The Racing Vocabulary

Sailing has a language all its own, and for some words there are no suitable synonyms in common English usage. For example, port and starboard mean left and right when facing forward on a boat, but when you turn to face aft (backward) the boat’s port and starboard remain the same. That’s to eliminate confusion in communication when a crew may be facing in different directions.

Abaft: Toward the stern of a boat.

Abeam: At right angles to the centerline of a boat.

Angle of attack: The angle between the centerline of a boat and the direction of the wind.

Apparent wind direction: The wind direction you feel when the boat is moving.

Bad air (dirty air): Disturbed wind coming off another boat’s sails. Boats sailing in bad air will go more slowly than those in clear air.

Blanket zone (windshadow): The area to leeward and behind a boat where the wind is totally blocked. this area extends six to eight times the height of the windward boat’s mast.

Apparent wind speed: The wind speed you feel when moving.

Aspect ratio: The height of a sail, keel or rudder divided by its width.

Back: A counterclockwise wind shift.

Backwinding the jib: A way to help turn the boat by not freeing the jib sheet during a tack. Thus, the wind blows against the jib, forcing the boat to turn onto the new course.

Bald-headed: Sailing under main without a jib.

Barging: Passing between a close-hauled leeward boat and a starting mark.

Bearing: The compass (magnetic) direction from one object to another.

Bear off: To change your current course away from the wind.

Bear-away set: A maneuver for rounding a mark and hoisting the spinnaker without jibing.

Broach: When a keel boat sailing on a run suddenly turns broadside and capsizes from a blast of wind or gets knocked over by a wave.

Burgee: A flag (normally triangular) that is the symbol of the boat’s yacht club.

Center of effort: An imaginary point in a boat’s rig that represents the center of the driving forces of the main sail and the jib--somewhat analogous to the expression “center of gravity”.

Crack off: Easing your sheets and steering slightly below your current course.

Coffee grinder: A cranking mechanism for turning a winch made up of a pedestal with cranks on top similar to bicycle pedals that crew member turns with hands.

Current sheer: A line of foam and flotsam in the water formed by the meeting of two currents of differing strength.

Draft: 1. The deepest part of the curve in a sail.

2. The distance from the water line to the bottom of a boat’s keel.

Ducking a boat: Altering course to pass behind a boat on the opposite tack.

Ebb tide: The outgoing tide.

Feathering: Sailing closer to the wind for a few moments when beating. Feathering de-powers the boat in strong winds. When sailing “too close” to the wind while beating, the sails luff slightly, which reduces the boat’s heel.

Fetching: When a boat’s course allows it to round a mark without tacking.

Floater takedown: Dousing the spinnaker by taking the pole down early and then jibing the main sail so that the spinnaker comes down in the lee of the main. Normally done when a boat must jibe to get around a leeward mark.

Flood tide: The incoming tide.

Foot (footing, foot off): To head lower than the best upwind course. By falling off slightly and easing the sails accordingly, speed will increase.

Geographic wind: Wind flow that is affected by local topography, including mountains, islands and buildings.

Groove, In the: The feeling of speed when the sails are trimmed correctly and the person on the helm steers well.

Halyard: The rope that pulls up a sail.

Hard alee: The command used in coming about to inform the crew that the helm is being pushed hard to leeward, turning the boat into the wind.

Header: A wind shift that brings the wind direction closer to your bow.

Heel: The tilt of the boat caused by the pressure of the wind on the sails.

Hike: To lean over the windward side of a boat to help counterbalance heeling.

Hole: An area where the wind is weaker than the surrounding environs.

Jibing: Changing the position of the mainsail from one side to another when sailing on a run or away from the wind.

Knot: A nautical unit of speed: 6,067 feet or one nautical mile per hour.

Layline: The point when you can sail a close-hauled course and fetch an upwind mark; or the fastest downwind sailing angle to a leeward mark. In each case there is a port and starboard layline.

Lee: The downwind side of a boat or other object.

Lee bow: An advantageous tactical position ahead and to leeward of another close-hauled boat. When the leeward boat is positioned correctly, disturbed wind off the leeward boat’s sails slows the windward boat.

Lee helm or leeward helm: The tendency of a boat to bear off when the helm is released. Lee helm is normally encountered in light air or if the mast is too far forward in the boat.

Leeward: The location of something downwind.

Lift: A wind shift that allows a boat to sail closer to its destination upwind.

Line: Nautical term for rope.

Luff: 1. In the definition section of the racing rules, “luffing” is definded as altering course toward the wind.

2. The forward edge of a sail.

3. The flapping of a sail caused by the boat heading too close to the wind or because the sail is not trimmed tightly enough.

Overpowered/underpowered: A boat us overpowered when it heels too much from having too much sail up. Underpowered is when a boat is slowed because it does not have enough sail up to power the boat to its potential.

Overstand: To sail beyond a layline.

Persistent wind sift: When the wind keeps shifting in the same direction over time.

Point: To head close to the wind.

Port: The left side of a boat, facting forward.

Puff: A temporary increase in wind strength.

Reef: To reduce the area of a sail.

Rolled: Slang for getting passed to windward.

Sheet: A rope used for adjusting sails to different wind directions.

Slack: To ease out a line.

Stall: When the flow of air around the sails of flow of water around the rudder and keel breaks away, causing the loss of lift.

Starboard: The right side of a boat, facing forward.

Starboard tack advantage: The boat that is on the right side of another going upwind has the advantage of being on starboard tack during crossing situation. On a run, the boat on the left has the starboard tack advantage.

Stern: The back of the boat.

Trim: To adjust or pull in a sail.

Tack change: A method for changing head sails with a double-grooved headstay. The new jib is raised on the windward side of the current jib before tacking. After the boat tacks, the old jib, now on the windward side of the new sail, is dropped.

Tacking angle: The angle between a boat’s headings on port and starboard tack.

Target speed: Boat speeds that are used as guidelines for attaining a boat’s maximum performance upwind and downwind. The target for any boat vary with true wind strength.

True wind direction: The compass heading that the wind is blowing from. The true wind direction is not affected by boatspeed or the boat’s heading.

True wind speed: The velocity that the wind is actually blowing--the speed you would measure if the boat were standing still.

Two-tack the beat: Getting to the windward mark by tacking only once. To two-tack a beat, a sailor would sail on one tack until reaching the layline to the windward mark, and then tack to fetch the mark.

Veer: A clockwise wind shift.

Velocity shift: A temporary shift in apparent wind angle caused by a gust or lull in true wind speed.

Weather or windward helm: The tendency of a boat to head up when the helm is released. Measured in degrees of rudder angle required to steer a straight course.

Windward: The location of something upwind. Also, “to weather.”

Wing-and-wing: Running before the wind with the sails set on both sides. At left, challenger hopefuls running wing-and-wing on a downwind leg.