Yacht Charter: Some essential concepts

With the concept of boat rental,  an unknown world opens to us. The first thing that surprises us is the amount of things that a boats carries, especially sailboats. In front of our eyes, a range of «strings» are displayed. We’ll discuss this forbidden word in a boat. ¿What is more? Pulleys and hardware that we do not know well what would they serve. And, even more, we wonder how is it possible for someone to clarify with all of this? Welcome to the first part of our Yacht Charter dictionary.

Accompanying all these rigs, we’ll always get the right word, the exact word that defines the part of the ship. Later on, if our will is to take advantage and participate in the maneuvers, the skipper will be happy with us bringing our collaboration. At first, we will seem clumsy and ineffective, but with a bit of patience, we will see that maneuvers are simple and require minimal coordination. This section is where we will «stumble» with nautical vocabulary. Sheeting the long sail will sound to us like Chinese.

Our mission today

For this reason, from Nautic Ocean, we want to contribute with our drop of sand. Or better said, with our «salt water droplet», so that when we start our yacht charter we can participate from the first day using the marine vocabulary. We will start by a very simple way with the most common words. In later entries, we’ll add new concepts and words commonly used in the nautical charter.

Parts of the Boat

-Bow. Front of a boat

-Stern. back of a boat.

-Starboard. It is always in the right direction of travel.

-Port. It is always in the left direction of travel.

-Quickwork. It is the part that lies below the waterline.

-Topsides. It is the part that is above the waterline.

-Length. longitudinal distance between the stern and the bow.
-Sleeve. Transverse distance in the wider part of the ship. «Width»

-Draft. Is the distance from the waterline to the keel which is the lowest part of the boat. Important to calculate the maximum depth to which we are exposed.

-Cleats. It is the T-shaped piece where we can make firm a corporal.

-Railing. Handrails on board. They are usually set by various candlesticks (the vertical part of the rail).

-Cover. It is the part of wood or fiber, etc. It’s where we stand. Here we should remember that saying: «he who fell from the deck of a ship is that he did not deserve to be in it …». A little too sure, but I like to remember when someone comes aboard for the first time, to focus on the danger of inadvertent water fall.

-Pinwheel. Mechanism that will help us to leave or to pick up the chain. Or out and their corresponding anchor mooring maneuver.

-Moorings. They serve primarily to moor the boat.

-Boathook. Stick various sizes and shapes that will help us take the ropes when we reach port.

-Defenses. They are those plastic cylinders placed on the bands that will help to protect the ship from frictioning with the other boats.

 A step further

-Running rigging. All sheets and halyards to perform maneuvers with candles.

-Standing rigging. It is the part that holds aloft.

-Candles. They are «the engine» of the sailboat. There are many types: Latin, gaff, marconi, etc. Normally we see in most boats that in the bow there is the Genoa or jib, if it is smaller and does not exceed the mast and mainsail lenght, and a central pole that is the mainsail. The candles we usually see in multiple colors are very large or asymmetrical spinnakers and gennaker, and are used to «supporting» winds; the tailwinds that come from the stern. Remember that is the back of a boat.

-Backstay. Its mission is to hold the stick in its fall toward the bow.

-Shrouds and shrouds. They set the stick side.

-Winch. Metal part that will serve to multiply the force we exert on the sheets or halyards. Normally we use a handle and some are electric.

-Sheets. They are the «strings» (remember that the only rope on a boat is the clock) that will serve to move the sails of one band to another.

-Halyards. Cordage will serve to lower or raise the sails.

-Breast. Space between the whips.

-Windward. Where does the wind come from.

-Leeward. Where the wind goes.

Some maneuvers

-Tacking. It is make a 90 ° turn of the ship. To do this we must pass the sheets from one band to another in a coordinated manner and when the skipper says: «We turn».

-Jibe. It is doing the same rotation but when we wind is astern. So crossing the line with our stern wind and the mainsail will go from one extreme to another. This maneuver is more delicate and requires maximum coordination by the entire crew.

-Close reaching. Bring the wind wind angle 60º boat hull.

-Gird. Bring wind angle incident on the boat, depending on the model, about 40 degrees of the down of the boat.
-Luff. The bow closer to the wind.

-Long navigate. Bring wind angle about 110-120

-Dunce. Carry as a band and jib or Genoa on the contrary. It is to bring the wind at 180 degrees.

-Hunting. To understand and explained crudely it is tighten or loosen respectively. Usually we work with sheets or halyards fixed in the winch.

-Lower. Down or pick candles

-Hoist. Upload candles.

-Crimp. Reduce the sail area. As the wind intensity increases, we bring the boat up to the most comfortable navigation. It is essential to know this maneuver. Also ,here there is a popular saying when asked when to crimp. Normally when you wonder whether to crimp or not, then is too late.

-Anchoring. It is to loosen anchor chain and conveniently seated latter. The ship remains in the same position. You can also anchor buoy or at a standstill.

-Dead. It is the weight of whatever type you set in the background, you can ensure a buoy at its end.

-Make firm a corporal. It is understood to perfectly set a stop out at a cleat, noray (L-shaped piece that serves to enshrine invested a mooring) or Bollard (same function but cylindrical in shape).

-Coiling a rope. This is in order to keep without tangling.

But…

And do not forget, that to learn to navigate the most important thing is to navigate. So at first, it will be tremendously complicated for us. But, gradually, we will understand the enormous usefulness of having a word for everything, maneuver or action, since orders on a ship must be precise and clear.

In the next post of this blog we will go deeper in other words to group them by sections (maneuvers in port, parts of a sailboat, security, navigation, meteorology, propulsion, etc). But in this first one, we wanted to introduce our understanding that can be the most important or essential to all those who are to perform this season yacht charter or aboard a boat up either a boat motor or sailing.

This was the first part of our Nautical Yacht Charter dictionary. Don’t miss the following!