The Blue View: Knots

Knots hold a real fascination for me. I particularly appreciate a well-tied knot that is perfect for a specific application. There are a handful of knots that most sailors know and use frequently...the bowline (BO-lin), the reef knot, and the clove hitch come to mind. Marcie knows the basic knots, and in fact, can tie a bowline faster than anyone I know. But beyond these, and maybe tying a bow in her shoelaces, she quickly loses interest in knots.

I have several books aboard that show how to tie a number of useful knots, but to my knowledge, the absolute best reference is The Ashley Book of Knots. If you've ever read The Shipping News by Annie Proulx, you might remember that each chapter begins with an excerpt from Clifford Ashley's book. He spent his life not only identifying and cataloging knots, but researching their uses and history. It took him eleven years to compile them in his book, which describes 3,854 knots. While the majority of the knots are intended for the sailor, there are knots for every purpose imaginable. Want to secure a bale of cotton? Knot #2073 is the one to use. Want to hoist a horse aboard your boat? Knot #2192 is the one for you. Want to make a snare? You might look at Knot #477.

A couple of decades ago, Marcie bought me a copy of Ashley's for my birthday. It is now falling apart from heavy use. It's water stained from a dousing it endured a few years ago. The dust cover has long since left this world. It still remains one of my favorite books.

One of my many uses for it is to identify a knot I've encountered somewhere. In a recent blog post, Marcie wrote about visiting the bell ringers at St. David's Cathedral. Something I noticed was that all 12 bell ropes were secured in nice coils using the exact same knot. I asked the bell ringer whether this knot had a name and whether all bell ropes were secured in this fashion. He didn't know if it had a name, but he said that that was the knot he was taught to use. When we returned to Cups, I looked through Clifford's book, and sure enough, knot #172 is the Bell Ringer knot. Knot #173 is an alternative that is used if the bell rope is extra long or heavy.

While we were traveling in the interior of Ecuador once, we happened onto a farmers' market. All sorts of local animals, including dozens of pigs were being taken to the market for sale. I noticed that each of the pigs was being led by a rope using the same unusual knot. All the farmers seemed to know and use this knot for their pigs. It was a three-loop harness, one loop going around the pig's neck, and the other two loops going around the pig's front legs. I later found this exact knot in Ashley's. It was Knot #1110, a knot originating in South America and used widely as a hackamore or emergency bridle. Apparently, it is also the preferred knot to lead a pig to market.

Ashley invented a number of knots as well. He was a modest man and never named them after himself, but over the years, many were given his name. My favorite of his knots is called the Ashley Bend. A bend is a type of knot used to unite two ropes or the ends of the same rope. The Ashley Bend, only referred to as Knot #1452 in his book, is easy to tie, is strong, but never jams or slips. I find it particularly good for tying bungee cord into a loop. The following photos show how to make it.

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The Blue View of Visiting Exotic Places

You don't normally hear from me...Marcie is the outgoing one and does most of the writing about what goes on in our lives. My writing tends more towards “How-To” type articles, and isn't as interesting for a daily blog. From time to time, however, I'd like to give you the male's point of view of life aboard Cups, or what we refer to as the “blue view”.

An old adage is that the definition of cruising is repairing your boat in exotic places. While it was meant as a joke, in my mind, it is definitely a truism from the “blue” point of view.

Passages are tough on a boat and things break on even the best of passages. Add in a gale or two, or big, breaking following seas, and the repair list really starts growing. We have made many a repair in some of the most exotic places you can imagine. We repaired an inoperative propane solenoid and realigned the diesel engine in the Galapagos Islands, repaired the running lights at Easter Island, made a major sail repair on a beach in Suwarrow Atoll in the Cook Islands, and repaired our windlass in Cape Town, to name just a few.

Once we arrive in a port, Marcie and I differ in our thoughts on how best to spend our time there. My idea of a good time would be a few days spent repairing things, interspersed with visits to the local places of interest like the marine chandleries, hardware stores, and fishing supply places. Marcie has a different list of interesting things to see and would prefer to photograph every bird, flower, insect, tree, sign, and building within walking distance. Obviously, a bit of compromise is called for.

We try to reserve our first evening in a new port for a negotiation session. We both come to the negotiating table with lists. My list includes all the items that really should be repaired. I generate this list by going through our passage log sheets and prioritizing everything that needs attention. Then I estimate the amount of time I think each repair will take. Marcie doubles my time estimate. I usually underestimate the time to hunt down parts or the time spent talking with other cruisers about where we've been, where we're going, and their suggestions on how I should be doing whatever it is I'm doing at the time. Marcie comes to the negotiating table with her list of the things she would like to see and do. Her list was generated from online searches, local tourist information pamphlets, cruising friends' recommendations and Lonely Planet.

We talk about our lists, then look at a calendar and try to plan how we will fit everything into the time we have in a port. Sometimes, we can fit everything we both want to do into the time we have (rarely). Sometimes we can extend the time we plan to stay somewhere long enough to make everything fit (occasionally). Usually, we both pare down our lists until we can fit in the most important things we both want or need to see and do.

This seems to work for us. From the “blue” point of view, Cups is still floating and in reasonably good shape, and I've been able to make all those repairs and visit chandleries in some of the most spectacular and exotic places in the world. And in all honesty, seeing the sights and natural wonders on Marcie's list is thoroughly enjoyable. Often almost as much as a good fishing tackle store.