Port And Starboard: How To Remember The Difference | Dictionary.com

Port And Starboard: How To Remember The Difference | Dictionary.com

Port and Starboard: How to Remember the Difference

May 16, 2023

🛳️ Quick summary

Port and starboard refer to directions on nautical vessels and aircraft. When facing the front of the vehicle, port refers to the left side, and starboard refers to the right side. 

Ahoy, matey! Because they don’t want to walk the plank, sailors use the words port and starboard to make sure they know which direction the captain is talking about. However, it’s easy for landlubbers to get turned around by these words.

In this article, we will define the words port and starboard as they are used in the context of nautical vessels and aircraft, explain why they are used, and give a quick tip on how to remember which word is which. 

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port vs. starboard

Port and starboard are terms used on nautical vessels and aircraft to refer to directions. When facing the front of the vessel, port refers to the left side, and starboard refers to the right side. 

Sailors use port and starboard rather than left and right to avoid confusion. People riding cars, trains, and buses usually all face toward the front of the vehicle, so they all have the same “left” and “right.” However, a sailor on a boat can face in any direction, so “left” and “right” will mean something different, depending on where the sailor is. The left and right sides of the boat itself don’t change, though, so port and starboard will refer to the same direction, no matter which direction you’re facing on a boat. The nautical terms bow and fore (front) and stern and aft (back) are used for the same reasons. 

To keep port and starboard straight, remember that port has the same number of letters as left, so they mean the same thing.

A common myth says that the word posh originated as an acronym of “port out, starboard home,” referring to the traveling habits of the wealthy. As fun as that story is, the evidence doesn’t support it.

Scuttlebutt Sailing News

 

Scuttlebutt Sailing News Friday, December 19, 2025 - Issue 6493

Rockport Marine’s R-37 ‘Lobster Yacht.’ Photo: Pim Van Hemmen.

This newsletter is provided through the support of its sponsors, delivering a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk…with a North American focus. Today's sponsors: Quantum Sails - Rockport Marine   And to all a good night The 28th year of Scuttlebutt Sailing News is coming to a close, with this to be the final newsletter for 2025. The past couple months have been hectic as we line up advertising for next year, with only 13 newsletter ad slots remaining (click here if interested). Now our focus turns to holiday cheer, and we wish you all Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, with the newsletter to return on January 6, 2026. Crisis in American Youth Sports It was in the 1980s when youth sailing was modeled after other youth sports, and this paved the way for age-based boats and focused coaching. It also created a bubble of youth events which impacted the transition into adult sailing. The shift increased the focus on improvement while limiting exposure to other sailing opportunities, and for a lot of kids, they never found the fun in the sport. This was not a unique problem to sailing, and is the basis for why John O’Sullivan founded the Changing the Game Project. He wanted to put the ‘play’ back in ‘play ball’ and recently testified before the United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education. The hearing was titled “The Crisis in American Youth Sports and Its Cost to Our Future.” And that title says everything. This conversation was about burnout. Dropout. Rising costs. Pressure. And the millions of kids walking away from sports that were supposed to help them grow. John shared what has been seen for years through coaches, parents, and athletes across every level of sport. When competition outweighs connection, kids leave. When adults lose perspective, kids pay the price. Youth sports should be a place where children build confidence, character, and community. Instead, too many environments are pushing kids out before they ever get the chance to fall in love with the game. This update from Changing the Game Project was posted on Facebook which prompted significant commentary.

Losing interest in America’s Cup

 

Scuttlebutt Sailing Club, the official club of Scuttlebutt Sailing News, officially sanctioned by US Sailing since 2001, and officially available to all Scuttlebutt readers. SSC fulfills the racing rule which requires club membership. For details, click here. Losing interest in America’s Cup by Roger Marshall Interesting story on the America’s Cup, but I wonder who is deluding who (whom?). To quote, “it’s the last great sporting event that hasn’t been commercialized.” The America’s Cup was commercialized in the 1930’s when Sir Thomas Lipton (he of Lipton Tea), entered the fray. The America’s Cup used to be interesting in that hull shapes somewhat resembled the boats that everyday sailors sailed. Gear such as winch design, headstay foils, sail development directly trickled down to the guy who goes out for an afternoon sail. The America’s Cup was the World Series of day sailing. The Admiral’s Cup was the Superbowl of offshore sailing. The boats of the time were similar to boats the average sailor owned and could easily relate to. In those days, there were challenger trials and defender trials, all with a path to the finals. The buildup may have been slow, out of sight of most spectators, but it lasted all summer and crested in September. It was closely followed by sailors all over the world. I remember being called by a friend from Sweden during the Australia-Freedom series. He was in a restaurant and put me on speaker for all to hear. I heard the roar when I told him Australia was ahead. None of that would happen today. Today the America’s Cup caters to spectators by going around a short course that is, frankly, boring as all hell. As soon as one boat gets in front, it’s over. The boats have little trickle down for the average guy except for, maybe electronics. The America’s Cup sailors wear helmets, talk on radios, cycle or wind handlebars to charge the batteries. Where does that relate to today’s sailor? Do you put grandma on a bicycle to fuel your Sunday afternoon cruise? Do you ask your wife and kids to wear helmets and talk into microphones while eating Oreos? I can see the need for speed, after all, every America’s Cup sailor tries to make the boat go faster, be it a J Class, a 12-meter or any of the other AC boats, but frankly the spectacle has become very narrow and very boring with absolutely no buildup. Even SailGP does better, in that it has a series, a gradual build up, and a final event. But even that has become a highly specialized, made-for-TV event. That is why the America’s Cup is dying.

