Bight (geography)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In geography, a bight (/baɪt/) is a concave bend or curvature in a coastline, river or other geographical feature,[1] or it may refer to a very open bay formed by such a feature.[2] Such bays are typically broad, open, shallow and only slightly recessed.[3]
The size of bights differs greatly, which may be as small as a bend in a river or large like a sound. Large bights are shallower than sounds.[citation needed] Traditionally, explorers defined a bight as a bay that could be sailed out of on a single tack in a square-rigged sailing vessel, regardless of the direction of the wind[citation needed] (typically meaning the apex of the bight is less than 25 degrees from the edges[citation needed]).
According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, an indentation with an area as large as (or larger than) that of the semi-circle whose diameter is a line drawn across the mouth of that indentation, can be regarded as a bay not merely a bight.[4]
