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You can't talk about left and right on a boat, because it depends on which way you are facing. Left, if you are facing the bow, is always port, and right is called starboard. The bow is the front (pointed) end, and the stern is the back (usually blunt) end of the boat. Boats carry lights at night to show which side of a boat you are looking at in the dark. Port lights are red, and starboard lights are green. Boats coming towards each other should always pass each other port to port - it is not the same as the rules on the road where you keep left. Try it with two model boats, and see how it is different. |
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The sails are not really triangles, because the outside edge is slightly curved. The part next to the mast is called the luff, and the foot is the part that is attached to the boom.
The diagram on the right shows the names of all the different parts of the mainsail and the foresail on a yacht. |
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Reef points are ties in a line along the sail above the foot. When it is blowing very hard, the sail can be shortened so that less wind can blow on it by not pulling it all the way up the mast. Then the extra sail area is bundled up and the reef points are tied around the boom. This is called reefing the sail. It is dangerous to sail with too much sail area when it is very windy. |
