All Piss and Wind (27 page)

gunnel:
outboard edge of a yacht where the topsides meet the deck.

gunnel bum:
unfortunate abrasive affliction of the posterior that comes to most of us towards the end of a long race.

gybe:
downwind manoeuvre in which to achieve a change of course the boat must bring its sails from one side to the other while passing through the wind. Potentially dangerous in anything other than the lightest breeze.

Halvorsen:
family of Norwegian-born boat builders whose brothers won many Sydney–Hobart races in yachts of their own design and construction.

halyard:
rope that is used to raise or lower a sail or spar.

hank:
(n)
small clips fitted to the luff of a jib or genoa to attach the sail to the forestay.
(v)
The act of doing so.

harden up:
sail closer to the wind, which usually entails bringing on the sheets.

head:
nautical term for a toilet, also known as the ‘crouch house'.

headboard:
small plate sewn into the top of larger mainsails to help take the load.

headsail:
any fore-and-aft sail rigged ahead of the mast.

heel:
the angle to which a yacht has been pushed from the vertical by the force of wind on its sails.

high/low:
terms used in relation to a yacht's optimum angle sailing to windward. ‘High' is closer to the direction the wind is coming from, ‘low' is further away from the wind direction.

hiking:
action, in smaller boats, of crew leaning out from the high side to reduce the angle of heel.

IOR:
International Offshore Rule, a handicapping system that set the parameters of ocean racing yacht design for 20 years from the late 1960s.

jackstays:
lines of rope or webbing rigged fore-and-aft along each side of a yacht's deck. At sea, crew attach their tethers to these lines by means of a snap-hook. This allows them to move about the boat with safety.

jammer:
lever-operated clutch fitting that enables a halyard or other line to be held and released without being made off to a cleat.

jury rig:
any improvised sail-plan constructed after a dismasting or other major accident to the standard rig.

kicker:
rope used to keep the outboard end of the spinnaker pole from rising when the sail fills. Also known as a ‘down haul'.

kite:
vernacular for ‘spinnaker'.

knackered:
technical term for crew's physical state after any strenuous effort.

knock:
distinct change in wind direction adverse to the yacht's intended track.

knot:
a nautical mile, the international navigational unit of
distance and speed at sea. Roughly equivalent to 1.15 land miles or 1.85 kilometres.

knots:
general term used to signify any intertwining of rope. Generally divided into three main classes:
knots
are used to tie a rope to itself or to another rope of identical dimensions;
bends
tie different types of rope to each other;
hitches
tie a rope to another object.

laid deck:
traditional surface of narrow lengths of timber (usually teak), fixed in curves along the deck with a sliver of sealant between each row.

layline:
theoretical track which needs to be reached so that a boat can then arrive at a rounding mark or clear an obstruction without having to tack again.

lazy jacks:
light lines suspended either side of the main that gather the sail as it drops and helps hold it along the boom.

lead:
not the heavy metal used in keels. A lead – as in to ‘lead' a horse – is a simple system of navigational markers to assist in the entry and exit of ports or to avoid major hazards. Two signs or lights on shore are positioned so that when they appear to line up, one directly above the other, the yacht is on a safe course.

lee:
leeward. The side the wind is going to. A ‘lee shore' is therefore a dangerous place, but to be ‘in the lee' of something is usually a protected, safe position.

lee cloth:
length of stout fabric attached along the side of a bunk and held up by lines to make a temporary wall that stops the occupant from falling out.

leech:
aft, or ‘trailing', edge of any jib or mainsail.

Liar's Dice:
infantile game of deliberate deception which uses five six-sided dice on which are engraved the 9, 10, Jack, King, Queen
and Ace patterns of playing cards. Traditional means of passing time in the cockpit when becalmed.

lift:
favourable change in wind direction that allows the yacht to sail closer to its desired track. (Opposite to ‘knock'.)

loom:
dim show of light in the night sky that indicates the position of a town or lighthouse still below the horizon.

luff:
(n)
forward, or ‘leading', edge of a mainsail, jib or spinnaker.
(v)
to deliberately steer the boat higher into the wind than it should be sailing, usually for a short period, to assist in sail trim or for tactical reasons.

made!:
hail from a person at the mast that confirms a sail has been hauled all the way up.

Mae West:
old-fashioned style of lifejacket with prominent buoyancy compartments on the chest (an indecorous allusion to the former Hollywood actress with similar features).

manila:
traditional laid rope made from hemp.

mark:
buoy or other fixed point that must be rounded during a race.

mast step:
either on deck or below, a fitting usually in the form of a ‘shoe' that holds the base of the mast in position.

maxi-yacht:
when first coined, the term indicated any racing yacht larger than 60 feet overall. Now a ‘maxi' is more likely to be around 100 feet.

MOB:
man overboard. Most modern navigational systems have an ‘MOB' button which holds the precise latitude/longitude coordinates immediately when pressed.

mouse line:
a light length of line attached to the end of an existing sheet, halyard or reefing line. When the main rope needs to be
pulled through and removed it then brings the ‘mouse line' behind it so that the replacement line can, in turn, be pulled into place by the ‘mouse'. Trust me, it works.

