.
7. Keep to the right when meeting another boat and give the right-of-way to vessels approaching in your danger zone on the starboard (right) side.
8. Always be Courteous, Careful and Competent. Watch your wash! Slow down to 4 mph in harbors. Keep away from large vessels, which are not as maneuverable as smaller craft. Keep away from all sail boats - small ones may be swamped by the wash from a motor boat and large sailing yachts do not have the maneuverability of a motor boat.
9. Never make a turn at high speed. Small craft can easily be and have been swamped by their own wash.
10. Approach dock or mooring slowly against the wind or current, whichever is strongest.
Articles of Equipment Which Should Be Aboard Every Well-Found Boat, Though Not Required By Law
The Motor Boat Act prescribes that motor boats must carry certain equipment for the safety of those aboard. This includes life preservers, lights, whistle, bell, fire extinguishers, name arresters on carburetors, ventilating cowls and ducts for the bilges, and the certificate of registration. These requirements vary with the class of boat, and certain exceptions are made in some classes.
In addition to this required equipment, however, there are other things which should be aboard before a boat may be considered to be well-found. The extent of cruising the boat does will determine the amount and kind of equipment, such items as anchors and lines, boat hook, fenders, bilge pump, tool kit, spare engine parts, piloting equipment, auxiliary lighting equipment, and such special safety equipment as ring buoys, flares, and a first aid kit.
In the same category with tools and spare parts we might include a few good carpenter’s tools, extra pieces of line of several sizes, a ball of marlin, an assortment of nails, screws, bolts, washers, wire, caulking cotton, paint, etc. On boats equipped with sails a small repair kit should be added containing twine, wax, needles, palm, fid, and similar articles. All should be properly stowed to keep it accessible and in good condition.
Other miscellaneous items would be a deck mop, pail (some prefer a canvas bucket), a chamois for cleaning windows, brass polish, a supply of oil for engine, grease (both the regular and waterproof varieties as required), some light machine oil and penetrating oil for rusted parts, vaseline, distilled water, a hydrometer, some clean rags and several rolls of paper towels. An emergency tiller is often carried.
Keep the ten rules of conduct outlined, and carry the equipment mentioned above, and you will be well-prepared for anything.
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Learning the Joy of Sailing
What does it take to sail? The main ingredients are a sailboat, a mild breeze on a suitable body of water, and a little desire. Sailing is by no means difficult, and if you can tell which way the wind is blowing, you can learn the fundamentals in a short time.
The quickest and easiest method of learning to sail is to take a formal course. Such courses in sailing are developing in various places all over the United States and Canada. Even public funds are being allocated for this purpose in many cities and communities. The following organizations may be able to advise you of any local classes in sailing: YMCA or YWCA, Coast Guard Auxiliary, local Power Squadron, Chamber of Commerce, local marine dealers, and local yacht or boat clubs. The cost of such courses varies from nothing to several dollars an hour.
Although certainly desirable, formal sailing courses are not necessary. Many people prevail upon a friend or neighbor who has a sailboat and trade their services at spring fitting-out time for instructions in sailing.
While it’s not the fastest or best way, the most lasting method of learning to sail is by the seat of your pants in a boat, developing your sensibilities by trial and error. But before you shove off on your first sail, you should know the basic theory of what makes a sailboat go and the various points of sailing in relation to course and wind direction.
What Makes A Sailboat Go?
It may sound easy to explain why a sailboat goes. It is blown by the wind, just as your hat goes sailing down the street on a windy day. But the person who is to learn the art of sailing can’t stop there. He must have a little idea of the theory so that he’ll be better able to understand why he must handle sails and rudder in certain ways to obtain the desired results.
If we were simply to accept the analogy of the hat, we would not be able to account for the fact that a boat can sail in a great many directions other than the one toward which the wind is blowing. Actually, a sailboat can go in any direction except directly into the wind. In such a case, we must tack the boat or angle it into the wind.
