[John D]

Peter,

Soft shackles are very flexible* in that you can build them to suit your purpose. Your suggested method of a long soft shackle seized to an eye-splice will work, but you have other options available.

You can extend the distance between the moving portion of the soft shackle and the diamond knot (described as a "spherical knot" in the video) and use this to luggage tag the soft shackle to the eye. After you've made the locking brummel measure off a little more than the circumfrence around the eye's cross-section and make another locking brummel ( A through B, then B through A) and tie the knot as in the video. Attach to the eye by passing the soft shackle portion through the loop created by the two legs luggage tag fashion. The diamond knot will be standing proud and it will be easy to snug the constricting loop of the soft shackle around it. This isn't going to shake of easily, but for security always close the shackle after use.

For an even more secure attachment of the soft shackle to the eye, you can build a double shackle with a single, central, knot. Again, follow the video up to the locking brummel. Call the end that just passed through the rope A and the other end B. On the B side mark a dot a brummel's length away from the brummel you just made. Mark a second dot 5 1/2" away from the first dot towards the B end. Feed the B end in at the second dot and out at the first dot (use a fid as in the video to open up the line). Use something (3/8” fid [as in the video] or a length of 3/8" line) to keep the constricting loop from collapsing. Next make your second brummel with the B end, just as you did earlier with the A end. It's best if B emerges on the same side as A. Pass A through B and B through A to make a third brummel. This brummel will be roughly perpendicular to the other two brummels. Use the A and B ends to tie the diamond knot. In use both of the soft shackles constricting loops will go over this knot at the center of the double soft shackle. Attach to the eye with one side of the shackle and use the other side to connect to the clew.

While the double shackle is a clever hack, I prefer the luggage tag method as its less work and 'feels' better. As you work with soft shackles you will probably find even better solutions.

John D.

*pun intended