A

Aback
Wind filling the sail from the opposite direction to that intended. If a sail fills correctly the boat moves forwards. If the sail is aback then the boat stops or heads off in reverse. Taken aback - means surprised by a sudden change - like the wind changing direction and the boat suddenly moving in reverse or worse. OOOPs!!

Abaft
Towards the back of the boat. Direction or direction of movement and sounds a bit like "up aft".

About (going)
Changing direction so the wind comes from the other side of the boat. Often called "tacking - the front of the boat points directly into the wind during the manoeuvre (cf "gybing")

Aft
Backwards or behind or the rearmost part of a boat.

Aground
When the water runs out, one is said to be "aground"

Ahoy
An attention seeking holler used by sailors. Generally archaic or naval in use.

Aloft
Up in the rigging or on the sail - still attached to the boat, but up higher than the deck. Don't confuse this with the top floor in your cousin's barn.

Aloser
Not a term that PDRacers need worry about.

Anchor
A heavy thing that's tied to a bit of rope and thrown overboard to stop a boat going anywhere when you don't want it to. The rope on the end of an anchor by the way is called a "rode". The "bitter end" is the end of the anchor rope or chain that is tied to the boat. If someone throws the anchor overboard and has forgotten to tie it to anything, there's sure to be a "bitter end".

Ashore
On land, no to be confused with aground. One happily spends time ashore, but being aground has other consequences.

B

Ballast
Weight in crew or inert objects whose weight is used to keep the boat upright or to penalise a small boat built underweight. Also the name given to a useless person on board. " I just bring my mother-in-law along for ballast"

Bottom
What you sit on. Or in boats - what they sit on (on a good day) in either case having a clean one will help no end. A meeting of bottoms is often termed "Aground"

Beam
The width dimension of a boat, also used to describe structural members, or the welcome ray of a coastguard searchlight when you have become foolishly lost offshore!

Bog
Putty or filler, when used in the context of "epoxy bog" it is used to describe a filler made from thickened epoxy.

Bow
Rhymes with "cow" as opposed to "so" so it can't be mistaken for a ribbon in one's pigtail (how very Fletcher Christian!), the Bow is the pointy end of a ship, which makes it pretty hard to remember in a Puddleduck, there being a complete dearth of pointy ends, I suppose one would have the same problem in a canoe, but for now, let's just think of it as "the front".

Buoyancy
The tendency to float. Buoyancy compartments are included in boats like the Oz PDRacer to ensure they have that tendency even when completely filled with water.

Bowline
A knot for tying a loop in the end of a rope. Special because it unties easily when load is removed. One knot that every sailor should learn to tie blindfolded!

Bung
If you have a hole in a boat to let the water out - the bung is put in it while sailing to prevent the water coming in.

C

Cam cleat
A cleat for holding a rope. Has two spring loaded swivelling cams with teeth that grab the rope so a person doesn't have to hold it.

Centreboard (centerboard)
The wing in the water. a vertical plank shaped like an aircraft wing to prevent the boat sliding sideways under the influence of the wind. Centre - means its location is in the middle of the boat - not to one side or another (cf - leeboard)

Cheap
The sound a chicken makes, but also what one tells one's spouse when she asks how much the latest bit for the boat cost. "It was really cheap", which of course it wasn't, unless you have a PDRacer, in which case it was probably free.

Clew
The back bottom corner of a sail.

Clove hitch
A knot for tying a rope around a post or a spar. Not always reliable as can slip and sometimes jam so tight it can't be undone, but useful in all sorts of places none the less.

Cheapskate
A person who copies cheap plans and uses them without paying the designer. Hey they're less than the cost of a family Pizza and you wouldn't steal one of those would you?

Chine
If the sides and bottom of the hull are not curved, but meet each other at an angle - then the longitudinal angled join is called a chine, usually where two predominantly flat parts join. But excludes the join along the centreline of the boat. (cf keel)

Chine log
The chine log is the piece of timber or other material inside a boat that holds the two sides of the chine together.

