Page 12 - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

Forewords

LARRY PARDEY 5 ⁄16-inch swage in addition to the cost of the wire.
Readers of this book who have nimble fingers and
first met Brion Toss at the Port Townsend Wooden slim pocketbooks will find they can outfit an efficient
I Boat Festival in 1979, where he and Nick Benton sailboat at a savings of several thousand dollars.
were giving a hands-on lesson in Liverpool splicing Beyond recording what the old-timers have
to a large group of enthusiastic sailors. As I watched taught him, Brion Toss keeps looking for new meth-
them I could see the joy they derived from passing ods and materials that will combine the best of the
on the information and skills they’d learned from old with the practicalities of the new. He has tested
other, older riggers. And so goes the haphazard way the strengths of different wire splices and swages
of passing down practical skills, which is why these and used this information to develop a smooth-
skills are so often lost unless some dedicated person entry Liverpool splice that averages 99 percent of the
will take the time and effort to commit his inherited manufacturers’ rated wire strength, a vast improve-
knowledge to paper. When I learned that Brion was ment over the 85 percent figure we used to use for
going to do just that I became impatient. His writ- hand-spliced eyes. When I heard about this fair-
ing has always been scientific but humorous, the entry, high-strength splice, I had to learn how to do
accompanying illustrations clear and concise. So I it before I made up the standing rigging for our new
knew his book would allow many sailors, including cruising boat, Taleisin. Fortunately, Brion published
myself, the creative satisfaction of making gear such that section of this new book in SAIL magazine just
as a new headstay, lazyjacks, or a jibnet from wire, when I needed it most.
rope, and a few thimbles. This handmade gear is a Now, as I read the final manuscript for this book,
joy to the sailor’s eye—strong, simple, and best of I feel confident that most of the practical riggers’
all, repairable—right on the deck of a sailing vessel. tricks will remain available to exercise and delight
This means no traveling to find a hydraulic swag- the fingers and eyes of the next generation of sailors.
ing machine operator, no running around hoping
to find the perfect end fitting for the millimeter wire September 1984
you bought in Tahiti when you have sailed to an-
other country that uses fittings measured in inches.
Even more interesting to most of us is that if you PETER H. SPECTRE
rig your own boat you will save cruising funds. The
cost of the wire and thimbles used for the standing first met Brion Toss a dozen or so years ago. He
rigging on our 30-foot, 17,500-pound cutter was I was demonstrating traditional rigging techniques
only $350. If I hadn’t spliced this wire myself I’d at a wooden boat revivalist encampment down by
have had to pay an average of $21 to $25 for each the shores of Lake Union in Seattle, Washington.

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