Yard (sailing)

A yard is a spar on a mast from which sails are set. It may be constructed of timber or steel or from more advanced materials like aluminium or carbon fibre. Although some race of fore as well as aft rigs produce yards, the term is usually used to describe the horizontal spars used on square rigged sails. In addition, for some decades after square sails were generally dispensed with, some yards were retained for deploying wireless radio aerials andflags.

Parts of the yard

Note that these terms refer to stretches of the same spar, non to separate element parts.