When the boom is positioned directly above where the stern and the side meet, and the wind is coming about 45 degrees either side of the bow, you’re in a close-hauled (or beating, or pointing, or tacking) position. When the boom is let out a little farther and the wind comes more directly at right angles, you are reaching; and as the wind comes across the side closer to the stern, you’re on a broad reach.
Then when the wind comes over your stern, and your boom is almost at right angles to the boat, out on either side, you are running or sailing downwind. As you can see, the points or positions of sailing are governed by wind direction and the trim of the sail (location of the boom).
The closer the boat has to sail to the wind the closer the boom is brought to the centerline of the craft. The more the course of the boat approaches a run dead before the wind, the farther the boom is eased off away from the centerline.
Many people believe that the pushing effect of the wind on the sail makes a boat go, and they’re partly correct. There is, however, another force at work; it’s the same force that provides the lift for an airplane wing. By this we mean that the force of the air striking the windward side of a sail is but a small fraction of the total force; like a wing, most of the force is developed by the leeward (away from the wind) side the upper side in the case of a wing. In other words, some of the wind engages the sail and exerts a pushing force upon it.
There is more to learn abut sailing a boat, but this is a good start.
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Rights Of Way At Sea Explained
All of us on land have had the experience upon walking down the street of meeting another pedestrian, turning to the right and having him turn to his left, then turning to the left and having him turn to his right and finally bumping him. To the pedestrian on the sidewalk, such action and such a collision is comical but between two boats on the water, it is serious, yet boats often behave like human beings and do that very thing.
To prevent such things as collisions, very carefully considered rules have been laid down so that the duty of the skipper in charge of any boat under any meeting, overtaking or crossing situation is pretty definitely prescribed.
Duty of Man at Wheel
It should be remembered as the first principle to learn, that the man at the wheel while he is on watch has but one duty in life - the safe guidance of his ship. Everything else should be absolutely out of his mind until his boat is brought to her destination or the command is turned over to another person.
A Captain or person in charge is the absolute authority over the guidance of his ship as well as being responsible not only for her safety but for the safety of all on board. Under ordinary conditions the judgment, instructions and commands of the Captain must be complied with and may not be questioned.
Safety First
The Golden Rule for small boat handling is Safety First and Keep to the Right. Indecision of action or those actions having an obscure motive may mislead the other vessel and confusion may result. Time should never be considered wasted if safety is at stake. When there are alternate methods of avoiding danger, the safer of the two should be selected.
Rules of Road Applicable To All Types of Vessels
The rules of the road are applicable to all types of vessels when under way. Therefore, they apply with equal force whether a boat has headway or sternway. They apply to craft which are adrift or not under control. They apply to boats driven by steam, motor or sail power, ferry boats, pilot boats, tugs and tows, sailing vessels and, to some extent, to a vessel propelled by hand power and the current.
When Is A Vessel Underway?
A boat is considered underway when she is not at anchor, aground or made fast to the shore. Under all other conditions except these three, a boat is considered underway and the Rules of the Road are applicable.
Where Inland And International Rules Prevail
The Inland Rules are those applicable to the navigation of all vessels on all harbors, rivers and inland waters of the United States tributary to the sea, including coastal waters inshore of the lines established by Congress as dividing the inland waters from the high seas. Upon the high seas, that is, waters outside of these established boundary lines laid down, the International Rules apply.
The inland rules also apply (generally speaking) at all buoyed entrances from seaward to bays, sounds, rivers etc. for which specific lines are not prescribed by the Pilot Rules, inshore of a line drawn approximately parallel with the general trend of the shore, drawn through the outermost buoy or other aid to navigation of any system of aids. The Pilot Rules list in detail the lines of demarcation which have been established between the inland waters and high seas.
Fundamental Objects of Rules
The fundamental objects of the Rules of the Road whether they be the International, Inland or Pilot Rules are to prevent collisions at sea or on the water. Therefore, it may be assumed that the Rules of the Road are applicable only when danger of collision exists. Danger of collision may be deemed to exist also when there is uncertainty or doubt from any cause.
It is imperative for the boat owner to become familiar with these rules.
