A brace on a square-rigged ship is a rope (line) used to rotate a yard around the mast, to allow the ship to sail at different angles to the wind. Braces are always used in pairs, one at each end of a yard (yardarm), termed port brace and starboard brace of a given yard or sail (e.g., the starboard main-brace is the brace fixed to the right end of the yard of the main sail). * Starboard fore mast yard brace pulley blocks and brackets beside main mast shroud * Brace ropes, blocks and attachments on James Craig (barque) * Main sail brace(starboard) block, shown toward top of photo