A bight is a concave bend or curve in a coastline, river or other geographic feature, or the very open, broad bay formed by such a curve; it is typically shallow and only slightly recessed compared to other coastal indentations. Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, an indentation counts as a bay rather than a bight once its area is as large as, or larger than, the area of a semicircle drawn across the mouth of the indentation. Sailors once used a simpler rule of thumb, treating an indentation as a bight if a square-rigged ship could sail out of it on a single tack no matter the wind direction, which generally meant the opening's angle was less than 25 degrees; a bight, in short, is the shallower, more open cousin of a bay.
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.