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Parts of a sailboat quizzes and videos

The first chapter of Sailing Fundamentals bogged me down with a seemingly endless list of sailing vocabulary.  Luckily, the internet is chock full of extracurricular activities that make learning the parts of a sailboat fun and easy.

The parts of a boat can be divided up into a few categories.  First, there are the big pieces --- the hull, the mainsail, the jib, etc.  This simple game requires you to label the 14 most important parts of the boat, which is a good start.  You might also consider watching the embedded youtube videos to turn those 2-D diagrams into a 3-D boat.  The

first two have bad sound quality but are the best I've found for presenting all of the information.

Once you've learned the main parts of the boat, most of the terminology has to do with the parts of the sail and with the rigging (the ropes).  When it comes to ropes, every one seems to have a name, but they make a lot more sense once you divide them up into a few categories.  The standing rigging is the ropes that hold the mast in place --- shrouds on the sides, the headstay in the front, and the backstay in the back.  These parts stay in place, so it's no

surprise to find "stay" in their names.  The other lines are part of the running rigging, used to get and keep the boat moving.  Halyards are the ropes used to pull up the sails, while sheets move the sails when the boat is in action.  Rote memorization felt a little easier to me once I broke the rigging vocabulary into those categories.

Once you've studied extensively and want to test your knowledge, head over to Goddard Sailing Association's website and take their Basic Sailing Examination.  I suspect that this test is very similar to what you would be required to pass to get your certificate for the first weekend sailing course offered by most schools.  The quiz covers the information in the first third of Sailing Fundamentals and is easy to take over and over until you feel you've mastered the material.

Have you found other quizzes or games that make learning the parts of a sailboat easier?  Feel free to post your suggestions in the comments below.

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