Glossary Archive

A map that summarises atmospheric conditions (temperature, precipitation, wind speed and direction, atmospheric pressure and cloud coverage) over a wide area at a given time.

Verb: To change the direction of a sailing vessel by turning its bow through the wind, allowing the wind to shift from one side of the sail to the other. Noun: The course or direction a sailing vessel takes relative to the wind, specifically when sailing at an angle to the wind. In sailing, "tack" is a...

The lower forward corner of a sail, where it is secured to the boat or rigging.  The tack of a sail is the point where the luff (leading edge) and the foot (bottom edge) meet, typically attached to the boat or rigging. On a mainsail, the tack is secured near the mast, while on a...

To manoeuvre or turning a sailing vessel's bow through the wind to change direction, allowing it to sail in a zigzag pattern upwind. Tacking is a fundamental sailing technique used to navigate a vessel upwind, as a sailboat cannot sail directly into the wind. Instead, the boat must follow a zigzag course, alternating between two...

Lower a sail

To steer the vessel

Pronounced: TANG-go The term for the letter T in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet.

The International Maritime Signal Flag Tango. Meaning Keep clear of me.Fishing boats: Keep clear of me; I am engaged in pair trawling.If appended with a Numeral Pennant, local time. (The first 2 digits denote hours; the last 2 denote.)

A measure used primarily in maritime and aviation contexts to estimate the time until two moving objects (e.g., ships or aircraft) reach their closest point of proximity to each other, assuming their current courses and speeds remain unchanged. It is a crucial parameter in collision avoidance systems. Key Concepts: Closest Point of Approach (CPA): The...

A measure used in satellite navigation systems, such as GPS, to quantify the effect of errors in the timing of satellite signals on the accuracy of position calculations. It represents how much the timing errors in the satellite signals dilute the overall precision of the position solution. A lower TDOP value indicates better timing accuracy...