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Beginning Your Own Sailing Adventures
The great day has arrived at last you’re about to sail the boat by yourself. It’s all very well to say, “Don’t be nervous,” but as with most new things in your life it is sometimes a little hard to get used to a sailboat. It’s not that you’re afraid of capsizing (you wouldn’t be so foolish as to get into a sailboat if you couldn’t swim); it’s just the strangeness of the feeling in your bones as the boat leans with the wind and the confusing sound the sails make overhead.
One consolation is to realize that if you get confused in a sailboat, it’s perfectly safe to let everything go. When you let out the sheet, the wind spills out of the loosened sail. And although the sail flaps away noisily, you quickly realize that the boat has flattened out like an old bathtub and slowed down to a mere drift.
In a sailboat you can just let go. Try it a couple of times, to gain confidence and relaxation. Pull in the sheet and feel the boat tip as you tighten the sail against the push of the wind. Drop the mainsheet and feel the wind spill and the sail loosen and the boat flatten out. Any time that anything goes wrong while sailing, let go of the sheets. This provides time to meditate on the situation.
You sit in your boat forward of the tiller (so that you can swing it freely, to steer) and opposite your sail (so that you can balance the weight of it as well as look at it easily.) You will want to check your sail every few minutes, since its lower third, up next the mast, is like an instrument panel in a car or plane.
This is the area you will check to see if your sails are set right. While it’s all very well to stare up at the whole mainsail, for the wonder of it, luckily for your neck the lower part is all you have to keep looking at. Here’s how you check the set of your mainsail:
You let the sail out, by letting the sheet in your hand run out, until the sail begins to luff. This means that the sail in the instrument-panel section begins to flutter and bubble. Then you pull in the sail till the luffing just stops; that is the best set for your mainsail.
Remember that this sail isn’t, after all, a perfect triangle. If you look at it, you’ll see that it is skillfully cut and seamed so that there is a curve to the whole thing. Don’t pull in your sail till it’s flat; just keep a nice curve in it like a bird’s wing.
So much for the general controls for your boat; now let’s take a look at how to get started.
Getting Underway
If you are moored at a buoy, the bow will lie into the wind. For an example of getting underway, let’s say that there are several boats close to your port side, so you decide to go off to starboard in other words, on a port tack. (A boat is sailing on a port tack when the wind is coming over its port side.) With both sails hoisted, haul in the starboard jib sheet, taking up all the slack. Push the clew of the jib to port; the wind will fill the sail and force the bow of the boat to starboard.
As soon as the boat begins to swing around, let go of the sail and take up on the starboard jib sheet. Swing the tiller to port; this will help push the nose of the boat to starboard. (Unlike the steering wheel of a car, a tiller is moved in the direction opposite to the one you wish to swing the boat.) Then trim the mainsail by taking in the mainsheet until the sail is fairly flat. As the jib pushes the boat around, the mainsail will fill, and the boat will move forward.
At this moment, cast off the mooring and you’ll begin to make headway.
Congratulations! You’ve begun sailing.
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Lighthouses: Explaining The Guiding Light
Lighthouses are the signal stations by means of which mariners determine their exact position. Mariners had once to be satisfied with natural landmarks, from which to obtain their bearings. These often being lacking at points where most needed, towers were built, and eventually lights were placed in many of them. The modern lighthouse represents the scientific development of this same idea, the signaling equipment being the culmination of many years of striving to overcome the limitations of visibility and audibility.
Coloring Of Structures
Color is applied to lighthouses and automatic light structures for the purpose of making them readily distinguishable from the background against which they are seen, and to distinguish one structure from others in the same general vicinity. Solid colors, bands of color, and various patterns are applied solely for these purposes.
Minor light structures are sometimes painted black or red, to indicate the sides of the channel which they mark, following the same system used in the coloring of buoys. When so painted, red structures mark the right side of the channel, and black structures the left side of the channel, entering from seaward.
Light Colors And Characteristics
The colors of the lights shown from lighthouses, and their characteristics or manner in which they flash, are for the purpose of distinguishing one light from others in the general vicinity and avoiding confusion with lights used for other purposes.
