Knots - no more complicated than just a simple twist of a shoelace, right? Boy, I did not realise just how wrong I was. There seems to be a different knot for everything in sailing, all with strange sounding names and instructions seemingly written in hieroglyphics.
Fortunately, thanks to my lovely crewmate Laura Shellcock, I have been saved from attempting to tie bowlines, reefs, double sheets and more using scraps of wool (that idea was doomed from the start really wasn't it). After receiving some spare off-cuts of rope in the post to practice with, I just spent a fantastic hour or so mastering a few of the many knots I'll need out on the Clipper yachts.
I'm seriously proud of my bowlines - that is one complicated knot to get your head around for a beginner! It may even have just become my party trick to impress my non-sailing friends.
Next up - admiralty knots, round turn and two half hitches and rolling hitches. These all look more complicated than the bowline, so I expect to spend quite a long while getting tangled up before I get eventually them right! Any tips much appreciated...
 |
| Bowlines |
 |
| Bowline |
 |
| Clove hitch |
 |
| Double sheet |
 |
| Single sheet |
 |
| Figure of eights |
 |
| Reef |
No comments:
Post a Comment