Left = port Right = starboard

In other words -- left is your left as you would be sitting in the boat, looking forward to the bow.

: Went up to Port Townsend the other day and paddled some of Pygmys boats and
: came home with a Osprey. Hot on building it now !! But when they say left
: side and right side do they mean looking at the boat or sitting in the
: boat?

Julie Kanarr... who is ambidextrous and normally writes left-handed, and who still remembers being confused for weeks as a first grader when the teacher described "right" as "the hand you write with." uhh.....