Italy SailGP Team restructures roster >> Scuttlebutt Sailing News: Providing sailing news for sailors

Italy SailGP Team restructures roster >> Scuttlebutt Sailing News: Providing sailing news for sailors



Italy SailGP Team restructures roster


Scuttlebutt Sailing News: Providing sailing news for sailors · 21 hours ago
by Assoc Editor · Feature


Red Bull Italy SailGP Team have confirmed a major restructuring of its roster for the 2026 season, unveiling Phil Robertson as the team’s new driver and welcoming Jana Germani as strategist. The move is part of a deliberate performance strategy designed to boost the Italian outfit’s chances of achieving their ultimate goal: to win the SailGP Championship.

New Zealander Robertson is among SailGP’s most experienced athletes, and returns to the driver’s seat having led the Chinese, Spanish and Canadian teams in Seasons 1, 2 & 3 and 4. Italy’s Germani joins SailGP off the back of a glittering career on the Olympic dinghy circuit, during which she won five national titles, three World and European medals and represented her country at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Both Robertson and Germani will join the team early, making their debuts at the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix 2025 Season Grand Final, presented by Abu Dhabi Sports Council. Their early integration is aimed at sharpening onboard communication and coordination before the 2026 Season begins in Perth in January.

Two-time Olympic champion Ruggero Tita will remain an essential part of the program as an alternate driver, while Maelle Frascari will also continue to be part of the Italian roster.

Red Bull Italy SailGP Team CEO Jimmy Spithill said: “Anytime you can add Olympic, SailGP and World Championship-level talent, it’s a great day for the team. Having both Jana and Phil join Ruggi and Maelle on our roster really puts the team in a strong position looking at the seasons ahead.”

The news comes after SailGP announced its new Athlete Transfer framework, designed to bring new clarity, structure and long-term stability to athlete movement.

Ainslie getting ready to show the money >> Scuttlebutt Sailing News: Providing sailing news for sailors

Ainslie getting ready to show the money >> Scuttlebutt Sailing News: Providing sailing news for sailors

Ainslie getting ready to show the money

Published on November 14th, 2025

Britain’s Ben Ainslie leads Athena Racing, representing Royal Yacht Squadron Racing Ltd as the America’s Cup Challenger of Record. This is Ainslie’s fourth effort as team leader, but after losing INEOS as sponsor after the 2024 edition, funding questions lingered for the 2027 campaign.

Ainslie hopes to provide the answers within weeks about who will bankroll his next America’s Cup team,

The most successful Olympic sailor lifted the “Auld Mug” in 2013 with Oracle Team USA, but has made it his goal to “bring the Cup home” to Britain, where it was first contested off the south coast in 1851.

“It’s coming very soon … within the next two to four weeks, we’ll have more to say on that,” Ainslie told Reuters. “Watch this space.”

Is the Olympic Sailing medal becoming just a participation trophy? – Matt Sheahan

Is the Olympic Sailing medal becoming just a participation trophy? – Matt Sheahan

Is the Olympic Sailing medal becoming just a participation trophy? – Matt Sheahan

Matthew Sheahan
November 14, 2025
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If a new Olympic Sailing format is needed, how do we make it fair? It surely can’t be TV that calls the shots

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What should an Olympic medal represent? Is it still sport’s ultimate accolade? Is it a demonstration that you’re the best in the world and have dedicated your entire life to proving it? Or is it more of a blue Peter badge, a confirmation that you took part in a piece of sporting media entertainment that you should be proud of?

As we head towards the next Olympic Games regatta in San Diego there are a growing number of sailors who are extremely worried that the medals in 2028 will represent more of a memento for turning up rather than a celebration of being the world’s best.

It’s no secret that Olympic Sailing has had the sword of Damocles hanging over it for decades. An expensive, complicated sport that still isn’t as inclusive as the modern age requires has been a hard sell for a long time.

For years the sport has resisted a class cull to rationalise the overall fleet and bring the numbers down to more economically viable proportions. You could argue that it should have led the way and merged the genders for all of the double-handers to keep classes and disciplines while reducing the head count. And though this has happened in the 470s and Nacra cats, the sport has introduced the equivalent of BMX bike and skateboard categories in the foilers, in the hope these more street-style classes will draw in a huge new audience.


Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing in Marseille, France on 1 August, 2024. Photo: World Sailing / Sander van der Borch

I have nothing against foiling boards or kite foils – they’re exciting – but these new classes have not brought spectators and supporters in the kind of numbers that will turn around the economic fortunes of Olympic Sailing. And neither will changing the medal racing format by reducing it to a single, short, winner-take-all final race between the top four.

Apparently, this is what could be on the cards for Los Angeles. I’m told there are plans to reduce the fleet racing stages beforehand to just three days with no reserve or lay days – which surely doesn’t help to even out the spikes in weather and fortune that often influence our sport. And all in the name of creating a greater sense of jeopardy to make our sport more exciting.

Really? More of a lottery by the sounds of it. Imagine if you turned up at your national championships where you’d worked hard at consistently delivering the points during the week only to be told that the points buffer you’d accumulated counted for nothing when it came to a shot at the trophy.

That’s effectively what happened to British iQFoil sailor Emma Wilson, who was 31 points ahead in the games last year. We know how that played out for her… a bronze.

In pursuit of the Jules Verne Trophy >> Scuttlebutt Sailing News: Providing sailing news for sailors

In pursuit of the Jules Verne Trophy >> Scuttlebutt Sailing News: Providing sailing news for sailors

In pursuit of the Jules Verne Trophy

Alexia Barrier and seven female crew of The Famous Project CIC began their pursuit of the Jules Verne Trophy at 13:40 UTC on November 29, sailing the 103-foot trimaran IDEC SPORT in hopes of claiming the prize for the fastest crewed, non-stop, unassisted circumnavigation of the globe.