Boating and Sailing.pdf - Moja ladja

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Part 2: The Basics of Operation
Cordage is the term used to cover pretty much all the various ropes used on a boat,
whether they’re attached to the docks, the anchor, or used to hang out the laundry. In
general, line is what you use to tie up the boat—dock lines, for example. Although we
often think of line as string-sized ashore, it may be
5 /8-inch braid afloat. (This is not to be confused with
Boater-ese
fishing line, which is in fact called line.)
Cordage is the general
term used to refer to all the
ropes, lines, anchor rodes, etc.
used aboard a boat. Line is
what’s normally called “rope”
ashore—it can be of any size
and either twisted or braided. It’s
usually classified according to
diameter, with a 1 /4-line being
1 /4-inch thick. A rode is a line
attached to an anchor. Sheets
are lines used to tension sails.
Running rigging is the term on
sailboats for the lines used to
control the sails, including the
sheets, for tensioning sails and
the halyards, and for pulling sails
up and down the masts.
What Is Rope Made Of?
The rope used on the anchor is most often referred to
as the “rode,” although it’s also called the anchor line in
practical use. And “sheets” are not what go on your bed
afloat, but the ropes used to control tension in the sails
of a sailboat. In general, though, anything that would
be called a rope ashore is referred to as a “line” on
board. One common usage is to call it “rope” when it’s
still on the spool, but it becomes a line as soon as it’s
cut to length and given a specific function.
The strength of a rope or line is most affected by the
diameter of the finished product, and lines used in
boating are designated by their diameter. For example,
a 1 /4-inch line is about 1 /4-inch thick. The strength of a
line increases by a factor of about 3.5 to 4 for every
doubling of diameter. The breaking strength of a typical
1 /4-inch braided nylon line is around 1,500 pounds,
while the breaking strength of most 1 /2-inch braided
nylon is around 6,000 pounds. (Different rope materials
also have different strengths at a given size.)
To a landlubber, rope is rope—you go down to the discount store and buy whatever is
handy and cheap. To a boater, the material and the way the line is built is important, even
critical in some applications. Let’s look at some of the most common rope materials.
Nylon—The Universal Soldier
Nylon is the preferred material for most boating uses, including for dock lines and anchor
lines. The cost is reasonable—about 25 cents a foot for a 3 /8-inch line, up to 70 cents a
foot for a 5 /8-inch line. Nylon is very durable, strong at a given diameter, and can withstand
years in the sun.