Bow

The forward end of a boat, the part that points where you are going.

The bow is the front. Every other direction word hangs off it: face the bow and port is your left, starboard your right, and the stern is behind you. The words never move with you, which is the whole point; in a tense moment, "the port bow" means one exact place on the boat to everyone aboard.

Keep weight out of the bow in chop. A bow-heavy boat buries instead of lifting, and the first wave aboard is how swampings start. And nobody rides the bow of a pontoon with legs over the front while underway; a fall there puts a person in front of the propeller.

Face the bow and the words never move: port is your left, starboard is your right, whatever way you are standing.

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Put the words to work

Vocabulary is easier at the helm.

The free South Carolina boater safety course teaches all of this in twelve chapters with a sixty question practice exam, and when you are ready for the water itself, one form gets you rental quotes from local operators.

Take the Free Safety Course Check Pontoon Availability