The length of the flashes and the intervals between may be accurately timed, and positive identification made by consulting the Light Lists. The colors of minor lights, when red or green, may also have the further significance of indicating the side of the channel which the light marks, red being on the right, and green on the left side entering from seaward.
Fog Signal Characteristics
Fog signals, both at lighthouses and on lightships, sound distinctive blasts. This is for the purpose of distinguishing one station from another. The characteristic of every fog signal is given in the Light Lists, and many of them are also given on the charts. All signals sound on a definite schedule, and positive identification may be made, even when the sending station is not visible, by timing the length of the blasts and the intervals between. With practice, mariners may also differentiate between the signals produced by the different types of apparatus.
Lightships
Lightships serve the same essential purpose as lighthouses. They take the form of ships only because they are to occupy stations at which it would be impracticable to build lighthouses. Hulls of all lightships in United States waters, excepting Ambrose Lightship, are now painted red with the name of the station in white on both sides. The superstructures are white, with the masts, lantern galleries, ventilators and stacks in buff.
All the signals, the masthead light, the fog signal, and the radiobeacon have distinctive characteristics, so that the lightship may readily be identified under all conditions. A riding-light on the forestay indicates the direction that the ship is heading, and as lightships ride to a single anchor, this also indicates the direction of the current.
Present day lightships are built of steel, with either steam or Diesel engine propulsion. Power for the operation of the signals is obtained from suitable auxiliary machinery. Each lightship has a crew of from 6 to 15 men.
Buoys
The primary function of buoys is to warn the mariner of some danger, some obstruction, or change in the contours of the sea bottom, that he may avoid the dangers and continue his course in safe waters.
The utmost advantage is obtained from buoys when they are considered as marking definitely identified spots, for if a mariner be properly equipped with charts, and knows his precise location at the moment, he can readily plot a safe course on which to proceed. Such features as size, shape, coloring, numbering, and signaling equipment, are but means to these ends of warning, guiding, and orienting.
These are all essential aids for any yachtsman.
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How To Care For Your Boat
The upkeep cost of a sailing boat can be kept exceptionally low if you are willing and able to do your own work. The most fragile part of your outfit is the suit of sails. How fragile it is depends upon the type of boat you have. If yours is a little general-purpose craft with a cat or knockabout rig, a good suit of sails should last you for 10 years, perhaps more. If, on the other hand, you are going in for parachute spinnakers, masthead-high Genoas, or even the regular sails in their light form, you may find the life of a suit of sails is not over a season or two before they have to be recut or repaired.
The most important rule of all is that sails must be perfectly dry before they are stowed. Dampness causes mildew and rot. Need it be said that stowed sails should always be covered? Light sails that are not left on the boat should be well dried and then stowed in canvas bags. Rats and mice abound around the waterfront and no better nest has ever been found for a mouse family than a bagged sail.
There seems to be but one easy way to avoid damage by the gray beasties. That is to bag the sail and hang the bag from a rafter on a length of fine copper wire. Even then, the bag should hang far enough from anything else to obviate the chance of a rodent making a flying leap. Mice can climb ropes and twine, but a smooth, fine wire licks that method of approach.
Hull upkeep during the season should be limited to painting and varnishing as required. In the case of a racing boat, she may have to be hauled several times during the season to smooth up her bottom and apply a new coat of racing composition. Many racing owners haul small sailboats out of water whenever they are not being sailed. The idea is to keep them from soaking up a few extra pounds of water. Such fussiness is silly unless your only aim in having a boat is to race her.
The big jobs of maintenance are supposed to face you in the spring. That idea is crackpot, for fully half the annual overhaul can be done during the late fall and winter with the result that you’ll get overboard weeks ahead of the others who, like the Capistrano swallows, never show up at the boatyard until a specific spring day. If you lay your boat up properly, there will be little to do when the weather turns balmy again.
