Learning Knots

There seems to be a pattern. Jason, who is focused on making sure we are ready for our adventure, suggests to me, Gail, that we should really get better at xyz and we need to either a) buy a book, b) take a course, or, c) practice. The first two or three times he mentions it, I try to ignore him by saying yup, mumbling, or deleting the email. It’s not that I don’t want to do these things but somehow, even though I don’t have a day job, I always feel as if I have too much to do already.

Did I mention that Jason is a bit tenacious? So, after a few more nudges, I act on the suggestion. What usually happens after that is that I end up more interested in and excited about the particular skill than Jason was in the first place.

And so it was with learning knots. Whenever someone asks me to tie a fender to a lifeline I panic, thinking that the fender will come loose and end up in the ocean. Despite the fact that I really needed to learn this crucial skill, I hoped we could just delay the lessons.

Years ago, Jason taught me how to tie a bowline and at least that one has stuck with me. Last year, in our BVI class we learned a half-hitch, a rolling-hitch and a few others. The knowledge of all of those had somehow evaporated from my brain. If we want to join the ranks of great sailing salts, and hold onto our rigging and dinghy, we need to know how to tie useful knots for many situations.  The development of sailing knots goes back thousands of years and the knots have been meticulously refined.   Just imagine if the Windows operating system went back thousand of years-it might never display the dreaded blue screen.

Tying Table

So off Jason went to build a tying table. And now, I am its biggest fan. Using the app, Grog’s Animated Knots I can finally tie a few more knots and may just lose the knot in my stomach at fender time.  — Gail