Page 240 - Randy Penn Everything Knots Book

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PROTECTING AND STORING ROPE

Basic Coiling Techniques
You can coil the rope by reaching for each new length with
the right hand and adding it to the coil held in the left hand.
Stiffer or more tightly laid rope will have more of a tendency to
twist into a figure-eight shape than looser rope will. To counteract
this tendency, try giving the rope a right-hand twist with each turn
of the coil. As you reach out your right hand and grip the rope
with your palm away from you, twist your hand and the rope as
if you were turning a screwdriver to tighten a screw. Even if
you’re left-handed, you should still coil them in a clockwise direc-
tion because most three-stranded ropes are twisted in a right-
handed direction.
If the rope is stiff enough to make even figure eights, then skip
the twists and store it as a bundle of that shape. Starting with the
first end hanging down lower than the bottom of the coil will help
keep it from getting caught in the turns, which can cause the rope
to tangle as you uncoil it.

Securing the Coil
As you have seen in many cases throughout this book, you
don’t always need the end of a rope in order to make a knot. This
is also the case when tying the finishing knot on the coils shown
in this chapter. It may be that you need to coil up rope that is in
service, and the ends are tied to something, as is often the case
on a sailboat. In the case of the Gasket Coil, you can start wrap-
ping from the one free end and then make the final knot “in the
bight.” You can do this with the Figure-of-Eight Coil, also illustrated
in this chapter. Many other knots can be made to secure a coil,
and people often make up their own way of finishing the coil with
the knot of their choice.
Large coils are sometimes bound with several small cords,
called “stops,” at intervals around the coil. When a rope is stored
on a spool, the spool should turn as rope is being taken from it
at a 90-degree angle from the turning axis of the spool. If the spool
is laid on end with the rope pulled up over one end, each turn

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