Do you coil, or figure-of-eight?

[Greenheart]

This may be something everyone else learned on day 1, but after decades in boats, it only lately occurred to me.

It didn't cross my mind till this year that the standard way of coiling line, giving a little twist with each new turn to add another tidy loop to the coil, means the line can't be pulled straight from the coil without eventually gumming up at whichever block or fairlead or constricted point it is being drawn through...

...because all those torque-twists mean the line has turned corners in the coil, so if it's pulled straight without being evenly de-twisted there is likely to be a horrible snaggle. That must be why I've never yet hoisted my mainsail all in one go without the halyard jamming at the bottom of the mast.

I daresay people will say that some rope is much less prone to twisting, but all the lightweight braided line I use, does it a lot. On the other hand, if I let the line fall untwisted into an untidy figure-of-eight coil, it can also be drawn from that coil without twisting. Granted, a figure-of-eight coil doesn't look great, but is that a good reason not to do it if it works?

Or does everybody else already do it that way?

 

[steve yates]

Interestingly, climbers stopped coiling ropes about 15 years ago, they now just gather them up and chuck them in a rope bag. Has made a big difference to having your ropes run through much easier without snarls and tangles.

 

[thinwater]

Interestingly, climbers stopped coiling ropes about 15 years ago, they now just gather them up and chuck them in a rope bag. Has made a big difference to having your ropes run through much easier without snarls and tangles.

I've done as much climbing as sailing. You have to deal with 60M ropes all day.
* figure 8 coil with one of several finishes
* bag

If someone does a "pretty" coil, you hunt them down. Dealing with 15M of halyard tail is nothing compared to dealing with 60M of knots while perched on a ledge... well maybe, if it goes to the kite and it needs to come down... now!

I generally avoid coiling a rope that will need to be used soon.

 

[Neeves]

Unless you can guarantee the rope comes out of the bag the same way it went in, then, you can still have kinks that will jamb at a clutch. Coiling is neat and tidy and keeps errant ropes out of the way.

Once we deploy a spinnaker, or the mainsail we know that inevitably we will need to drop it. When, or before, we drop we flake the halyard and check that it is kink free.

Modern yachts have a large number of control lines coming into the cockpit and with 2:1 halyards, mainsheet and single line reefing that is a lot of rope and a lot of rope bags - coiling simply takes up less room (and works - as long as you are prepared to manage whichever line it is that you will next work with).

If we were making rapid sail changes we would use bags but as our main and headsails can be in use for many hours and sometimes days - space(in the cockpit) is more important (even on a cat). When we raced our headsail and spinnaker halyards led to and fell into bags at the mast (a variation on the bag suggested) - but that was when buoy racing on relatively short courses (our spinnaker fell into a bag in the hatch - and came out/was hoisted straight from the same bag - it was never re-bagged).

Horses for courses - there is no right way.

Jonathan

 

[ballyabroad]

This converted me to avoid coiling ropes https://youtu.be/H-SCttWZChc
Seems to make perfect sense.

 

[James_Calvert]

This converted me to avoid coiling ropes https://youtu.be/H-SCttWZChc
Seems to make perfect sense.

This explains a folded rope technique for braided rope. It works well for storing dinghy mainsheets.

 

[Poignard]

This converted me to avoid coiling ropes https://youtu.be/H-SCttWZChc
Seems to make perfect sense.

That's what I do . A much better system.

 

[LONG_KEELER]

Agree that the figure of eight is the most logical system for coiling ropes, although it does
not seem to have found favour with yachtsmen as it looks untidy.

I have been using the "underhand" system for some time now. You alternate a right handed twist with a left hand twist. Each twist somewhat cancels out the other. You should be able to find it on Youtube where many "roadies" use it for coiling wire. Might be worth giving it a try.

I have topping lift and main halyard stuffed into halyard bags which works well for me.

