Basic concepts and curiosities of the Nautical Dictionary

Once you enter the nautical world there is no turning back. There are many wonders that we can find while sailing, as many as names and concepts to learn. It's almost dealing with a new language! But don't worry... with this post we will teach you some of the basic concepts and curiosities of the nautical dictionary, illustrated and explained so that you don't miss absolutely nothing on board, or even help you to become a scholar.

We want sailing to become a most enriching experience for you, so we have compiled what we think are the most important and most used words that every good sailor should know:

Terminology on board:

• Bow and stern, port and starboard: These are probably the best known of the basic concepts and curiosities in the nautical dictionary. But do you know how they are used? These four terms divide a boat into four areas, and they have a trick. "Bow" is the front part of a boat and "Stern" corresponds to the rear part. In order not to cause confusion from these two terms, the other two terms were created: looking from stern to bow, "Starboard" will always be the right and "Port" the left, regardless of the direction of navigation. This is the reason why "right and left" is not used.
• Keel: The keel is one of the most important parts of a ship's structure. It really functions as a "backbone". For both motor and sailing boats, it provides stability and reduces the amount of heave.
• Vanes: When we refer to the fin of a boat we are talking about the curved part of the sides of the hull in the vicinity of the stern. In every boat there are two fins, the port and starboard.
• Tacks: This is the curved part of the hull sides near the bow. In other words, it is the same as the fins, but instead of referring to the curves of the stern, they refer to the bow. As with the fins, we find port and starboard tacks.

There are a multitude of concepts that refer to certain parts of the boat, or that are part of the terminology on board. Among them, apart from those mentioned, we can also highlight the beam (width of the boat), the length (length of the boat) or the cleat (element used to make a line firm), also quite curious.

Navigation and courses:

Berth: To moor to a dock, ship, or wharf to stay alongside it.

Heave: The action of the wind or swell as it increases in intensity.

Drill: To sail on a wave, as a surfboard does.

To turn: To turn the boat on its chain when it is anchored or moored to a dead body because of the wind or current.

Weather: One of the ways of sailing in bad weather, consisting of trying to present the tack to the sea, achieving a slow and controlled drifting movement.

Chicha: Absolute calm.

Drift: Trajectory followed by a vessel.

Heeling: Tilting of a vessel to one side due to the action of the wind.

Anchor: Maneuver in which a site is chosen with an appropriate depth and bottom by dropping anchor, chain, and line for the purpose of securing the boat in one position.

Course: Direction in which a vessel sail.

Leeward: direction in which the wind is blowing, the opposite of windward.

Grounding: to make with the keel touching the bottom. The ship can also be beached to make repairs out of the water, in the dry dock.

To tack: to change the course of a vessel.

Depart: to weigh anchor.

As an introduction, this post of basic concepts and curiosities of the Nautical Dictionary will help you to demonstrate new knowledge the next time you get on a boat or talk about the world of sailing. If you already want to become an expert, we recommend you click here (https://testdelper.es/diccionario.php) to access a website where you will have more than 200 nautical terms alphabetically sorted and even take tests for free to consolidate as many terms as possible.

See you next time!