Yarda (navegación)

Una verga es un palo en un mástil del que se izan las velas . Puede estar construida de madera o acero, o de materiales más modernos como aluminio o fibra de carbono . Aunque algunos tipos de aparejos de proa y popa tienen vergas, el término se usa generalmente para describir los palos horizontales que se usan en las velas cuadradas . ^{[ 1 ]} Además, durante algunas décadas después de que las velas cuadradas se abandonaran en general, algunas vergas se conservaron para desplegar antenas inalámbricas (de radio) y banderas de señales.

Tizón

El tramo corto de la verga que se encuentra entre las eslingas que la sujetan al mástil.

Cuarteles

Las secciones de babor y estribor forman la mayor parte del astillero, extendiéndose desde las eslingas hasta los herrajes para los izajes y los puntales .

Yardas

Los extremos más externos del astillero: hacia afuera de los accesorios para los elevadores. ^{[ 1 ]}

Tenga en cuenta que estos términos se refieren a tramos de la misma viga, no a componentes separados.

The yard can rotate around the mast to allow the direction of the vessel to be changed relative to the wind. When running directly downwind the yards are 'squared' (pointing perpendicular to the ship's centre line and to the mast). As the ship is steered closer to the wind the yards are braced round using the braces. When further rotation is obstructed by other bits of rigging (typically the shrouds), the yard is said to be braced "hard round" or "sharp up", as in "sharp up to port". This angle (normally about 60 degrees) limits how close to the wind a square rigged ship can sail.

The yards represent a considerable weight high above the vessel's centre of gravity; to increase stability, especially in heavy weather, some means is normally provided to lower some of the yards when they are not being used to set sails. In nineteenth-century warships (where a large crew was available) this was generally by physically "sending down" the upper yards from the masts and storing them on deck—along with, in many cases, the upper sections of the mast itself. Merchant ships in the age of sail would also do this before sailing in the Southern Ocean. On modern tall ships the yards are not designed to be sent down on deck, but 'lifting yards' that can be raised and lowered along a short section of mast using a halyard are often used.

In order to set and stow the square sails, the crew must climb aloft and spread out along the yards. To do this, they stand in footropes suspended beneath the yard and balance themselves between that and the yard itself. The person working on the end of the yardarm has a separate footrope known as the flemish horse. Jackstays run along the top of the yard. The sail will be bent on to one of them, but a second one is often provided (particularly on larger yards) for the crew to hold on to. These are usually steel rods, but stiff cordage stretched between the yardarms was used in the past.

Almost all ships used in modern times are fitted with steel safety wires (sometimes erroneously called jackstays) along the yards to which sailors attach themselves using a harness. This is a relatively recent innovation. Cargo-carrying and naval sailing ships were not so equipped and falling from the yard represented a real risk.

The yard exists to allow square sails to be set to drive the ship. The top edge of the sail is 'bent on' (attached) to the yard semi-permanently. Clewlines and buntlines are led along the yard and from there to the mast and down to the deck. These allow the bottom of the sail to be hoisted up to the yard, so the sail is effectively folded in two. In this state the sail is said to be "in its gear", that is ready for setting or stowing. To set the sail the clewlines and buntlines are let go, and the sheets (attached to the bottom corners, or clews, of the sail) are adjusted to shape the sail to best catch the wind. A device called a "tye", a "tye chain", or a "tye rope" is used for lifting a given yard to the top of its travel to set the sail.

To stop using (i.e., to "hand") the sail, the sheets are released and the clewlines and buntlines are pulled tight. The sail folds in half—back in its gear—and so no longer catches the wind. Unless the sail is to be used again very soon, the next step is to "stow" it. To do this, the crew must go out along the yard in order to bundle the sail up tightly and tie it down with gaskets.

When coming into port, especially during the Tall Ships' Races many modern square riggers will 'man the yards'. All the crew not required on deck to handle the ship will go aloft and spread out along the yards. This manoeuvre was originally used to display the whole crew to the harbour authorities and the other ships present, to show that the ship's guns were not manned and hence her intentions were peaceful.

Some fore-and-aft rigs are set from a yard. Lateen rig is a triangular fore and aft sail which uses a long yard mounted at an angle (downward sloping forward) from the mast. The lug sail – a four-sided fore-and-aft sail, was probably developed from square-rig. Gunter rig is a development from lug, though in this case, the yard adopts a nearly vertical position. The terminology of gunter rig is less fixed, with the yard sometimes being referred to as a gaff.^{[2]:168[3]:38}

The phrase "sun over the yardarm" is used, both afloat and ashore, to indicate that the time of day has been reached at which it is acceptable, variously, to have lunch or (more commonly) an alcoholic beverage. In modern parlance, the latter usage typically refers to early evening, but the phrase is thought originally to have referred to late morning and to the sun's ascent past a particular yard.

The actual time that the sun would pass a particular yard would depend greatly on the ship's latitude and heading, as well as the height of her masts, but the phrase seems to have originated in the north Atlantic, where, in summer, this would have typically been at about 11 a.m. This was the time at which, by custom and rule, the first rum "tot" of the day was issued to men (the senior rates had their tots neat, while the junior rates had theirs diluted with water), hence its connection with taking one's first alcoholic drink of the day.

The earliest mention of this phrase collected by the OED is in Rudyard Kipling's From Sea to Sea in 1899, where it is used as a metaphor referring to drinking habits. However, the phrase was in use earlier, in the same context. One example is from the first volume of Life, from the issue of May 31, 1883.^[4]

The yardarm has found use in maritime punishment. In the Royal Navy, offences such as murder, mutiny, desertion or striking an officer carried the death penalty, which at sea would usually be carried out by hanging from the yardarm itself. Instead of the usually quick death a hanging ashore ensured, the condemned man would have the noose placed around his neck, before the end of the rope was passed over the yardarm. A group of sailors would then pull him into the air where he would remain for at least half an hour. The last man hanged in this manner in the Royal Navy was Private John Dalliger in 1860, after stealing brandy and shooting two officers aboard HMS Leven.^[5]

Another less common punishment, notably practised upon mutineers from the Dutch East India Company ship Batavia as well as captured pirates, was to be dropped or ducked from the yardarm. This entailed the accused having a rope fixed to the yardarm and tied under their arms, before being dropped into the sea. They would then be hauled back onto the ship, where the punishment could be repeated up to three times. In more severe cases, the offender would then be keelhauled.^[6][7][8]

• Full-rigged ship
• Glossary of nautical terms (A–L)
• Glossary of nautical terms (M–Z)
• Lateen
• Square rig
• Squaring a yard
• Lugger

• Anónimo BR 67(1/51), Manual de navegación Volumen I (1951) HMSO
• M. Quinion (2000), "World Wide Words" , consultado el 3 de mayo de 2006.