No string, no knots — but is that good?
Issue 35 : Mar/Apr 2004
It happened within my lifetime, but I hardly noticed. I surely wasn’t aware of the significance of the trend. In my grandmother’s time, string was an important part of life. It was used to tie up all kinds of important packages and storage items from the kitchen to the workshop. String collectors saved huge balls of the stuff, remember? Well, people had to know how to tie knots then.
But over time string was replaced by tape, rubber bands, and all sorts of handy gadgets: clips and twist-ties and more. There’s no ball of string in my kitchen anymore. And I seldom tie a knot at home.
We have a ball of string in our garage. It has one function only. We tie flattened cardboard boxes together for recycling. String in the workshop has been replaced by a universe of handy gadgets, so knots are no longer necessary.
The trend is coming (has arrived?) in boating too. Bungies substitute for many ropes and knots. There are little widgets to attach fenders to lifelines or toerails. We’ve got shackles and clips. There are loops and tie-up schemes galore so we won’t need to tie a knot.
I pride myself on being able to tie a bowline (and Jerry can do it one-handed behind his back). We still tie our fenders to the toerail with half hitches. But the trend is taking over our C&C 30 as well. When we bought her, the jib sheets were tied on with large clunky (lethal in a blow) bowlines. We changed that system to shackles we clip on. The anchor rode was a huge unmanageable snake 200 feet long. Jerry shortened it to two 100-foot pieces with carabiners at four ends. It’s much easier to deal with. Either end of either piece can be attached to the anchor or the boat or the other piece of rode. Carabiners, in fact, are all over our boat, substituting for less-reliable knots and the additional time it takes to make them fast.
But are we better off without knots? I remain skeptical.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
