Page 26 - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

Figure 1-8. A figure-eight coil will run clear even at
Figure 1-7. To secure large lines and wire rope for high speed. It is always made on deck rather than in
long-term storage, coil them and bind with small stuff hand. Believe it or not it was only coincidence that
at regular intervals. made Figure 1-8 a figure eight.

ing through the coil, twisting a bight near the belay, ning by converting the regular coil, which can be
then putting that bight over the coil and jamming it hung up but might run foul, into a figure-eight coil
down on the pin or cleat (Figure 1-4A), or by mak- (Figure 1-8), which can’t readily be hung up but
ing a round turn with the (untwisted) bight. This is will run clear even at high speed. In every instance,
the best method for braided rope, or for very stiff even when the line is apparently securely belayed,
twisted rope. When there’s a great large amount of keep your extremities out of the coil; getting your-
line to deal with, as on the halyards of a gaff-rigged self jammed upside-down into a halyard block is a
vessel, it’s best to toggle the coil to a sheer pole with nuisance and an annoyance.
a separate piece of line (Figure 1-4B).
Spare lines can be coiled and hung up out of TWO MORE TOOLS
the way with a Bight Coil Hitch (Figure 1-5), a
very quick and tidy method. More security can be There are many tools associated with ropework, but
obtained with a Gasket Coil Hitch (Figure 1-6), only three are truly indispensable: rope, the mar-
which is good for working lines as well as for spare lingspike, and the rigging knife. The latter two in
ones, either hung up or stowed below. Note that the use reveal characteristics and properties of rope in
coil is finished using turns of the standing part, not much the same way that hammer and saw teach a
the end. That way the weight of the hanging coil carpenter to understand wood.
doesn’t deform the turns. To stow very large lines
and wire rope below, the best method is to tie small Snap-On Spikes
stuff at regular intervals around the circumference
of the coil (Figure 1-7). Snap-On, makers of seriously high-quality tools,
is under the delusion that they produce three sizes
of scratch awls. What they actually make are three
Letting It Run When it’s time to put a coil to use, sizes of small marlingspikes with a taper very sim-
lay it face down on deck—that is, with standing part ilar to the classic Drew pattern. The steel in these
alleged awls is very hard and highly finished; all
uppermost. When you cast off and let the line run, a sailor has to do is file the point into an accept-
guide it by letting it run through your hand above able, rounded, not-too-sharp “duckbill taper” and
the coil. This minimizes the whipping-around of the drill a lanyard hole in the plastic handle. Not as
turns as they come out, and gives you some control classy as having the real thing machined up, but
an excellent tool nonetheless. The middle or large
should a tangle appear. For those gaff halyards or sizes are good for the average yacht.
other long lines, it’s a good idea to prepare for run-

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