A New Pan Pan Vocabulary for a Leader’s Soul

My husband and I are bareboat sailors and have chartered vessels all over the world before owning our own beautiful catamaran, which we call Playologist. It’s been mostly fun and frolic, and my adventurous mate captains our boat almost single-handedly, as I chose years ago to take the less active approach. I specialize in other “Blue Mind” aspects of these soul-filling vacations: capturing the breathtaking scenery, working on my tan, reading books, and preparing deliciously easy meals. My favorite activity by far though is mixing our gin and tonics when we anchor for the day and reflect over our day’s sail as the sun sets. (Rest assured, I did learn sailing fundamentals and all the basics so I could be a seaworthy first mate if absolutely necessary!) Being a word person on land, one of the first things I had to learn as a sailing novitiate was the proper sailing vocabulary. Words you really only hear on a boat like aft, bow, port, starboard, boom, tacking, jibing — these are