NS14:
Northbridge Senior. A highly-evolved development class of centreboard racer which for more than 30 years has offered very close competition.

numbers:
information provided by a yacht's instruments, but predominantly boat speed, wind speed and wind direction.

over-ride:
nasty accident when, under load, one turn of rope on a winch overlaps the next in a way which locks the line in an unwanted position.

pack:
(v)
art of storing a spinnaker in its bag in such a way that it can be swiftly raised when next needed. Packing mistakes are always disastrous, so no crew member complains that this process usually entails using the entire space below.

pall springs:
tiny pieces of coiled wire no larger than a baby's fingernail. Without them a winch is useless.

passage:
any decent-length offshore trip from here to there (as distinct from ‘around the cans' or ‘out and back' races).

peak:
the highest part of a sail.

peel:
tricky process used in close racing where a new jib or spinnaker is hoisted inside (or outside) the existing sail, then the original is ‘peeled' and dropped, leaving the new sail in its place.

pick:
(n)
vernacular for anchor, from the old Admiralty pattern anchors whose straight shaft and curved flukes looked vaguely like a pick.

pipe berth:
lightweight bunk consisting of two aluminium tubes between which is slung strong fabric in the style of a stretcher.

plane:
type of motion that is only possible in centreboard boats and high-tech modern yachts where an advantageous power-to-weight ratio and flat aft sections allow the boat to lift its bow and scoot along the surface of the water rather than through it.

port/starboard:
there is no ‘left' or ‘right' in sailing. All directions are defined in relation to the ship's ‘head', i.e. where the boat is pointed. Everything to the left of a yacht's centreline facing forward is ‘to port'; everything to the right is ‘to starboard'.

primaries:
the largest pair of winches on the boat, normally used to sheet the headsails.

protest:
the Racing Rules of Sailing can be complex when boats meet. Because all yachts have an obligation to avoid collision there is often no time to reach a definitive decision on the rules during a race. If one skipper hails ‘Protest!' and flies a red flag from the backstay, then the issue will be resolved on land during a meeting of the Protest Committee. This is a tedious ritual to be avoided at all costs.

pulpit:
the framework of welded stainless steel tubing that provides some security for crew working at the bow of the boat.

quadrant:
plate attached to the rudder stock inside the boat, shaped like a quarter circle, which carries the line or chain from the steering wheel and moves the rudder.

rack/cot:
common terms for a single bunk.

rail:
windward edge of the boat. Competitive yachts demand that any crew not directly engaged in a task sit shoulder to shoulder ‘on the rail' to help flatten the boat. Ultra-competitive yachts insist that their crew eat and even sleep on the rail. Sheer madness.

reach/reaching:
the quickest, and often most enjoyable point of sailing, with the wind coming directly at the boat's beam.

reciprocal:
bearing 180 degrees removed from the current direction of a yacht's track, i.e. what the compass would show if you were able to steer straight back along the boat's wake. Particularly important in man overboard situations.

reef/reefing:
process of reducing the area of the mainsail to match increasing wind strength.

rhumbline:
navigator's theoretical straight line between a yacht's current position and the next waypoint. Often the fastest course, but not always.

righting moment:
effect of the keel or other factors, including moveable ballast, in resisting the tipping-force of the wind to keep the yacht upright.

rock stars:
casual crew with such fine reputations that they are invited to join a yacht for a specific race or regatta. Universally disliked.

rod rigging:
form of rigging in which the normal wire rope shrouds that support the mast are replaced by solid lengths of drawn, high-tensile stainless steel.

rudder stock:
vertical shaft that holds the rudder in the boat and allows it to be turned.

run (square):
when the wind is directly behind the boat (‘up our clacker'). Always an uneasy point of sailing because the risk of an involuntary gybe is never far away.

runners:
additional rigging lines (usually wire) that run aft from high on each side of the mast on most offshore yachts. The runners must be eased on one side and taken up on the other during each tack.

Samson post:
sturdy post, bollard or cleat set into the foredeck of most traditional yachts used for securing the mooring line.

scantlings:
standards of component strength to which a yacht is built.

scarf:
delicate carpentry method whereby wooden surfaces can be joined using an overlapping shape cut into each edge.

section:
particular circumference dimensions and pattern of a spar, most often an aluminium mast.

sextant:
centuries-old navigational tool which measures the declination of the sun from the horizon, usually taken at noon.

sheave:
revolving part of a pulley or block that carries the rope or wire.

sheer:
graceful curvature of a yacht's deckline, as viewed in profile. Normal sheer is concave; convex sheer is called ‘reverse'.

sheets:
ropes used to control a sail, usually attached at the clew. The ‘main sheet' controls the boom.

ships' chandler:
purveyor of all things nautical.

shrouds:
wire rigging that holds up the mast.

shy:
point of sailing at which the wind has come ahead of the beam, making it difficult to carry the spinnaker.

sked:
contraction of ‘scheduled radio check'. All distance ocean races require participants to radio in their position at two nominated ‘sked' times every day.

skiff/dinghy:
both are small sailing boats, and the distinction is often difficult to make with any certainty. Skiffs are usually ‘open', i.e. without decking, while ‘dinghies' tend to be enclosed. The exception is a rowing dinghy (sometimes also called a ‘tender'), which is always un-decked. The traditional 12, 14, 16 and 18-foot skiffs have provided many of Australia's finest ocean-racing sailors.

skirt:
lower portion of a headsail that often catches on the lifelines. ‘Skirting the jib' – lifting that part of the sail clear after a tack – is a standard foredeck chore.

skite plaque:
yachts that complete a major offshore race are traditionally given a small engraved plaque recording their participation. These mementos are often then attached to the main saloon bulkhead.

sloop:
single-masted yacht carrying a jib and mainsail. Still the basic configuration for most ocean-racing boats.