This month's Brilliant Solution involves splicing exotic rope, such as Spectra or Vectran. Because this rope is so strong, its cover must be able to withstand enormous compression and friction loads from sheaves, winches, and stoppers. That's why most exotics have very,very tightly-woven polyester covers. This works fine for durability, but it makes things tough for the splicer, since a core-to-core splice requires that you extract the core out through that ornery cover.

   In the past, the ritual has been to bend and massage the extraction point in a futile attempt to soften it up, then to commence some vigorous nudging of the cover yarns with the point of an awl, trying to open a teensy hole to bring the core out through, and often succeeding in opening teensy holes in your fingers with that same awl. Instead, start by pulling the core out of the end of the rope, and bunching the cover firmly back against the knot. This step is usually taken after the core is extracted, as a start in balancing core and cover tension (see the "Apprentice", page 109); by doing it here, you very effectively and effortlessly loosen the cover yarns, making it ridiculously easy to get that once-recalcitrant core out of the rope.

   The same procedure works for Sta-set-X and used rope, both of which require zeroing, and it even works for normal double-braid if you mark the exit point on the core, through the cover, before bunching.

A Complementary Cotter Cure

   As many of our readers know to their delight, we sell a modified pliers that make short work of removing cotter pins (see the "Rigger's Pliers" in the catalog section). But wonderful as they are, those pliers can't always reach into the places where cotter pins hide. That's why my rigging bucket also contains a cotter pin-removing tool made by the good folks at Snap-On (model # CP3B). Essentially it's a tortured awl, with the end bent in a semi-corkscrewy fashion that leaves the tip at about 90 degrees to the shaft. You insinuate the tip through the head of the pin and pry it out. And if you can't get it in that far, just get a landing in the head and use a hammer to drive it out. The pliers are sill handy for straightening the cotter legs first.

   I use the pliers for most applications, as they're faster, more versatile, and kinder to adjacent surfaces, and I reach for the awl for especially tight places.

Vitamins

   This is one of those items that has nothing to do with rigging, but which might be of great importance to riggers. I'm talking nutrition here, and the effect it has on your ability to get the job done. I'm closing in on 50 now, and there was a time, several years ago, when I seriously began to doubt that I could continue much longer to haul myself up masts, wrestle a splice into large wire, deal with clients, or perform any other serious exertion. That's when Christian and I began to do some serious research into vitamins, going through piles of books and catalogs, comparing labels, and drawing up charts to see who had what, in what form, and why.

   Our favorite author was Dr. Michael Colgan, and I can heartily recommend anything he's written. He specializes in nutrition for athletes, and he maintains that optimal health is impossible for the sedentary ("If you don't have time for regular exercise, you'd better have lots of time for being sick"). We liked his approach of combining activity with good nutrition. In addition, all of his recommendations are lucid, heavily-footnoted to peer-review papers, and fun to read, too.

   The upshot of our research was that a company called USANA was head, shoulders, and belly button above all the rest in terms of quality-control (they make their vitamins at pharmaceutical standards, not the much laxer food-grade standards that almost everybody else works to). USANA also appears to have by far the best mix of ingredients, combining superior forms of all the major vitamins and minerals, plus appropriate amounts of oft-neglected trace elements that cells need for top performance. There are lots of vitamin companies out there these days, cashing in on the aging yuppie market, and they all spin a pretty good line. But I'll bet that if you look close enough, you're going to come to the same conclusions we did.

   There's lots more to say about this company, but you'll probably do better to visit their site at www.usana.com instead of listening to me go on. You won't find anything flashy there, no miracle ingredients, no custom formulation, just good, solid nutrition.

   As for how this can help you be a better rigger, let me tell you a story:

   Back in the 60's Dr.'s Leary and Alpert were conducting experiments with LSD. Like the Harvard-trained scientists that they were at the time, they set up a carefully controlled double-blind experiment, with half the volunteer subjects getting a placebo, and half getting the real thing. After half an hour or so everyone was asked how they felt. Those in the placebo group said something like "I dunno, yeah, I think I feel a little funny", while the LSD ingestors said something like "I SEE GOD!"

   The point here is that, though I took vitamins for years, figuring they had to be doing me some good, I could never muster more than a "Yeah, I guess I'm healthier" claim to their benefits. But after we started on USANA, well, we didn't see God, but the results were dramatic and undeniable. I remember one day, a couple of months after we started, when I pulled myself up a good-sized mast without stopping to rest at the spreaders. Unprecedented. No other changes to my fairly strenuous routine.

   The downside for some people is that USANA is sold through network marketting. I don't mind this, and for two reasons: the chunk that your distributors take is tiny compared to retail markup, so you get much more value per dollar; and USANA's setup is a kinder, gentler version of the schemes so many of us have been annoyed by in the past. You can even get your vitamins at distributor prices, without becoming a distributor yourself; you buy direct from the factory, and the person who signed you up gets a commission. You'll find more on this at USANA's site.

   I'd be happy to sign you up, of course, but I'd hate to think that you stayed away because you thought I was just trying to sell you something. So get them however and from whomever you can, but at least get them.

Next month: misplaced babystays, inappropriate holes, and much more.

   Fair leads,

      Brion Toss