Knots and Line Handling
See also: List of knotsThe tying and untying of knots and hitches as well as the general handling of ropes and lines are fundamental to the art of sailing. The RYA basic 'Start Yachting' syllabus lists the following knots and hitches:
- figure of eight — stopper knot
- round turn and two half hitches — secure the end of a rope to a fixed object
- bowline — used to form a fixed loop at the end of a rope
It also lists securing a line around a cleat and the use of winches and jamming cleats.
The RYA Competent Crew syllabus adds the following to the list above, as well as knowledge of the correct use of each:
- clove hitch — securing lines running along a series of posts
- rolling hitch — rigging a stopper to relax the tension on a sheet
- reef knot — joining two ends of a single line to bind around an object
- single and double sheet bend — joining two ropes of different diameters
In addition it requires competent crewmembers to understand 'taking a turn' around a cleat and to be able to make cleated lines secure. Lines and halyards need to be coiled neatly for stowage and reuse. Dock lines need to be thrown and handled safely and correctly when coming alongside, up to a buoy, and when anchoring, as well as when casting off and getting under way.
Read more about this topic: Sailing
Famous quotes containing the words knots, line and/or handling:
“Victory won’t come
to me unless I go
to it; a grape tendril
ties a knot in knots till
knotted thirty times,—”
—Marianne Moore (1887–1972)
“Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore.”
—Apocrypha. Ecclesiasticus, 44:14.
The line “their name liveth for evermore” was chosen by Rudyard Kipling on behalf of the Imperial War Graves Commission as an epitaph to be used in Commonwealth War Cemeteries. Kipling had himself lost a son in the fighting.
“For a novel addressed by a man to men and women of full age; which attempts to deal unaffectedly with the fret and fever, derision and disaster, that may press in the wake of the strongest passion known to humanity; to tell, without a mincing of words, of a deadly war waged between flesh and spirit; and to point the tragedy of unfulfilled aims, I am not aware that there is anything in the handling to which exception can be taken.”
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)