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French Sailing & Water Sports Vocabulary

French Sailing & Water Sports Vocabulary

On this page you will find a complete list of sailing vocabulary words and terms as well as water sports words in French. With thousands of miles of beautiful coast line and scores of inland lakes and rivers, France is one of the most popular destinations worldwide for boating sports. Also, if you’ve entered a sailing competition and will be sailing to a French-speaking country then you should find these sailing words very useful.

Image: Man on sailboat
  • la voile sailing, sail
  • le mât mast
  • l’arrière stern
  • l’avant bow
  • la voile d’avant headsail
  • le pont de côté sidedeck
  • la coque hull
  • la bouée de sauvetage lifebuoy
  • la plance à voile windsurfing
  • la bride footstrap
  • le surf surfing
  • le motonautisme speed boating
  • le kayak kayak
  • le rameur rower
  • le vent wind
  • les rapides rapids
  • le skieur natique waterskier
  • chavirer to capsize
  • le yacht yacht
  • le gréement rigging
  • le compas compass
  • naviguer to navigate
  • le gilet de sauvetage life jacket
  • la fusée éclairante flare
  • le planchiste windsurfer
  • le ski nautique waterskiing
  • le jet-ski jet skiing
  • la pagaie paddle
  • la rame row
  • la vague wave
  • l’équipage team
  • l’écoute sheet
  • la dérive centerboard
  • la grand-voile mainsail
  • la bôme boom
  • l’ancre anchor
  • le taquet cleat
  • la barre tiller
  • le radeau de sauvetage life raft
  • les sports aquatiques watersports
  • la planche board
  • la planche surfboard
  • le rafting rafting
  • le canoë canoeing
  • ramer to row
  • le bateau à rame row boat
  • l’écume surf
  • le surfeur surfer
  • le gouvernail rudder

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David Issokson

David Issokson is a lifelong language enthusiast. His head is swimming with words and sounds as he speaks over six languages. Of all the languages he speaks, he's the most passionate about French! David has helped hundreds of students to improve their French in his private online lessons. When procrastinating working on his site, FrenchLearner.com, David enjoys his time skiing and hiking in Teton Valley, Idaho.

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