hank: a spring-loaded sail-snap to attach a sail to a stay.

hank-on: to snap a sail to a stay using above.

halliard (halyard): a line on which a sail or flag is hauled aloft.

hawsepipe: a metal pipe, usually elliptical in cross-section, placed in the opening in a boat’s bow through which an anchor chain or anchor line is led.

jib: a small triangular sail set furthest forward.

jibe: to shift a sail from one side of the boat to another while running downwind. When this happens unintentionally, it can be disastrous. Also, to change the course of the boat by allowing the mainsail to shift, under control. Also, the action of a sail in shifting from one side of the boat to the other before the wind.

jibsheet: a line from the clew of the jib to the cockpit, controlling the sail.

ketch: a two-masted vessel with the forward mast, or mainmast, higher than the after, the latter being set forward of the rudder post. (See “yawl.")

lazarette: the furthest aft compartment on a boat. Usually used for stowage or steering apparatus, and accessible from the deck by a hatch which always leaks. leech: the after edge of a fore-and-aft sail.

leecloth: a heavy canvas cloth hoisted along the inboard edge of a bunk, and secured to the overhead, to keep the sleeper in when the boat heels.

leeward: the downwind side of a boat, sail, or expanse of horizon.

lifeline: a line or steel cable running above the rail, supported by stanchions, or posts, in the hope of impeding the normal tendancy of the human body to pitch overboard at sea. Also, the somewhat more effectual temporary line run from forward aft, to which safety belts can be clipped in a gale or hurricane.

line squall: one of a line of cumulus-crested minor storms marching from windward to leeward across a seascape. The line is due to a fast-moving cold front. luff: (n) the forward edge of a sail. (v) To luff is to cause the sail to shudder by spilling the air from it, either by an ambitious attempt to climb too high on the wind or by letting the sail out too far. To luff is also to spill the wind intentionally from a sail to slow the boat. This has about the same braking effect as taking one’s foot off the gas peddle of a Mack truck on a steep downgrade, only slower.

mast-boot: a miserable sock of canvas intended to keep water from dripping between the mast and the deck where the former penetrates the latter. Technical advances on this problem stopped in 1492.

metacentric height: briefly, a measure of the “stiffness,” or ability of a boat to right herself when suddenly hard-pressed. The less metacentric height, the less initial stability. When it becomes zero, you capsize.

marline: a two-stranded line used for lashing and treated with an oily wax. The Italian kind smells wonderful.