In short, it's almost as though we're faced with rope as a new and untried technology, having vast potential, but involving much trial and error before all its potential snags have been discovered, and before we, its users, are familiar enough with it that it becomes more a tool than an experiment.

   Sure, we can turn our backs on the new technology and avoid dealing with its complications, but this would marginalize us in at least a couple of ways: new rope and its knots are real, net gains, in terms of strength and performance, as well as a wonderful unprecedented versatility and effficiency for the user; and much of what we're learning about new rope is backwards-informative, so that what is revealed in working with Vectran is of use when working with hemp. Besides, even though the rate of change in the past has been slow, it has always been perceptible, so our predecessors have had to deal with similar -- though vastly more leisurely -- challenges.

   So on to particulars. One of the most significant challenges has to do with an increase in material strength and a concomitant reduction in rope size for a given load. This has led to all sorts of problems, from belays to winches to blocks, but the one I'll address this month is simple hitches. For instance the Rolling Hitch has been around for centuries, and has worked fine. But a drastic reduction in rope diameter results in a drastic reduction in rope surface area, leaving less for a hitch to hold onto. Couple this with extraordinarily slick rope and you start seeing Rolling Hitches slipping. So after a long holding action involving more and more complex variations on the original hitch, in my shop we now use a knot invented by the proliferate John Smith, the Icicle Hitch, instead of the Rolling Hitch. You can find this knot on pages 55 and 56 of the new "Apprentice".

   A knot that hasn't made it to mainstream print yet is what I've dubbed the Pilingspike Hitch. It is yet another gem from the hands of John Smith, and leaps in to aid the ailing Marlingspike Hitch, another old knot that has been marginalized by new materials. I'll see if we can figure out how to post some drawings of it on the site.

   But not all the responses to new materials have been new knots. At the cutting edge of standing rigging today, aboard ocean racers with Vectran rigging, the shrouds are just glorified Selvagee Strops, encased in braided covers. This construction allows the rigger to use relatively inexpensive small cordage, to avoid the fatigue and terminal complications with extruded plastics, and to build in some redundancy, with many turns to fail before shroud failure. Plus it makes for a very strong shroud, as each turn can take a fair share of the load, the same reason the original Selvagee was so strong.

   Other revivals include service, made with longer-lasting synthetics instead of hemp, the Angler's Loop, which holds better than other loops in bungy cord, and the Buntline Hitch and its relatives, which are sufficiently strong and tenacious for many advanced applications. And there are many, many more, too many to even hint at here. I only trust that, faced with this exciting phase of rigging history, sailors will respond as eager seekers of useful tools, instead of ligaturistically-challenged ostriches.

   Fair leads,

      Brion Toss