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Foundations

Inclusive writing

Words that work for every person aboard, in every language bosun speaks, on screen and out loud.

On this page
WARNINGWind above 20 kn · reef to keep heel under control · since 20:47 UTCACK
VOICE“Wind is above twenty knots. Reef now to keep the heel under control.”
The same sentence is read on a screen, heard through a cockpit speaker, and translated into six languages. It has to work in all of them.

Everyone aboard reads or hears bosun: an owner who knows every system, a guest on their first passage, a crew member who reads Dutch better than English, someone at the helm who cannot look at a screen. Inclusive writing is how one sentence reaches all of them.

01Plain and literalSay exactly what happened and what to do. Plain words translate cleanly and survive text-to-speech.
02People, not assumptionsDescribe people by their role aboard and as they describe themselves. Never assume how someone reads, hears or moves.
03Standard where it saves livesDistress and safety phrases are internationally standardized. They are used exactly as written, in every language.

Make content easy to understand

Use plain language. Short sentences with a subject and an active verb translate into all six Tier-1 languages without changing meaning, and they stay clear when spoken. Idioms and metaphors do not: they lose their meaning in translation and confuse anyone who learned the language as an adult.

Do
Wind is above 20 kn. Reef now to keep heel under control.
State the condition and the action. It translates directly and reads well aloud.
Don't
It's blowing a hooley out there — time to shorten sail!
Don't use idioms. “Blowing a hooley” has no translation, and the joke hides the instruction.

Don't make assumptions about abilities

Never call a task easy or quick; it is neither for everyone. Prefer verbs that describe the outcome over verbs that describe how a person interacts. "Open the chart" works for a tap, a click, a keyboard and a voice command; "click the chart" works for one of them.

Do
Set up anchor watch in three steps.
Describe the outcome. The sentence works for touch, keyboard and voice.
Don't
Just tap the anchor — it's super easy!
Don't promise ease or prescribe a gesture. Both exclude someone.

Describe people by their role aboard

People aboard are described by the role they hold: skipper, mate, crew, guest, owner. These are the roles the crew list uses, and they carry no assumption about gender, age or ability. When a pronoun is needed and the person's pronouns are not known, use they.

Instead ofWriteWhy
crewman, seaman, deckhandcrew memberA role, not a gender
man the helmtake the helmLiteral, and not gendered
manned / unmanned watchwatch kept / no watch keptSays what matters: whether someone is on watch
ask the skipper to approve it on his phoneask the skipper to approve itThe device and the pronoun add nothing
she (for the vessel)the vessel, or its nameClear to every reader and every translation
Do
Ask the skipper to approve the passage plan. They can do it from the crew page.
Name the role and use they when the person's pronouns are not known.
Don't
Ask the skipper to approve the passage plan on his phone.
Don't assume a gender from a role.

Keep standard phrases standard

Safety communication at sea uses phrases that every mariner in the world is trained to recognize. They are never paraphrased, softened or translated into a local equivalent:

  • Distress, urgency and safety calls: MAYDAY, PAN-PAN, SÉCURITÉ.
  • Alarm labels: MOB and Man overboard for the person-overboard alarm, the standard phrase, as the instruments, the NMEA 2000 network and the alarm's title name it.
  • Readouts and units: standard abbreviations: kn, m, NM, COG, SOG, TWD.

In explanatory prose and onboarding, write person overboard. On the alarm itself and in the distress procedure, keep the standard label.

Do
ALARMMan overboard · position marked · since 21:04 UTCACK
Keep the standard alarm label and say plainly what happened and what was done.
Don't
Calling for help: we are in serious trouble!
Don't rewrite a distress phrase. A softened or translated MAYDAY may not be recognized by the station that hears it.

Some everyday words are fine when they are accurate. See, view and watch describe getting information, and people who use a screen reader also say they read or view a page. Use them when they are the accurate word.

For features, prefer what the setting does to enabled and disabled: anchor watch is on or off, a data source is available or unavailable.

Do
Anchor watch is off. Set the anchor to start it.
Say what the setting does.
Don't
Anchor watch is disabled.
Don't use “disabled” for a feature that is simply turned off.

Every control and every count says what it is, whether it is read, heard or announced by a screen reader:

  • Icon-only controls carry a text label. Every icon in the sidebar rail has a tooltip and a screen-reader label.
  • Counts are announced with their meaning. The sidebar reads "3 unacknowledged alerts" and "2 people aboard", never a bare number.
  • Severity always has a word. The shape and the label (ALARM, WARNING, CAUTION) carry it without color.
  • Charts have a sentence. A chart has a one-line summary that a screen reader and the voice can speak: "Depth rose 0.3 m in the last 10 minutes."
Instead ofWriteWhy
Click hereOpen anchor watchThe link says where it goes
Step 1Set the anchor (step 1 of 3)Says what the step is and how many follow
▲ 3▲ 3 warningsA number alone has no meaning when heard
Do
3 warningsOpen anchor watch
Labels that say what they open, and counts that say what they count.
Don't
3Click here
Don't make the reader guess from position or color.

Ask for information thoughtfully

The crew and vessel forms collect only what bosun uses:

  • One "Full name" field. No separate first name, last name or salutation; names do not follow one pattern.
  • No gender field. Nothing aboard depends on it.
  • Optional by default. Medical notes and emergency contacts are optional, and the form says why they help.
  • No default answer that marks one group as normal.