Storing Rope in a Coil
Sometimes it is more challenging to store rope than to use it. The best way to store rope is by wrapping the entire length into a coil and tying a part of itself around the coil to keep it secure. When rope turns into a tangle, it's annoying, but what's worse is that it will get twisted, with very sharp turns or kinks. These can damage rope fibers, making it much weaker. Coiling rope is also helpful because rope can be dangerous under foot when loose, especially on boats.
ESSENTIAL
Twists and kinks can get into many of the items we use. They can damage electrical cords and often get in the cord between the phone base and receiver. Sometimes it gets so kinked that it will not extend to its normal length. To get these kinks out, just suspend the earpiece by the cable, and let it spin until the extra twists are out.
Basic Coiling Techniques
You can coil the rope by reaching for each new length with the right hand and adding it to the coil held in the left hand. Stiffer or more tightly laid rope will have more of a tendency to twist into a figure-eight shape than looser rope will. To counteract this tendency, try giving the rope a right-hand twist with each turn of the coil. As you reach out your right hand and grip the rope with your palm away from you, twist your hand and the rope as if you were turning a screwdriver to tighten a screw. Even if you're left-handed, you should still coil them in a clockwise direction because most three-stranded ropes are twisted in a right-handed direction.
If the rope is stiff enough to make even figure eights, then skip the twists and store it as a bundle of that shape. Starting with the first end hanging down lower than the bottom of the coil will help keep it from getting caught in the turns, which can cause the rope to tangle as you uncoil it.
Securing the Coil
As you have seen in many cases throughout this book, you don't always need the end of a rope in order to make a knot. This is also the case when tying the finishing knot on the coils shown in this chapter. It may be that you need to coil up rope that is in service, and the ends are tied to something, as is often the case on a sailboat. In the case of the Gasket Coil, you can start wrapping from the one free end and then make the final knot “in the bight.” You can do this with the Figure-of-Eight Coil, also illustrated in this chapter. Many other knots can be made to secure a coil, and people often make up their own way of finishing the coil with the knot of their choice.
Large coils are sometimes bound with several small cords, called “stops,” at intervals around the coil. When a rope is stored on a spool, the spool should turn as rope is being taken from it at a 90-degree angle from the turning axis of the spool. If the spool is laid on end with the rope pulled up over one end, each turn will result in a twist in the rope, which can result in kinks. When a coil is bound in the middle as in the case of the Gasket Coil, it is sometimes called a “hank.”
FACT
Do not confuse the name Figure-of-Eight Coil with a coil that is laid up with figure eights. The Figure-of-Eight Coil has its name because after making a regular circular coil, a knot similar to the Figure Eight Knot is tied at the top around the wraps to keep the coil in place. This is different from the case when each wrap of the coil is laid in the shape of the number eight.
