new rope from defenders...for halyards

[Brion Toss]

This is likely too late, but it appears that this rope was wound onto one of those rope merry-go-rounds that make things so easy -- for the person doing the winding. But you have to get your own merry-go-round or similar to avoid twists when you unwind. Pulling from the center of the coil is an ancient and honorable and effective way to minimize twists when you are using 3-strand rope, but it is useless in this construction.
If you are reading this after the fact, your job now is to sight progressively down the rope, untwisting and cursing the merry-go-round as you go. This is why, whenever I buy rope at a chandlery, I tell them just to run it off and dump it on the floor, so I can coil it over-and-under.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss