old rope

Anyone looking in John's shed would see a huge bag of what can collectively be called rope. Our old wooden yacht 'Isonda' in laid up undergoing major restoration and this is a bag full of various types of rope, or lines as they are collectively called in sailing terminology. Sheets, halyards, mooring warps - they are all lines, and all made out of different weights of rope. Modern boats normally have lines made of nylon, but traditional boats still use old fashioned rope, where they can. The line in the photo isn't particularly old, but is one of the few I could extract from the bag with no other sailing bits attached!

I tied the rope to look vaguely like a noose, but using one of the most useful knots on a boat - a bowline ('bowlin'). I thought blipping a proper noose would be just a bit over the top!!

The origin of the phrase 'money for old rope' is thought to originate from the days of public hangings, when the hangman would cut up and sell for souvenirs bits of the rope he had used.

It is pouring with rain here - surprise, surprise - so I laid the rope/noose on the foredeck of a half built steam boat that John is building at the back of the house. The steam boat will undoubtedly feature in many future blips!!

This is my entry for the weekend blip challenge on 'rope'