Boating and marine activities are a popular pastime for many people, offering a chance to explore the open waters, enjoy the great outdoors, and experience a sense of adventure and freedom. Whether you're a seasoned boater or a newcomer to the sport, boating and marine trivia questions are a great way to test your knowledge of this exciting world and to learn more about the boats, ships, and waterways that make up the world's oceans, lakes, and rivers.
This list of boating and marine trivia questions covers a wide range of topics and is designed to challenge your understanding of the boating and marine world. Some of the questions are straightforward and can be answered by simple recall, while others require a deeper understanding of the subject matter. Regardless of your level of expertise, this list of boating and marine trivia questions is sure to be both educational and entertaining.
Whether you're a boater, a marine enthusiast, or simply someone who loves the water, this list of boating and marine trivia questions is sure to provide you with hours of enjoyment and learning. So why not put your knowledge to the test and see how you fare? Let's explore the exciting world of boating and marine activities and see how much you really know!
91 Boating & Marine Trivia Questions Ranked From Easiest to Hardest (Updated for 2024)
- Don't get it twisted: What K-word measurement of boat speed is a measure of one nautical mile per hour?
Answer: Knot
- Which term that describes the turbulent water behind a boat and can also be part of an expression that means you’re in the tumultuous fallout of something?
Answer: Wake
- What term that might remind you of soccer shoes is also what you call the boat fitting that is used to securely keep a vessel docked? (Hint: They’re also called mooring clears)
Answer: Cleats
- What word is used to describe a floating container anchored to the sea bottom so that it remains in position? It is often used to mark channels that help keep boats safe.
Answer: Buoy
- The Japanese yachtsman Kenichi Horie was the first person to use solar power to cross what body of water in 1996?
Answer: Pacific Ocean
- What “D” word refers to the minimum depth of water a boat needs to float? The word can also be used to refer to the event when a pro sports league selects amateur players.
Answer: Draft
- Which speedy merchant ship shares its name with both a fruit and a brand of sunscreen (which would come in handy if you’re on one of the inflatable recreational boats of the same name)?
Answer: Banana Boat
- A ship that sailed perfect due west after leaving San Fransisco harbor would make landfall just south of the city of Sendai in which country?
Answer: Japan
- The Cleveland Guardians have a Triple-A minor league affiliate in Columbus with what nickname? A term for a speedy merchant sailing vessel, it’s also the nickname of a pro NBA franchise in Los Angeles, CA.
Answer: Clippers
- What “L” term describes a rope threaded through a pair of deadeyes, used to adjust the tension in the rigging of a sailing vessel? It can also be used to describe a cord worn around the neck with the ability to hold something in place, like a badge at a convention.
Answer: Lanyard
- Alee means away from the direction of which weather phenomenon that’s important for sailing?
Answer: Wind
- The term kayak comes from the word ‘qayaq’ meaning ‘small boat of skins’ from the language of the Eskimos of which extremely large island?
Answer: Greenland
- If you get on the Maid of the Mist boat tour at Observation Tower, you are in which U.S. State Park to look at its namesake natural spectacle?
Answer: Niagara Falls State Park
- Don't worry, it can't suck your blood! A line that runs under the back edge of a modern mainsail shares what name with a parasitic animal?
Answer: Leech
- These boats become more stable the further apart the twin hulls are. Derived from Tamil, what is the name of these vessels that are first known to have appeared in 1662?
Answer: Catamaran
- What’s the term for the person who sells (and often delivers) supplies, groceries, and parts to a ship at sea? (Hint: It's also the first name of a sarcastic “Friends” character, but he worked in advertising, not maritime merchantry).
Answer: Chandler
- The adage "A rising tide lifts all boats" is frequently attributed to what U.S. President, who did not coin the phrase, but did use it famously in a 1963 speech?
Answer: John F. Kennedy
- Pollywogs appear before King Neptune and his court to become shellbacks in a weird, unofficial U.S. Navy ceremony commemorating a sailor's first official crossing of what imaginary line?
