Sailing

The left side of a ship or any floating vessel is called the portside, and the right is called starboardside.

When facing forward (that is in the direction the ship normally moves) on a ship (towards the bow, or pointy end); the left side of the ship is referred to as port. The right side is called starboard. The back of the ship is called the stern.

When facing the front of the ship, toward the bow, the left side is Port and the right side is Starboard.

Port is Left was the sign prominently placed on the Captain's cabin desk, as well as at the helm, for landlubbers that were working hard to be real sailors.

The closest point of sailing is a "Close reach".

Having to sail a sailing vessel into the wind to reach your desired destination requires different skills to what you would use when sailing with the wind: you have to learn how to tack.

Tacking is a skill which has to be learned because, if done carelessly, your boat could easily be capsized if a sudden surge of wind catches the sail and drives it in the wrong direction.

Most sailors learn about tacking the hard way by finding out for themselves what happens if they sail too close to the wind... Fine judgment of how close to the wind it is safe to sail is soon developed after you have been thrown into the water - and then have to bail out your sailing boat - a couple of times!

So the expression sailing close to the wind is often used as a metaphor for taking a risk or testing the limitsof whatever it is that you are doing. For example, someone who regularly drinks too much alcohol and then drives a car immediately afterwards can be said to be sailing close to the wind. But if that person drinks even more than the usual amount one time - thus greatly increasing the risk of causing a car accident - then that behavior can be said to be sailing closer to the wind. And, if an accident then actually happens, that person can be said to have been sailing too close to the wind!

People can get lost at sea if:

• their small boat cannot handle big waves
• their boat gets a leak in it
• their boat breaks down mechanically
• their boat hits a reef
• ocean floating garbage, especially plastics or fish netting, fouls the propeller
• a fisherman on board fouls the propeller
• a rouge wave overturns the boat
• a huge storm overturns the boat
• a whale jumps out of the water in an act called breaching so they can see above the water, and lands accidentally on the boat (recently happened to a yacht)
• the crew got lost, couldn't read charts
• another bigger ship runs into a smaller boat and either doesn't notice or flees the scene
• the captain forces passengers overboard
• the passengers fall overboard
• they might have dropped their compass in the ocean

and so, there is noway to get back to the dock.

The expression sailing close to the wind is often used as a metaphor for taking a risk or testing the limits of whatever it is that you are doing.

For example, someone who regularly drinks too much alcohol and then drives a car immediately afterwards can be said to be sailing close to the wind.

But if that person drinks even more than the usual amount one time - thus greatly increasing the risk of causing a car accident - then that behavior can be said to be sailing closer to the wind.

And, if an accident then actually happens, that person can be said to have been sailing too close to the wind!
A sailing boat cannot sail directly into the wind, the more nearly it can get to this is its closest point of sailing. Hence closer to the wind

The aft part of a ship is the stern. Remember, the bow is the pointy end and the stern is the flat end (usually).
The rear is the stern. To go towards the rear is to go aft. The bulkhead furthest aft is called the transom (very important to have because of all the water on the other side of it). If something lies further aft than another thing it is abaft that other thing. If you are abaft the stern, you are astern or wet.
The rear part of a ship is called the stern.

The actual flat part (if there is one) is called a transom. Canoes and kayaks don't have one, row boats generally do.

The rear direction is called aft.

To steer the ship to aft (turn 180º) is called full about.

If you are moving from the bow to the stern, you are moving abaft.
"The Stern" is the rear portion of a ship.

Other terms include, but ARE NOT LIMITED to, abaft and astern.
If you're talking about the rear in terms or area or direction, then it's "aft." If you're talking about the structural rear, then maybe the term you're looking for is either "stern" or "transom." More generally the stern is the area, and aft is it's direction. For instance if you were at the front of the ship (the bow) you could walk aft to the stern.
The STERN or FANTAIL. On the old wooden ships like the early settlers rode over it was often called the "poop deck" for a very obvious reason. The front of the ship is called the Bow. Pronounced like ow I hurt my hand.
The stern is the rear or aft part of a ship .

The ship that has the other ship on its starboard side needs to steer clear, while the other ship should maintain course and speed.

The ship that needs to steer clear should if possible make a maneuver so big that the other ship has no doubt that a maneuver has been executed...

ETA:

Rules of the Road

International

Steering and Sailing Rules

Rule 15

Crossing situation

When two power driven vessels are crossing so as to involve the risk of collision, the vessel which has the other on her own starboard side shall keep out of the way and shall, if the circumstances of the case admit, avoid crossing ahead of the other vessel.

Inland

(a) When two power driven vessels are crossing so as to involve the risk of collision, the vessel which has the other on her own starboard side shall keep out of the way and shall, if the circumstances of the case admit, avoid crossing ahead of the other vessel.

(b) Nothwithstanding paragraph (a), on the Great Lakes, Western Rivers, or water specified by the Secretary, and proceeding downbound with a following current shall have the right-of-way over an upbound vessel, shall propose the manner of passage, and shall initiate the maneuvering signals prescribed by rule 34 (a) (i), as appropriate.