Chinese gybe (jibe)
See gybe. Same thing, but unexpected, and could have dire consequences when boom hits head.

Clam
Money. You won't need many clams to build a PDRacer. Also a descriptive word for a proprietry type of cleat, sort of a cross between a "cam" and "jam" cleat.

Clamp
In boatbuilding, any piece of wood used to join two other pieces of wood together at an angle. Generally if there is no specialist name for the particular part that has this function - then it is just a clamp. Chine Logs and Carlins are both clamps, but have a specific name because of their location. Sometimes a adjective is added so a particular part can be pointed out eg Deck Clamp (holds the deck to the side of the boat) - sometimes a Deck Clamp is called a Sheer Clamp. Boatbuilding can be confusing.
Also a mechanical device for holding two pieces of wood together when gluing or fitting, in this sense, it is often noted that one can never have enough clamps

cleat
Something that holds something else. When building a cleat is any piece of wood used to joining two other pieces of wood together at an angle (see clamp). When the boat is operational it is any mechanical device that holds a rope instead of a human hand removing the need to tie a knot.
These now take many forms, see jam cleat, clam cleat, horn cleat, cam cleat.

cockpit
A depression in the deck where the crew sit. In a smaller boat (like the PDRacer it is the interior of the boat.

cringle
Originally a loop of rope stitched to a sail - the term is now commonly (but incorrectly) used to refer to an eyelet fitted to a sail.

D

Dagger board
A Centreboard that slides vertically up and down as opposed to pivoting.

 

Deck
The top horizontal surface of the PDRacer where people can sit when sailing and stops most of the water from coming into the boat. There is a foredeck across the front of the boat which the mast goes through. Then two side decks down either side of the boat (!). On larger boats you can walk on the decks. Not generally recommended on the PDR.

Dill
A tasty green herb, but also the name given to a person who knows little but perhaps knows that not. See also "ballast".

Donuts
A circular confection with a hole in the centre. Driving cars in tight circles while creating big gobs of wheelspin is said to be "doing donuts" because of the circles they transcribe onto the tarmac. PDRacers can do donuts too.

E

Epoxy
Among the best most easy to use woodworking glues in the world. Completely waterproof, very strong, fills gaps quite well. Can be used to seal any timberwork to exclude water and air - no water, no air - no life - so the boat is very unlikely to suffer from wood rot from fungal action. Epoxy is not toxic when cured but some people have an allergic reaction from the uncured product so it is wise to avoid skin contact when using it. Like I am allergic to horses. But luckily this is quite rare and normal precautions prevent it from occurring for 99.9% of people.

 

eye
The most important boatbuilding tool. If it looks right it probably is. Also boatbuilders eye is where someone gets so close to their boat that they start judging their own workmanship from an average distance of 6 inches. They get so critical of their own work they get depressed about all the "defects". The funny thing is that no-one else in the Universe will know or care.

F

fathom
A measure for depth of water or length of anchor chain or rope. Six feet in the old measure (1830mm). If you "can't fathom" something it means that you have made some effort but have not been able to reach understanding of the situation. A bit like a ship that is being blown towards some rocks - it drops its anchor to save the situation - but the rode is too short for the anchor to hit bottom.

Fibreglass (fiberglass)
Any structural material utilising fine glass fibres soaked in a plastic resin. The plastic resin hardens giving the resulting composite (mix) a high strength. There are two main forms of fibreglass available - a woven cloth of different weights (fibreglass cloth) or short random lengths lightly glued together (CSM or chopped strand matt). We only use woven cloth and tapes for the PDR. Commonly people get confused and call the plastic resin "fibreglass". Sometimes called FRP (Fibre reinforced plastic) or more accurately GRP (Glass reinforced plastic)

Figure-of-eight knot
One of the four most useful knots - can be tied in the end of a rope to prevent it pulling out of a guide or pulley block

Foil
Rudder blade, centreboard blade, leeboard blade, keel. Anything that is shaped to develop force when it meets the water at an angle. Foils are used to steer the boat and to stop it from blowing sideways under the influence of the wind.

