|
PPP PAPA PPP
|
| PAD
EYE |
A round eye attached through
the deck used to fasten a line or block to some part of the boat |
| PAINTER |
The
line attached to the bow of a dinghy for towing or tying up |
| PALM |
A leather glove with a thimble
built into the palm for sewing canvas |
| PARALLEL
RULE |
Tool used to transferring
course and bearing to and from the compass rose on a chart |
| PAY OUT |
To ease out on a line |
| PEA COAT |
Sailors who have to endure pea-soup weather often don their pea coats but the coat's name isn't derived
from the weather. The heavy topcoat worn in cold, miserable weather by seafaring men was once tailored
from pilot cloth, a heavy, course, stout kind of twilled blue cloth with the nap on one side. The cloth was
sometimes called P-cloth for the initial letter of "pilot" and the garment made from it was called a
p-jacket,
later, a pea coat. The term has been used since 1723 to denote coats made from that cloth.
|
| PINCHING |
Sailing too close to the wind |
| PIPING |
Boatswains have been in charge of the deck force since the days of sail. Setting sails, heaving lines, and hosting anchors required
coordinated team effort and boatswains used whistle signals to order the coordinated actions. When visitors were hoisted aboard or
over the side, the pipe was used to order "Hoist Away" or "Avast heaving." In time, piping became a naval honor on shore as well as
at sea. |
| PIRATE |
From the Latin "pirata" meaning marine adventurer |
| PISTOL SHOT |
Pistol shot is an inexact term used for a distance. Think of it as 20 meters or less.
Long pistol shot may be forty meters.
|
| PITCH |
Fore and aft movement (up
and down) as the bow and stern rise and fall with the waves,
also called hobby horsing |
| POINT |
Being able to sail close to
the wind |
| PORT |
The left side of a vessel
when facing forward |
| PORT HOLES |
An opening in
the structure of a vessel with a closable section. The word "port hole" originated during the reign of Henry VI of England (1485). King Henry insisted on
mounting guns too large for his ship and the traditional methods of securing these weapons on the
forecastle and aftcastle could not be used. A French shipbuilder named James Baker was commissioned to
solve the problem. He put small doors in the side of the ship and mounted the cannon inside the ship.
These doors protected the cannon from weather and were opened when the cannon were to be used. The
French word for "door" is "porte" which was later Anglicized to "port" and later went on to mean any
opening in the ship's side, whether for cannon or not. |
| PORT TACK |
Sailing with the wind coming
over the port side |
| PRAM |
A square-ended dinghy |
| PREVENTER |
A line and two blocks or
the boom vang used to keep the boom over when reaching or running
and to prevent an out of control swing during an accidental jibe |
| PROP
WALK |
Sideways force created by
the spinning of the prop. Cat 36's back to port because of "prop
walk" |
| PROW |
The bow, stem and above the
waterline. |
| PURCHASE |
A block and tackle with
multiple passes of the line to give power ration increase |