Answer: Equator
- What “B” boating company, based out of Mettawa, Illinois, makes the Mercury boat engines? The name is the same as, but unrelated to, a Canadian province and a bowling company.
Answer: Brunswick
- Which type of wooden boat, a cultural symbol of the Indian region of Kashmir, has a name which is an anagram of the name of a Colombian singer born in 1977? (Hint: The location of the consonants is the same in both names.)
Answer: Shikara
- What “P” side of a boat refers to the left-hand area of that boat? It is a word that can also be to describe a city with a harbor.
Answer: port side
- Which term describes a “pleasure boat” with a flat bottom equipped with tubes that keep it afloat? (Hint: A catamaran is one example)
Answer: Pontoon
- What term is used for the pointed part of an anchor that is designed to catch in the seabed?
Answer: Fluke
- Which L-word is the legal term for stuff at the bottom of the ocean? Usually, it’s goods you tossed overboard with a buoy attached since you have the intent of retrieving them from the sea floor later.
Answer: Lagan
- If you don’t offload your cargo within the specified time limit you agreed to, what’s the D-word for the fee you’ll be charged by the shipping line?
Answer: Demurrage
- Which term refers to a small sailboat (usually 14ft to 25ft) that’s can be hard to tell from a keelboat, except that it’s mostly used for trips that last 48 hours or less?
Answer: Daysailer
- It sounds like rubbish, but it's not. The name of what Chinese sailing ship with fully battened sails comes from the Javanese word for "boat"?
Answer: Junk
- Which term that starts with "A" sounds like it would mean you’re over the deck, but actually means you’re on it?
Answer: Above
- What’s the B-word for a piece of standing rigging on a sailboat that sort of functions like the gas pedal?
Answer: Backstay
- A bombara is a potentially precarious patch of water over which type of calcium-carbonate-containing undersea ecosystem?
Answer: Reef
- With four gold medals and one silver, Ben Ainslie is the most successful Olympic sailor in history. Which northern hemisphere country is he from?
Answer: The United Kingdom
- When navigating upstream/towards shore, what two types of buoys—one conical/semi-conical and always red, and the other cylindrical and always green—mark the starboard and port sides of a channel, respectively?
Answer: Nun, Can
- Breaking a winning streak of 132 years by the New York Yacht Club, a boat from which country (which also the country’s name in the boat name) beat the boat ‘Liberty’ in the 1983 America’s Cup?
Answer: Australia
- Although triumphant in the battle, on which ship was English war hero Horatio Nelson mortally wounded in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805?
Answer: HMS Victory
- The ratline hitch, or builder's knot, is a knot made using two successive single hitches that is classically used for tying fenders onto boats. By what spicy name is the ratline hitch more commonly called?
Answer: The clove hitch
- What was the name of the U.S. presidential yacht which was commissioned by Herbert Hoover until it was sold by Jimmy Carter?
Answer: Sequoia
- The oldest international competition in any sport is a series of races between sailboats. The competition is named for its trophy, which in turn is named for the first winner. What is the name of the competition?
Answer: America's Cup
- What is a navigator who guides a ship over dangerous sandbars at the mouths of rivers and bays called? We're talking boats here, not planes.
Answer: Bar pilot
- Riders occasionally hang onto the swim platform at the back of a boat while the boat is moving forward. Often, swimmers will let go of the platform and body surf on the boat's wake. What is this called? (By the way, though not illegal in some states, the U.S. Coast Guard views it as extremely dangerous due to the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning and possible loss of consciousness leading to death.)
Answer: Teak surfing
- You can see it in movies and on television. Every time a ship is looking for submarines or buried treasure, they use sonar. What does "sonar" actually stand for, though?
Answer: Sound navigation and ranging
- What term describes the basement-like part of a boat’s hull that would be on the ground if it was out of the water?
Answer: Blige
- What do you call the place on the sea floor where a ship's anchor lies? Various types of anchors were designed for different types of sea floor.
