Boat Terms Every New Boater Should Know

Aground — Touching the bottom, or stuck on it.

Aids to navigation — Artificial objects that mark safe and unsafe waters.

Amidships — The center of the boat, or toward it.

Anchorage — A suitable place to drop the hook based on wind, sea and bottom conditions.

Astern — In back of the boat (opposite of ahead).

Aweigh — The position of the anchor as it’s raised clear of the bottom, as in “anchors aweigh!”

Batten down — Secure loose objects.

Beam — The greatest width of the boat.

Boat hook — A pole with a fitting on one end that can be used to put a line over a piling, retrieve something from the water or fending off a dock or another boat.

Bow — The forward part of the boat.

Buoy — An anchored float used to mark a hazard, shoal waters or a position on the water; it also can be used for mooring.

Cast off — To let go (as in “casting off the docklines”).

Cleat — A fitting to which the boat’s lines are secured. The most common one is shaped like an anvil.

Course — The direction in which the boat is steered.

Current — The horizontal movement of water.

Displacement — A boat’s weight.

Draft — The depth of water a boat “draws” (in other words, how deep does it go?).

Fender — A cushion placed between boats or the boat and a dock to prevent damage. (Note: They’re not called bumpers!)

Flood current / tide — An incoming current or tide

Fouled — Something that is dirty, jammed or entangled.

Freeboard — The distance from the surface of the water to the gunwale (upper edge of the boat’s sides).

Gunwale — Upper edge of the boat’s sides, pronounced (and sometimes called) “gunnel.”

Heading — The direction in which the boat is pointing.

Helm — The control station of the boat (being “at the helm” is being at the wheel).

Hull — The main body of the boat.

Leeward — The direction away from the wind.

Leeway — A boat’s sideways motion due to wind and/or current.

Line — Ropes used aboard a boat. (Note: Never call them “ropes!” They’re ropes in the store; once they’re on the boat, they’re lines.)

Mooring — Securing a boat to a mooring buoy or to a dock.

Piloting — Navigation through use of visual references.

Planing — Moving on top of the water rather than through the water.

Planing hull — A hull shaped to glide smoothly over the water (a “displacement hull” moves through the water).

Port — The left side of a boat, looking forward. Also another word for harbor, as in “returning to port.”

Port of call — A stopping-over spot during a cruise, as in “we made the village our next port of call.”

Rode — The anchor line and/or chain.

Rudder — The vertical plate/board at the stern that steers the boat.

Running lights — The lights that must be shown on a boat if it’s operating on the water between sunset and sunrise.

Set — Direction the current is flowing.

Slack — Not fastened; loose.

Slack tide — Occurs at the moment the current reverses.

Sounding — A measure of water depth.

Starboard — The right side of the boat, looking forward.

Stern — The aft part of the boat.

Stow — To put an item away in a secure place.

Transom — The boat’s stern cross section.

Trim — The fore and aft balance of the boat.

Waterline — The point to which a boat sinks in the water when it’s trimmed correctly.

Windward — The direction from which the wind is coming.