Fun facts and superstitions on sailing boats

Fun facts and superstitions on sailing boats

  • Renaming a boat is bad luck

  • If you hear someone saying, “I lost it in the drink” or "it fell in the drink”, means it fell in or went into the water.

  • It’s considered best practice to put your right foot on board first when boarding a yacht. Stepping forward with your left foot is thought to bring bad luck.

  • “Red sky at night, sailors’ delight. Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.”

  • Dolphins swimming with the ship brings good luck.

  • “Fair winds and following seas” are what sailors say when they say goodbye and for good luck: generally meaning I wish you an easy path and good luck for the future.

  • bananas on board are bad luck. A few reasons, the obvious being, you can slip on a banana peel and fall, but bringing bananas onboard bring bad luck for fishing boats in particular because of the release of ethylene gas and fisherman never caught any fish?

  • Meaning of Dione - Dione is translated as Greek “Goddess and is described as beautiful and is sometimes associated with water or the sea.

  • this point is interesting - no women on board. Supposedly women bring bad luck because they distract the sailors, however, a naked woman on board was completely welcome because the woman perched on the bow of the ship - calmed the sea? (I wonder how this is going to work?? LOL)

  • What does BOAT stand for? Bring Out Another Thousand (dollars)…… now thinking should read, another ten thousand’’!!

Name                               Meaning

Aft                      -            Back of the boat

Anchor light      -            The light on the top of the mast that must be turned on at night

Backstay            -            Steel rope that holds the mast in place at the back of the boat

Bilge Pump/s    -            Pumps water out of the boat to prevent it from sinking

Boom                  -            Supports the bottom of the main sail/s

Bow                      -            Front of the boat

Cleat                  -            Is what ropes are tied to

Cockpit              -        Control Centre of the boat, when not sailing the outside entertaining area

Companionway -           Entrance way into the cabin from the deck 

Deck                  -           Top of the boat used to walk around on the outside

Fender                -            Inflatable tubes hanging on the outside to prevent hitting the dock

Forestay/s        -            Steel rope that holds the mast in place and used to support the Jib/s

Galley               -            Kitchen on a boat

Halyard              -          The rope that goes to top of mast used to raise the sails

Head                   -            Bathroom on a boat

Helm                   -            Where the boat is steered

Hull                      -            Body of the boat (outside boat)

Jib/Headsail     -          Front sail/s

Keel                    -           A large fin under the boat, in the centre, to stabilise and to grip the water

Lifeline               -            Rail around the boat (in our case where my fairy lights are tied 😊)

Mainsail             -            Is the sail/s behind the mast supported by the boom

Mast                    -            The main pole/s on deck that hold up the sails

Painter               -            Is the rope used on a tender/dingy to tie the boat up

Port                     -            Left hand side of boat (looking forward)

Pullies                -           Little wheels in a bracket that the sheets pass through

Rudder              -            Under the aft to steer the boat

Sea Cocks        -           Valves on the hull to allow water in and out, turned off to prevent sinking if boat plumbing leaks

Sheets              -             Ropes used to control the sails (including Main and Jib sheets)

Shroud               -            Ropes or wires that extend from the mast at the side of the boat

Spreader             -          Is the bar that that spreads to shrouds away from the mast

Starboard - Right hand side of the boat (looking forward)

Stern                   -            Back of boat

Tiller/Wheel     -           used to steer the boat by moving the rudder

Toe Rail              -           Piece of timber, metal or fiber glass around the deck to catch you if you slip

Traveler             -           tracks on the deck that the pullies that the sheets go through

Waterline         -            the point on the hull of the boat where the water comes up to

Winch                 -           used to tighten the sail sheets and halyards

Other words

Rolling                -           boat is rocking side to side

Pitching             -           boat is rocking up and down from the Bow to Stern

Sailing Terminology

Boaties have their own language.   Below are the names and their meanings