Boat terminology.

“Avast me hearties! You there! Swab the deck or we’ll haul you o’er the yardarm!”

Even the most ardent landlubber is probably aware, perhaps from television or movies, that by convention,

boats have their own terminology and names for things.

 

While some terms hang on purely through tradition, others come from practical needs, such as not confusing the boat’s left with your left.

Regardless of where boat terms come from, knowing the most common ones allows you to communicate effectively with the crew and others on the boat.

A quick tour around a boat is all you need to become familiar with boat terminology.

Imagine you’re walking on a dive charter boat. You’re at the stern, or extreme rear of the boat.

You’re faced forward, that is, toward the front, where you can find the bow (the pointy end).

 

As you face forward, the boat’s port side is your left (just remember “left-port” – both have four letters) and its starboard side is on your right.

Port and starboard don’t change – they’re always the boat’s left and right. If you turn around so you face the stern,

you’re facing aft and now starboard is on your left.

Walking around the boat, you notice a breeze blowing across the deck.

The side it comes from is windward, with the opposite leeward (pronounce it “loo-ward” if you want to impress everyone with your saltiness).

You also notice a companionway, or passage, that leads below to the areas under the top deck.

You go below, where you walk by the boat’s head (toilet) and where the crew’s cooking lunch in the galley

(kitchen – but the cook is not the “galley slave”).

After a bite to eat, you decide to watch the captain steer the boat,

and (with permission) you climb a ladder to the bridge, where the boat’s wheel (steering wheel), compass and other controls are found.

 

(On other boats, the bridge may be called the wheel house.) Returning to the deck, you walk aft along the rail –

the outer edge of the boat deck – and relax, sitting near the transom, that is, the planking that forms the hull’s stern section.

The boat you dive from for your Boat Adventure Dive may have all or only some of the described areas,

depending upon its size and nature. You may also hear self descriptive terms important to divers: tank racks, bunks,

diver exit/entry area or brightwork. If you don’t understand something, be sure to ask the crew or your instructor to define it for you.

 

(Thought we’d slip one past you? “Brightwork” is all the shiny metal fittings the crew spends hours and hours polishing.)