Answer: Holding ground
- With regard to German U-boats in multiple global conflicts, what does the ‘U’ stand for? Either German or English words accepted.
Answer: Untersee or Undersea
- The Canadian Navy has the letters HMCS at the beginning of each of their ships. What does this currently stand for?
Answer: His Majesty’s Canadian Ship
- A Scandinavian word for "beard" gives us the name of what rudder-like lowest point on an outboard motor?
Answer: Skeg
- When Australia II won the America’s Cup in 1983 (breaking the New York Yacht Club 132-year winning streak) the winning yacht club was based in which Australian city?
Answer: Perth or Fremantle
- Ready to enter service in early 2024 for Royal Caribbean Cruises, what is the name of the worlds largest cruise ship that will take the mantle over from the Wonder of the Seas, also by Royal Caribbean?
Answer: Icon of the Seas
- Often used before the names of British Royal Navy ships according to Collins Dictionary, HMS is short for what three-word phrase that vaguely references a prominent female royal figure?
Answer: Her Majesty's Ship
- Mongolia, Rangoon, General Grant, and Henrietta were some of the steamers used in what 1873 Jules Verne novel depicting Phileas Fogg circumnavigating the Earth?
Answer: Around The World in Eighty Days
- Under the 1982 United Nations Law of the Sea Convention, how far out from the shore do a nation's territorial waters stretch, where the country has full jurisdiction over vessels?
Answer: 12 Nautical Miles
- What is the term for a two-masted sailing vessel with a mizzen mast slightly smaller than the main and stepped forward of the rudder stock or post?
Answer: Ketch
- NASBLA is a national nonprofit that works on public policies around recreational boating. "NAS" stands for "National Association of State" ... but what does "BLA" stand for?
Answer: Boating Law Administrators
- What four-letter “C” verb means to lay down a line in a circular manner, and is also a noun describing a spiral sequence of rings?
Answer: Coil
- Starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn and based on C. S. Forester’s 1935 novel, what continentally named 1951 film shares its name with the steamboat that gets siblings Rose and Samuel Sayer and mechanic Charlie Allnut into a perilous adventure?
Answer: “The African Queen”
- Although New Zealand are the holders, the 2024 Americas Cup match will be held in which European city?
Answer: Barcelona
- Killing what type of bird, some species of which have wingspans over 10 feet wide, is very bad luck in maritime tradition, as they are said to carry the souls of dead sailors?
Answer: Albatross
- If you’re moving aft, which part of the boat are you headed for? (Hint: It’s the boating term that means “back”)
Answer: Stern
- Who was the captain of Patrol Boat PT-109 who famously swam miles for help when their boat was sank by Japanese boats on August 2, 1943? This man went on to become an iconic figure in U.S. history two decades later.
Answer: John F. Kennedy
- Commonly used in older ships before being superseded by modern technology, what is usually kept in a ship’s binnacle?
Answer: Compass
- What “F” term refers to any navigable channel for a boat to travel in? It is a term also used in golf to refer to a more navigable part of a course between the rough.
Answer: Fairway
- What four-word idiom for preparing to deal with a crisis comes from the nautical meaning of using long, thin strips of wood or metal to secure a ship's tarpaulins?
Answer: Batten down the hatches
- What was the name of the captain of "The Love Boat" in the TV series of the same name?
Answer: Merrill Stubing
- What “C” term refers to international rules designed to prevent boats from hitting each other while out to sea? It is a one-word combination a word for an impact and a word for those rules.
Answer: Colregs
- To demonstrate that ancient people of the area could have made long sea voyages using the materials and technologies they had before European contact, Thor Heyerdahl led The Kon-Tiki Expedition on an 8,000km journey across which ocean?
Answer: The Pacific Ocean
- The fictional character James Bond holds what rank in the Royal Navy that is immediately junior to captain?
Answer: Commander
- Not just a term for train cars, which word can also refer to a ship’s galley/kitchen?
