Boat Terms To Know When Booking Your Holiday

If you’re relatively new to sailing, you may have come across a whole array of specific terms and jargon that are often used in the industry, yet rarely explained.

When you book an Eastwood Whelpton yacht, we try to keep everything as clear and simple as possible – after all, booking a holiday shouldn’t be a stressful experience.

When we describe our fleet, we use some specific terminology that you may not have seen before. We thought we would explain the most important below so that your holiday-booking experience can be as easy as possible.

Beam = How we describe the width of the yacht, often not something that you need to think about.

Berths = The number of people able to sleep on a specified yacht, however, we usually label this as ‘sleeps’ on our website (i.e. sleeps 4) to avoid confusion.

Cabins = Bedrooms on a yacht.

Flotilla = A fun group sailing holiday with multiple boats, usually with guidance and support from a lead boat with a Host Skipper & Crew from the boatyard.

Galley = The yacht’s kitchen.

Heads = A toilet on a yacht.

LOA = Length Overall: The maximum length of a yacht’s hull, including overhanging ends. Again, not something that often impacts customers.

Mooring = A method of ‘parking’ the boat that prevents your yacht from floating away.

Skipper = The captain of your yacht, or someone who is on-board to show you the ropes and reassure you.