Underway

Have you ever heard someone say, "lets get this program underway" or "the construction is underway?" Landlubbers and mariners alike use the term "underway." But, what does the word "underway" really mean?

According to the Encyclopedia of Nautical Knowledge, "a vessel is said to be underway when not at anchor, or aground or made fast to the shore." However, that's not how the term is used ashore. When we say that something is underway, we usually mean that is "in motion" or "making progress." Webster also defines the word "underway" as "not anchored or moored or aground."

Webster and the Encyclopedia of Nautical Knowledge seem to agree, even though there is a conflict in usage by the mariner and the landlubber. It probably surprises many of you to hear that getting "underway" does not mean you are moving ahead, making progress, or otherwise "moving" in some direction.

When you are adrift, you are underway; that is, your vessel is not tied to the dock, anchored or aground. When you are underway, you are said to be "proceeding from one place "toward" another, whether actually in motion through the water or not." The key phrase is "motion through the water."

With respect to a vessel, the word "way" means" motion through the water." "Headway" is forward motion. "Sternway" is motion astern. The term "gathering way" is used to indicate that your vessel is beginning to move or the speed of your vessel is increasing. You are "losing way" if your speed is decreasing.

The Navigation Rules make the distinction between "making way" and "not making way" in determining when commercial vessels will display certain lights. In that context, the term "making way" means that the vessel is "progressing through the water." Progressing through the water means using your mechanical or wind power to move "relative to the water" as opposed to "with the water."

When you are adrift in a one-knot current, you may be moving over the bottom at a rate of one knot, but you are not "making way." Unless you are progressing "through" the water, you are "underway" but not "making way."

When you are "underway," you might be moving through the water or you might not. As soon as you use a sail or an engine to propel your vessel "through the water," your vessel is "underway making way." That's right, you can be "underway not making way" or "underway making way."

So, what does all this mean? In the case of navigation lights (sidelights, stern light and masthead light), you turn them on at night when you are "underway." Those lights are turned off when you are docked, anchored or aground since you are not underway at those times. When anchored, we display an anchor light. At the dock we display no navigation or anchor lights.

How about a trivia question? When can you be "making way" when you are "not underway?" Do you give up? The answer is when you are anchored and moving up on your anchor in preparation to weigh the anchor. Technically, you are not underway until the anchor is off the bottom, but you are "progressing through the water" as you move up on it!

Until next time, I wish you clear skies, fair winds, and calm seas!