Answer: Caboose
- Now a tourist attraction in Edinburgh, Scotland, what was the name of Queen Elizabeth II’s royal yacht that was decommissioned in 1997?
Answer: Britannia
- In 1972, which cruise line’s first ship (Mardi Gras) wasn’t clowning around when it tried to set sail from Miami on its maiden voyage—and immediately ran aground?
Answer: Carnival
- Off the coast of which country would you find the wreck of the USS Arizona, which was sunk during the Second World War?
Answer: United States
- What “Ab” term refers to a position out the side of a boat on either side? If split into two words, it could mean a particular long sturdy piece of lumber used to support the roof.
Answer: Abeam
- Designed for coastal warfare, Lockheed's LCS is a Combat Ship whose "L" stands for what word that roughly means "a shoreline area"?
Answer: Littoral
- Who was famously seen for the first time ever as a sailor on a steamboat on November 18, 1928?
Answer: Mickey Mouse
- Formerly a British Minesweeper, what was the name of the boat which became Jacques Cousteau’s long-term research vessel?
Answer: Calypso
- In 1899, the first ship-to-shore radio transmission was sent from a lightship to a coastal receiving station located at the Cliff House in what city on the West Coast of the U.S.? The message was "Sherman is sighted," about the return of a troopship from the Spanish-American War.
Answer: San Francisco
- As opposed to the “true wind” that is the actual wind speed, which “obvious” term applies to the wind you can feel when you’re on a boat?
Answer: Apparent
- In 1983, for the first time in its history, the America's Cup was won by a boat that was not representing the U.S. From what country did the winning boat hail?
Answer: Australia
- The 1975 sinking of what freighter in Lake Superior inspired a #2 single by Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot the following year?
Answer: Edmund Fitzgerald
- Dockyard analogy: Working on the dock is to longshoreman, as schlepping stuff around the ships is to what nine-letter S-word profession?
Answer: Stevedore
- One knot is equal to one nautical mile per hour. Rounded to the nearest tenth of a kilometer, one knot equals how many kilometers per hour?
Answer: 1.9
- In 2021, Team New Zealand won the Americas Cup for the fourth time, defeating a boat from which European country?
Answer: Italy
- Which French city on the country’s south coast will host the sailing events at the 2024 Olympics?
Answer: Marseille
- The International maritime signal flags are a way of communicating between ships. The flag representing "my vessel is healthy" (as well as representing the letter "Q") is simply a square of what color?
Answer: Yellow
- Australia II won the 1983 America’s Cup, thanks in no large part to specially designed “wings” that were added to which part of the boat?
Answer: Keel
- The largest warship ever constructed is named after which former U.S. president, the last one to not serve a full term?
Answer: Gerald Ford
- Which nautical term is used when a boat has to slow down, speed up, or go in a different direction to avoid colliding with another boat?
Answer: Give-way
- What was the name of 74 foot ketch bought by Hollywood actor Errol Flynn in 1937? It is synonymous with his adventures and shares a name with a desert wind.
Answer: Sirocco
- What two-word phrase refers to the last part of a boat’s rope or chain, also used to metaphorically refer to doing something unpleasant until it is completely finished?
Answer: Bitter End
- We heard a rumor that a bunch of catty sailors chatting around a water cask spawned what 11-letter nautical term for "gossip"?
Answer: Scuttlebutt
- Which boat featured on the Canadian 10-cent coin is characterized by having at least two masts, with the front mast lower than the mainmast? The 1910 Westward yacht was one of these.
Answer: Schooner
- You might think that someone got drunk and misspelled the oldest brewery in the U.S., but which keelboat design, a recognized class in World Sailing and a former Olympic class, is in fact named for the Norwegian word for "youngster"?
Answer: Yngling
- What five-letter "B" word can mean either an open bay on a coast into which a boat might travel, or a loop of rope used in that boat's nautical riggings?
Answer: Bight
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About the Author
Eli Robinson is the Chief Trivia Officer at Water Cooler Trivia. He was once in a Bruce Springsteen cover band called F Street Band.
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