Unless you live in some section where there is no winter, you must haul in the fall. Strip the boat of everything movable. The sails and all running rigging should be dried, cleaned, and stowed in a damp-free, mouse-free place. Take out the mast if possible and have it stowed in a shed where it can be supported horizontally at frequent enough intervals so it cannot go out of shape. If the mast must stay in the boat, you may be up against it to remove the halyards.
One stunt, if you can make a neat long splice, is to substitute some old line for the rigging aloft. If the boat is big enough and has a good stout spar, you may have a gantline. This is a heavy line rigged through a substantial block at the masthead. Its object is to provide a means by which you can be hoisted up the spar in a boatswain s chair.
You can use the rig for reeving off all rigging, inspecting and oiling upper blocks, and varnishing the mast. Don’t monkey around with this sort of thing unless you are sure the mast, the gantline block, and the gantline itself will hold your weight.
These are some of the jobs you need to complete to really care for your boat. If you do these carefully, you will be rewarded by a really sound boat which will last a lifetime.
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Learn The Essentials Of Yacht Sailing
It is difficult to draw a line between what most people call a boat and a craft logically entitled to be called a yacht. Actually, any power or sailing craft used exclusively for pleasure is a yacht. On the other hand, most of us think of a yacht in terms of a craft fitted for cruising and requiring more than the usual two-person crew.
For the sake of argument, let us call anything with an over-all length of 30 feet or more a “big boat.” Such a craft will hardly be cat rigged and there is some question about her being a knockabout although there are many large boats that are true knockabouts. The chances are that she will be a yawl, a ketch, a cutter, or the latter’s sister, a sloop. Where she differs mainly from smaller craft is that she will probably have several special sails for particular purposes.
These may include spinnakers, balloon jibs, and a variety of other light sails that are hoisted when more speed is desired than can be obtained from the normal working canvas. Let us hasten to say that some small boats also have light and special sails. Many of the little one-designs can carry spinnakers. Most of them are also rigged with what is known as Genoa jibs.
To some extent, light sails cannot be too closely defined. For example, a balloon jib may be cut full enough to be used as a spinnaker. Even a Genoa can be set to act as a sort of semispinnaker. The following definitions are thus open to some criticism. A Genoa jib is larger than the fore triangle, which is what the triangular space is called that has the mast as its after limit, the deck as its base, and the forestay as its third side. An ordinary jib - in some cases called a staysail as it is hanked to the forestay - fits within the fore triangle.
The spinnaker is handkerchief light, has a lot of belly, and is often called a bag. Like the ballooner, it is set in stops, but it is used only when the boat is running before the wind. Broadly speaking, it is set across the boat rather than fore and aft. To accomplish that, there must be a spinnaker boom. This is a light spar having a fork, crotch, or special metal fitting at its inboard end to fit the mast.
The outer end of the boom has a snap hook to which the tack or outer lower corner of the spinnaker is made fast. The opposite corner, or clew, is attached to the spinnaker sheet, which is passed around the forestay and carried aft outside the shrouds on the side opposite to that on which the spinnaker boom is to be run out. A guy from the end of the boom is carried aft outside the shrouds on the side where the boom is to be rigged.
In setting, the spinnaker boom is laid on deck parallel to the center line of the boat. The spinnaker is hoisted in stops and the sheet and guy are carried aft. When planning all of the foregoing, you must decide which side of the boat the main boom will be carried on, for the spinnaker boom must be run out on the opposite side.
As the course is directed before the wind, the spinnaker boom is quickly run out, pointed as far forward as possible. A man aft takes up on the guy to bring the boom aft until it is more or less at right angles to the center line of the boat. A sharp pull on the sheet will then break the stops and the sail will fill with tremendous power. If cut very full, and made of very light canvas, it is often called a parachute spinnaker because when filled, it looks so much like its namesake. Once it is drawing, the working jib can be either taken in or, if you are expert, trimmed on the side opposite to the spinnaker boom so that some wind from the spinnaker is spilled into it.
There is of course much more to be learned about sailing a yacht, but this at least gives you a taste. Happy sailing!
