Knot

One nautical mile per hour, about 1.15 land miles per hour.

A knot is a speed, not a distance, so "knots per hour" is a landlubber tell. Ten knots is roughly eleven and a half miles per hour, and the name really does come from counting knots in a line paid out behind old ships.

Charts, forecasts and radio traffic all speak knots, and so do the wind numbers in a small craft advisory, which is worth remembering when 25 sounds tame in your head and arrives as 29 miles per hour of wind.

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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.

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