Nov 02 2008
Beverly’s New Sailing Terms
SailTime Channel Island’s Hunter 326 “Imagine” Member, Randy Bush, shares new sailing terms, one of his regular sailing crew, Beverly, uses to find her way around the boat:
BARNACLE: The compass housing on a boat. ex: “Where did you put the barnacle cover?”
LARIAT: A storage compartment in the cockpit of a sailboat. ex: “I think the docking line is in the starboard lariat.”
HATCHET: Opposite of “Free” on the Hunters’ mainsail furling winch. ex: “Remember to move the lever to ‘hatchet’ before you check off.”
TRAWLER: The attachment point for the mainsheet, which moves side to side. ex: “Should we let the trawler out?”
FURROWING MAINSAIL: For those sailors who just HAVE to have furrows in their mainsail.
Randy and Bev Found Standing on “the top” of the boat !
BLOW: The cabin area. Now this term requires an explanation: Heading down to the docks one day for a sail with Beverly, I ran into Captain Dan. We exchanged pleasantries and prognostications about the wind, which appeared less than promising. ”Well if the the wind doesn’t come up, couples can always go below,” he said with a lascivious grin.
Once on the boat, I relayed his advice to Bev, who responded with a quizzical look, but said nothing. Later, out in the channel, the wind proved to be barely adequate to make headway. ”So should we start blowing?” inquired Beverly. ”What?” I sputtered incredulously. ”Didn’t Capt. Dan say that if the wind didn’t come up we could always go blow?”
We should probably add that all this is 100% true, absolutely no “writer’s embellishments.”
And kudos to Beverly for being a good sport and allowing us all a good laugh.
Love your blog! I also have a sailing blog: http://blog.reserve123.com/2008/09/sail-the-open-sea/