Hull & Structure
What is the main body or shell of the vessel?
What is the Hull?
These fixed wires run from the mast to the sides of the boat to provide lateral support.
What are the Stays? (Acceptable answers include side-stays, or shrouds)
A line used to hoist a sail, like the mainsail or jib, up the mast.
What is a Halyard?
This is the vertical support column for the sails and the boom.
What is the Mast?
This side of the boat is on your left when you face the bow.
What is Port?
The very back of the boat.
What is the Stern?
These metal bars help spread the side stays away from the mast.
What are the Spreaders?
A line used to control the angle of the boom and the mainsail relative to the wind.
What is the Main Sheet?
The horizontal spar that extends the bottom edge (foot) of the mainsail.
What is the Boom?
This side of the boat is on your right when you face the bow.
What is Starboard?
The backbone of the boat, which counteracts the force of the wind on the sails and prevents sideways drift?
What is the Keel? (Centerboard or Daggerboard will be acceptable)
This item, though not part of the standard standing rigging, helps tell wind direction, usually made of light plastic or fabric.
What is a windex?
The general term for a rope or line on a boat.
What is a Line?
The lower edge of a sail that attaches to the boom.
What is the Foot?
This is the navigational color for the right side of the boat.
What is Green (Starboard)
The upper edge or rim of a boat's hull, where the side of the boat meets the deck.
What is the Gunwale? (pronounced gunnel)
A fitting or wire used to stabilize the mast in the fore-and-aft direction, named for its location near the bow of the boat.
What is the Forestay?
A line used to adjust the angle of the jib or genoa sail.
What is a Jib Sheet?
The highest corner of a triangular sail, where the halyard attaches.
What is the Head?
This tack is when you have the wind coming over the port side of the boat when you are going up wind.
What is Port Tack?
The measurement of the hull from the waterline to the lowest point of the keel. Hint, this is also a racing term for cars.
What is the Draft?
The general term for the fixed, non-moving lines or wires that support the mast.
What is Standing Rigging?
The general term for all the movable lines used to hoist, trim, and control the sails.
What is Running Rigging?
The corner of the mainsail that connects the foot and the luff (leading edge) to the mast and boom.
What is the Tack?
This tack has the right of way when two boats are headed up wind.
What is Starboard Tack?