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Pros Tips For Building a Boat
To get a good boat, one must start with a good design. Any person equipped with basic woodworking tools, some experience and patience should be able to get his or her dreamboat translated into a real life of excitement and action. Boats do not go out of fashion. After a few years, if your taste or requirements should change, you can always sell your boat and start a new- one. The building of your own boat is a challenge, but if you meet it, the reward is the deep satisfaction of a self-made life afloat.
The example in this article was a boat we built that we liked to call `Swell Time.` The first step in building this boat, after selecting the materials, was to make full-size frame patterns. The frames are molded three inches thick, and cut from one-inch stock. The bottoms of all frames are cut with a 15
Boating Terms Explained
The language of boating hits landlubbers in their ears with the same amount of sense as would be the case if Ubangi were being tossed into the air. Starboard tacks have points but only sails have heads. A sheet is a rope, not a sail- and a rope isn’t a rope, but is a line. ‘Tis a strange sort of lingo and you must know at least a bit of it before you take to the high seas.
Glossary Of Boating Terms
ABACK: With the wind on the forward sides of the sails instead of the after sides.
BACKSTAY: A stay running from the masthead aft. A back runner is similar but is arranged to be slacked off upon occasion.
BOOM: The horizontal spar to which the bottom edge of a sail is laced.
CHINE: The corner where a flat or V-bot-tom boat’s side and bottom meet.
CLEAT: A two-armed device to which a line can be made fast.
DAGGER: A type of centerboard shaped like, or suggesting, a dagger.
FAIRBODY: The line formed by the out-Side bottom edge of the planking as it touches the keel.
GROMMETS: The metal eyelets in the edge or along the reef points of a sail.
HEEL: To tilt under the impetus of sails.
HELM: The tiller or wheel by. which a rudder is moved.
INWALE: A strip of wood around the in-sides of frame heads at the sheer line. In large, decked boats, usually called a clamp.
IRONS: In luffing, a boat without enough momentum may refuse to come about on the opposite tack. The sails will remain flapping. A boat in this position is said to be in irons.
JIB: Triangular sail forward of the mainmast.
LEE: The side of a boat opposite to that from which the wind is blowing.
LEECH: The after edge of a sail.
LINES: Rope used in handling a boat.
MISS STAYS: To get a boat into IRONS.
PORT: The left side of a vessel as you face forward, opposite to STARBOARD.
POUNDING: The shock felt in rough water when a relatively flat portion of the boat lifts above water and then forcibly strikes the surface.
PURCHASE: Any rigging consisting of two or more blocks used to hoist a heavy weight.
QUARTER ROUND: A narrow, triangular piece of wood with one face rounded; used for trim along the edges of cabins.
REEF: To reduce the area of a sail by lowering it, making fast the reef points, and hoisting again.
ROPE: Often confused with LINE. When a length is cut from a coil of rope, that length immediately is known as a line.
SEAKINDLY: Comfortable and safe in rough weather.
SEAWORTHY: Able to stay at sea. Often used when SEAKINDLY would be a better word.
SHEET: Line used to control the angle at which a sail is set in relation to the wind. The sheet is not the sail itself.
STABILITY: The ability of a boat to return to an upright position when she has been heeled by some force such as the wind or a wave.
STARBOARD: Opposite to PORT. The right side of the boat as you face forward.
TACK: The lower forward corner of a sail. Also, that variety of sailing where you proceed to windward by sailing on alternate courses so the wind is first on one side of the boat and then on the other.
TRAVELER: A metal rod running athwartships to which the main-sheet block, or sometimes the jib-sheet block, is attached.
TRIM: The movement of a boat away from the upright in a fore-and-aft direction. As you walk forward, a boat will trim by the bow.
TURNBUCKLE: A pair of eyebolts threaded into a casting that can be turned to tighten wire standing rigging.
UNDERBODY: The entire hull below the water line.
WEATHER: Another word for WINDWARD.
WINCH: A mechanical device used for putting more power on the running rigging than can easily be applied by hand, Also used to hoist an anchor.
With these terms under your belt you are ready to go to sea!
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