Glossary

The lower forward corner of a fore-and-aft sail.

On a mainsail it is secured near the gooseneck; on a headsail it is attached near the bow,...

The identification of whether a sailing vessel is on port tack or starboard tack.

Under the racing rules, tack is generally determined by the...

Changing from one tack to the other by turning the bow through the wind, or progressing by a series of such manoeuvres.

A single tack moves...

The time, distance or speed lost while a sailing vessel changes from one tack to the other.

The vessel turns through the no-go zone, sails...

To change tack by turning a sailing vessel's bow through the wind.

During the manoeuvre the sails luff and then fill on the opposite side as...

To lower, furl or otherwise remove a sail from use.

The instruction may mean lowering a sail onto the deck or boom, rolling it on a furler or...

To assume responsibility for operating a vessel's steering control.

A proper handover identifies the course or heading, steering mode,...

A vessel's hull or keel coming into supported contact with the seabed as water level falls or by deliberate manoeuvre.

Safe deliberate...

The international radiotelephony spelling word for the letter T.

It is used to spell call signs, identifiers and words clearly over voice...

An International Code of Signals flag whose single-letter meaning is “Keep clear of me; I am engaged in pair trawling.”.

The Tango flag may be...

The predicted time remaining until two moving objects reach their calculated closest point of approach if their motions remain unchanged.

TCPA...

A dimensionless GNSS geometry factor describing how ranging errors are amplified in the receiver-clock estimate.

A GNSS receiver solves for...

Lightweight streamers used to show local airflow over a sail or wind direction around a vessel.

Pairs placed on each side of a headsail luff...

A notice describing a navigational change or condition expected to remain for a limited period.

It may cover buoy moves, works, restricted...

A small craft used to carry people, stores or equipment between a parent vessel and shore or another vessel.

A tender may be a rigid dinghy,...

An RYA practical powerboat course focused on operating tenders by day and night between a parent vessel and shore or anchorage.

Training...

A Met Office Shipping Forecast sea area covering part of the southern North Sea off southeast England and the Low Countries.

Named after the...

An international professional institution advancing naval architecture and associated maritime engineering.

The Royal Institution of Naval...

An International Code of Signals substitute pennant repeating the third flag or pennant in the same hoist.

Substitutes allow a signal group to...

An expression meaning very drunk, unsteady or out of control.

In sailing, a sheet is a line controlling a sail rather than the sail itself. A...