A contraction of "airfoil" which most of us no as an aircraft wing shape, and not to be confused with "cooking foil", a thin aluminium sheet used to create an even heat over the Sunday Roast

Foot
The bottom edge of the sail approximately parallel with the deck. Also a measure of speed - "the red boat is footing faster than the blue one"

G

Glass Tape
Woven fibreglass cloth made into a long strip/tape (commonly available on a roll). We use 50mm (2") tape for the PDR, but it is also available in 25, 75, 100, 150mm widths. (1,3,4,6")

Glue
Any substance that will wet two surfaces then harden to join them together. It needs to be approximately as strong as the the material being joined.

Gratuitous

Gudgeon
A rudder fitting which allows the rudder to pivot so the boat can be steered. The gudgeon has holes for a pivot pin to be inserted through. If connected to the boat they are usually termed transom gudgeons. If connected to the rudder or its housing they are called rudder gudgeons.

Gunwale
A piece of timber along the top edge of the sides of the main hull at (usually) the same height as the deck. It is usually the bit that hits other boats first.

H

head
The highest corner of a triangular sail. For a four sided sail it is the topmost edge of the sail.

helm
The wheel or tiller that is held to steer the boat. The person steering is the helmsperson. If the boat is not answering the helm - who knows where we will end up.

hello sailor
A greeting sometimes heard in dark alleyways, not at all relevent to respectable Puddleduckers.

hull
The outside or husk of a seed. The floaty part of a boat has a similar shape - so is called a hull. Doesn't include masts, sails foils as they are not permanently attached to the floaty bit.

K

Keel
Where the two sides of the boat join along the bottom. May be flat or curved or have a sharp edge at the join (cf chine)

Knot
Originally the Knot was derived from the fact that in some sailing ships, speed was measured by casting the chip log from the stern. The log was relatively immobile, and attached by line to a reel. Some sources suggest that knots placed at a distance of 47 feet 3 inches (14.4018 m) passed through a sailor's fingers, while another used a 28 second sandglass to time the operation. The knot count would be reported and used in the sailing master's dead reckoning and navigation. This method gives a value for the knot of 20.25 in/s, or 1.85166 km/h. The difference from the accepted value today is a bit less than 0.02%.

Having said all that, I have no idea why 47 feet 3 inches, I always thought it was every fathom.

L

lee

log

luff

M

mast

master

mast step

mast partner

masthead

multihull

 

N

nautical mile

Apparently, international agreement on the definition of a Nautical Mile was achieved in 1929, when the International Extraordinary Hydrographic Conference held in Monaco adopted a definition of one (1) international nautical mile as being equal to 1,852 metres. This value is very close to the average length of one minute of latitude.

Since the 1929 agreement, all nations have now adopted the international definition.

One minute of latitude represents one minute of arc along a line of longitude, which is a meridian based on a 40007 km longitudinal circumference. Note that the equatorial circumference is slightly greater at 40074 km.)

In the United States, the nautical mile was defined as 6080.2 ft (1853.249 m). It adopted the international definition in 1954.

O

Onshore

Offshore

P

pintle

Plug, see also bung, although in one sense a "plug" is can be an unsolicited advertisement like this one to visit our shop page, or to download our almost free plans for the Oz PDRacer!

Plugs are also used to fill holes generally and can be as simple as a bit of matchstick stuck in a screw hole with a bit of bog.

Polytarp

Puddleduck (Racer)

R

Rope

rudder

rudder blade

S

Sail

Sheer

Sheet

Skeg

Skid

Spanish Windlass

Sprit

stern

Stern can be a bit of a serious mood, but in this case we are referring to the aft bit of the boat. The blunt end as it is affectionately known. I've often wondered if it's called "stern" because traditionally that's where the brains trust can be found, back there away from the hard work, where all the thinking can be done in earnest.

T

Tee Shirt

Thwart

tiller

topside

Transom

W

Wale

warp

Winged Keel