wear

Wearing is a maneuver that rotates a sailing vessel 180 degrees by steering away from the wind and bringing the stern through the eye of the wind. The bow swings downwind while the stern swings upwind, the opposite sequence from tacking. The vessel ends on the opposite tack, but the arc of turn is much larger and less efficient than tacking; however, wearing avoids the violent swinging forces that tacking imposes on the rigging, masts, and hull.

The maneuver starts when the helmsman bears away, pointing the bow further downwind. Sails remain full throughout the turn because the vessel is moving away from rather than toward the wind. Once the stern passes through the wind direction, the crew shifts weight and adjusts the sails for the new tack. In square-rigged sailing ships, wearing was often preferred to tacking for this reason: on a square-rigged vessel, tacking requires bracing yards on both sides of the mast almost simultaneously, a labor-intensive and risky operation in heavy weather.

On small modern sailing yachts, wearing is rarely necessary because they tack easily and quickly. On large traditional square-rigged vessels, naval ships, and some commercial sailing craft, wearing remains tactically important when carrying heavy canvas, when the crew is small or fatigued, or when the vessel is moving slowly through large seas where loss of headway during a tack could create hazard. Wearing also provides a controlled alternative if tacking has failed or if rigging damage limits the vessel's ability to come about.

The main disadvantage of wearing is distance: the vessel travels a much longer route to change tacks because it must turn through roughly 270 degrees of heading change rather than the 180 degrees of tacking. In a narrow channel, against a strong current, or when racing, wearing is inefficient. The term itself appears in English nautical writing from at least the 17th century and derives from the idea of wearing the vessel around in a wide arc.