Page 389 - Lindsey Philpott "The Ultimate Book of Decorative Knots"

projects 383

The finished decoration is made and motoring to a consistent speed and then
with cotton cord in white here, disengaging the propeller, while keeping the vessel
and we also used red and on a straight track by compass and by eye. Having
green to add to the
Winter Solstice thus marked the centre, the vessel was then taken
feel. back to the dock and the centre knot, a five-lead,
four-bight Turk’s Head, quintupled, was tied in
place. The length of line was determined first by
calculating the length of the knot thus:

length of cord = number of leads x
circumference x number of passes x
1.2.

The number 1.2 has been derived by the
author after years of getting the length
(irritatingly) too short or too long. You must
be the judge of how much line you need – this
Yacht Wheel Marker works for me! After finding the length of line
Tradition has it that a yacht’s needed, that length (and a little to spare for working
wheel, or a ship’s wheel, has the top spoke or the the last pass tighter) was spooled off and cut. Form
top portion of the steering wheel marked so that the the knot, following the instruction in Chapter 9,
night sailor may find top dead centre, and hence may and then double it four times more. Cut off the
be able to steer a straight course, when the wheel ends and throw them away – in an environmentally
can only be felt and not necessarily seen clearly. It responsible manner, of course!
also helps to provide a minimal purchase, so that a
slippery steel wheel will not slip from cold and wet The centre knot, as you can see, was placed so
hands. You maybe don’t own a yacht, but perhaps that the spoke was not the centre and would not
interfere with handling – the owner’s choice. The
you know someone who does and you would like to line was selected because of its glow-in-the-dark
practice your skills – if you live near water you are ability to catch the merest hint of starlight, flash-
sure to find some takers for an elegant helpful knot light, or red glow-light from the compass.
on their wheel! Try this marker of cord or of leather
for your top helmsperson – maybe even try it on
your car!

Line: 2 mm Kevlar, glow-in-the-dark
Size: Approximately 2.5 m around a
2.5 cm diameter rim
Time: 1.5 hours for the knot

Method: The wheel was first covered with leather
over a padded backing of foamed polyethylene.
The wheel spokes were fitted within the baseball
stitching applied to the inside of the rim, the details
of which are extraneous to the knotting described
here. The wheel was marked as to the centre by
taking the vessel out on the smooth open water