Page 1170 - Compton Nic "A Knot a Day"

DAY
356

Ocean braid mat

For sailors making long passages during the Age

of Sail, what better than to use the time
constructively making mats to protect the timber

from chafe? As a rough guideline, 35ft (10m) of ⅜in
(1cm) rope will produce a 12 × 6½in (30 × 17cm) mat

with three ‘passes’, while 10ft (3m) of ⅛in (0.3cm)

cord will make a 3 × 1½in (7.5 × 3.7cm) ‘frog’.

1 Starting with the loop in the bottom left of the picture and working

clockwise, lay the line in the pattern shown. The working end is the lower

line on the right-hand side.