Vendée Globe

Apparent wind: Relative wind resulting from the boat's speed and the real wind.

Backstay: Rear shroud holding up the mast and symmetrical to the forestay.

Ballast: Compartment or tank used for balance by being filled with, or emptied of, water.

Beam: Side, starboard or port of the boat.

Bear away: To change course moving away from the direction of the wind.

Bearing: The direction taken by a yacht in relation to north.

Becalmed: A yacht is said to be becalmed when it finds itself without any wind.

Boom vang: System enabling the mainsail boom to be pulled down to tighten the mainsail, thus making it more rigid.

Boom: Perpendicular to the mast, the boom is a spar, which holds the lower edge of the mainsail.

Bow: The front of the boat.

Bowsprit: Spar at the front of the yacht allowing a sail to be put in place in front of the bow.

Breaker: Huge wave, which breaks and rolls.

Broach: To move suddenly in the direction of the wind.

Capsize: A boat capsizes when it goes over on its side under the force of a violent wave or strong wind to an angle, which means that it remains on its side.

Chain plate: The attachment point for the shroud or stays to the hull side.

Change of Tack: A move from one tack to another turning the bow through the wind.

Cockpit cleats: All of the cleats (used to hold a rope in place), which are found in the cockpit allowing the various ropes on board to be adjusted.

Cockpit: Hollow space at the rear of the yacht, where the helmsman is and where sails can be trimmed.

Coffee grinder: Piece of deck hardware forming a pedestal winch. This geared system offers a lot of power enabling sails to be trimmed.

Code Zero : it's a big genoa

Come about: To carry out a change of tack.

Daggerboard: Vertical fins, which are slotted under the hull of a yacht to reduce drift.

Delamination: The various skins and materials making up the composite materials come unstuck.

Dismast: To lose your mast following damage.

Displacement: The weight of the volume of water displaced by a boat.

Doldrums: Area of equatorial calms found in the Atlantic on either side of the Equator. It is a very hot area, where calms alternate with violent squalls.

Draw ahead: The wind changes to a less favourable direction for the yacht.

Drift: The sideways movement by a yacht in relation to its course.

Ease of: To ease the tension on a rope.

ETA: Abbreviation of Estimated Time of Arrival.

Foot: Bottom edge of the sail

Forestay: Shroud that is furthest forward.

Gennaker: Foresail reserved for downwind sailing.

Genoa: Large jib sail.

GMT: Greenwich Mean Time, also referred to as Universal Time.

Gooseneck: Swivel connection attaching the boom to the mast, allowing it to turn.

GPS (Global Positioning System): Satellite positioning device.

Gybe: To change tack with the wind going around the stern.

Halyard: Running rigging used to hoist a sail or yard. Each sail has its own halyard. Harden sheets, to sheet in: to pull on the sheet of a sail.

Head upwind: You are said to head upwind, when the wind is blowing in the opposite direction to the bow.

Headwind: When a yacht is heading into the wind. Heave to, to lie to: To heave to means positioning the yacht to ensure her safety in bad weather.

Heel: Angle at which the boat leans over.

Helm: The whole of the steering system enabling the boat to change course.

Hook: A hook system, which the allows the tops of the sails to be raised to the top of the mast.

IMOCA: International Monohull Open Classes Association. Intermediate shrouds: Side shrouds coming down from the top of the mast.

ISAF: International Sailing Federation.

Jib: Each of the triangular sails attached to a stay at the front of the mast.

Knot: Unit of measure for speeds at sea. One knot corresponds to one nautical mile covered in one hour.

Leech: The back side of a sail.

Leeward: Everything that does not receive the wind first is leeward. Lift, to veer aft: The wind comes around from the bow towards the stern. The wind lifts, when it becomes more favourable for the yacht to be on an ideal course.

LOA: The total maximum length of the boat, including the bowsprit. Luff of the sail: The leading edge of a triangular sail.

Luff: To manoeuvre to bring the boat closer to the direction of the wind.

Mainsail: Chief sail located behind the mast.

Mainsheet traveller car: Sliding mechanism on the traveller to which the mainsheet block is fixed.

Mainsheet traveller: Track on which the mainsheet block moves.

Nautical mile: Unit of distance at sea equal to 1852 metres (6080 feet or 1.15 statute miles).

Outrigger : That's a deckspreader wich hold the mast up.

Points of sail: Configuration and the angle a yacht sails in relation to the wind direction.

Pole: Long spar placed more or less sideways outside of the boat used to spread the sheets on foresails (genoa and spinnaker).

Port tack: A yacht on the port tack receives the wind from the left.

Port: The left-hand side of a boat, as you look towards the bow.

Rating rule: All of the rules, which define the specifications, which a racing yacht must satisfy.

Real wind: The real direction of the wind.

Reef: System used to reduce the surface of a sail.

Reef: To take in one or more reefs in a sail means reducing the sail surface.

Rigging: All that contributes to the wind propulsion of the yacht.

Roller furler: Rotating mechanical system fixed to the stay, allowing all or part of a foresail to be furled.

Rudder stoc: Mobile part of the steering system that moves the rudder.

Rudder: Submerged part of the steering system that can be angled.

Runner: Mobile shroud located at the rear of the mast.

Running downwind: Point of sail where a yacht receives the wind from astern.

Running rigging: Mobile elements of the rigging allowing sails to be hoisted and trimmed.

Sea-cock: Tube with a valve passing through the hull used for connecting instrument detectors.

Send aloft: Term used to talk of sails being hoisted.

Sheet: Rope used to trim a sail.

Shifting gear: Moving equipment and sails around the boat to stow them windward to reduce the heel.

Shiver: A sail which flaps, when receiving the wind on both sides, is said to shiver.

Shroud: Cable ensuring the mast is held in place.

Solent: Sort of jib.

Spinnaker: Foresail used in downwind conditions.

Splice: Joining two pieces of rope or cable by weaving the strands of each into the other to form a loop or join.

Spreader: Part of the rigging joined to the mast, which spreads the shrouds holding the mast in place.

Standing rigging: Fixed rigging, in particular, required to keep the mast in place.

Starboard tack: A yacht on a starboard tack receives the wind from the right.

Starboard: The right-hand side of a yacht if you are looking towards the bow.

Staysail: Foresail fitted to the babystay behind the jib.

Stern: The rear of the yacht.

Tack (port tack or starboard tack): The tack is the side of the boat, which faces the wind.

Tack: To sail often changing direction to head upwind or to optimise the yacht's speed by reaching (with the wind on the beam) rather than with the wind astern.

Tacking: By tacking, a sailor can move upwind by changing tack.

Tiller: Lever used to steer a boat.

To harden up: To stiffen.

U-bolt: Deck element attached to the hull of a yacht, on which a shroud is fixed.

Upwind: Point of sail closest to the wind..

UT: Abbreviation for Universal Time (equivalent to GMT).

VMG : Abbreviation of Velocity Made Good. It is the calculation of the speed on the ideal route towards the goal.

Waterline: The waterline is a line drawn on the hull at the level of the water; it marks the separation between topsides and the bottom.

Winch: Device used to pull on the ropes on board a yacht.

Windhole: An area without wind.

Windward: Everything that is the first to receive the wind is said to be windward.