Page 23 - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice
P. 23

clerk will measure off 50 feet of rope from a coil or  Figure 1-1. The turns of a coil will not lie fair without
                  spool, but by cutting it, she or he will transform it  a slight twist put into each
                  into a 50-foot line; usually, rope is a general term
                  and a description of the raw material, while a line is  courage the loops from intermingling. When coiling
                  what you make from rope. Thus a halyard is a line  onto your hand, develop rhythm and a sweeping
                  that raises sails, and a sheet is a line that trims them.  motion for minimum effort, smoothness, and a style
                  There are exceptions to this terminology, so you can  conducive to contemplation. Heavy lines are coiled
                  ignore the oft-repeated pedantry that “there are no  on deck, then either hung up or turned over so
                  ropes aboard a vessel.” Anyone who says that isn’t  they’re ready to run. Leave the ends hanging below
                  familiar with a tiller rope, manrope, footrope, bell-  the coil so they won’t become entangled in the turns.
                  rope, or the roping on sails.                Now notice that as you coil you must impart a slight
                                                               twist to each loop to lay it neatly against the others
                  Rope as Battery: Coiling and Stowing         (Figure 1-1); no twist means independent-minded
                  Rope in use is in clean, linear tension—an exercise in  loops. This is the reason for that ancient, seldom-
                  geometry. Rope that’s not in use is a perverse crea-  explained admonition to “always coil clockwise.”
                  ture, an incipient tangle, a rat’s nest waiting to hap-  When the coil runs out, all those little twists
                  pen. If you let it have its way—and too many people  have to go somewhere, and if you coil clockwise
                  do—you’re liable to find yourself in situations that  (Figure 1-2A), right-laid three-strand rope can
                  are at best annoying and at worst dangerous. Think  unlay a bit to absorb them. A counterclockwise coil
                  of each unused portion of rope as a battery, upon  in right-laid rope can look just as neat, but when
                  which you might need to draw at an instant’s notice.  it’s stretched out, the twists you put in will only
                      When you go to build your battery, it helps to  tighten an already pretty firm lay, and you’re liable
                  understand the material it’s made of. Three-strand  to end up with kinks and hockles (Figure 1-2B).
                  rope, for example, is usually right-laid—its strands  Conversely, in the unlikely event that you come
                  spiral to the right—and is made with just enough  up against left-laid rope, be sure to coil counter-
                  twist to hold the three strands together without  clockwise.
                  rendering the rope too stiff to use. These structural   In any rope, make the largest loops you conve-
                  details prove significant when making a coil.  niently can, or the largest ones that won’t drag on
                      As the chapter opening illustration shows, the  the deck if height is limited, so that there will be the
                  turns of a coil should be regular and even, to dis-  fewest total turns and fewer twists to absorb.

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