Parts of a yacht

Hull, keel and rudder

The hull carries everything, and the keel hangs beneath it. It is heavy (often a third of the boat's weight) and stops the boat capsizing or sliding sideways. Right at the back is the rudder, steered by wheel or tiller.

Charter yachts usually have a fin keel with a draught of 1.8 to 2.2 m. You need to know the draught, because it decides where you can anchor and enter harbour.

The rig

Mast and boom

The mast stands upright, the boom runs horizontally along the foot of the mainsail.

Shrouds and stays

Wires that hold the mast: shrouds to the sides, forestay forward, backstay aft.

Spreaders

Struts on the mast that hold the shrouds out.

Halyard

A line that hoists a sail.

Sheet

A line that trims a sail to the wind.

Sails

The mainsail sits behind the mast, often as in-mast furling or as a battened main with a lazy bag on the boom. In front is the headsail: a genoa overlaps the mast, a jib is smaller. Almost all charter boats have a furling headsail that can be rolled away from the cockpit.

Every sail has three corners (head, tack, clew) and three edges: luff, leech and foot.

Below deck

• Saloon: table and benches, the crew's meeting place in the evening.
• Galley: the kitchen, with a gimballed stove that stays level when the boat heels.
• Chart table: charts, VHF radio, switch panel.
• Bilge: the lowest space in the hull. Water collects here and a pump removes it.
• Heads: the toilet, worked with a hand pump. Put nothing in it you haven't eaten first.