 

[bbg]

This explains a folded rope technique for braided rope. It works well for storing dinghy mainsheets.

That's what I do now, invariably for all ropes.
I actually learned it when racing maxis. The spinnaker sheets and braces were so big and long there is no way you could coil them in a hand, so we folded them by running them over our shoulders across the back of our necks. Back and forth with a big loop hanging down to our knees on each side. No kinks.

 

[Poignard]

That's what I do now, invariably for all ropes.
I actually learned it when racing maxis. The spinnaker sheets and braces were so big and long there is no way you could coil them in a hand, so we folded them by running them over our shoulders across the back of our necks. Back and forth with a big loop hanging down to our knees on each side. No kinks.

That's a good idea. I have a 50m trackline that would be a lot easier to coil using that technique. Thanks!

 

[KellysEye]

What I did is simply straighten the rope before using it.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

The larger yachts I sailed on the sheets were sometimes coiled figure of eight of the cockpit sole to run easy, or sometimes coiled in loops around the winch (with the twist) and lifted off when required to run. On my own 41' boat all are coiled with the twist and hung off a winch or a cleat. I never have had any real issue with the lines running but I will usually work the line to the bitter end before it runs. On the wayfarer halyards, I again coil, with the twist as required, but shove the line under a shock cord, bunched up, so it needs to be run to the bitter end before I drop a sail.

I will try the doubling up method, it looks easier to do as well.

 

[[70521]]

Depends on the boat, the bit of string and the length of time that it is inactive.

 

[johnalison]

Depends on the boat, the bit of string and the length of time that it is inactive.

Me too, though I don't fret about it much. The application that seems to matter most is electric cable, such as the mains-to-shore wire.

I think I must have an autistic or OCD gene because I can't resist counting coils as I do it, invariably in multiples of four.

 

[Greenheart]

This converted me to avoid coiling ropes https://youtu.be/H-SCttWZChc

Great video, thanks. No more twisted coils for me.

I'm cringing as I remember assiduously coiling the halyard under the skipper's eye on a cruising yacht I helped sail, this year.

I ordered one of those cut-price reel-ends in the spring, (although at over 200ft of 10mm line, it must have been a massive reel)...

...so now I can practice that back-of-the-neck technique till I have it perfected.

 

[Porthandbuoy]

Good video. Donkey’s ears or Granny’s tits is a new one on me.

Up till now I’ve coiled halyards using figure of eights. For my roller reefing line, which is a much lighter and smaller coil, I put in alternate twists.

 

[daverebbettes]

I agree with ballyabroad. I have folded ropes for years now and virtually never had a problem with rope knotting up.

This converted me to avoid coiling ropes https://youtu.be/H-SCttWZChc
Seems to make perfect sense.

 

[thinwater]

... although it does not seem to have found favour with yachtsmen as it looks untidy....

That's knee-slapper.

I guess they've never heard that form follows function.

 

[Martin&Rene]

This converted me to avoid coiling ropes https://youtu.be/H-SCttWZChc
Seems to make perfect sense.

Absolutely correct for braided ropes. Extra thoughts

If it is a mooring line with a loop, then let the end of the line with the loop hang down longer than the rest of the coils, so you can spot it easily.
If it is a mooring line or separate coil of rope, then I will pull the end of the rope through the coils at the final stage. For anything coming from a jammer, I will start coiling from the jammer and pull a loop over the coils at the final stage, as he does in the video.

Coil you electricity shore line in the same figure of eight way, but just tie off the loops with a bit of cord, rather than doing the wrap turns. I can just drop my cable of the deck and walk to the far end of the yacht, as it is already flaked out, whilst everybody else is struggling with twists.

It also works great with the water hose from the pontoon stanchions, but I cannot get my fellow boat-owners to copy it. Just drop the figure of eight loops on the carrier and next time you want it, you just have to pull off the required length.

 

[Topcat47]

I've been "folding" lines on my 26'er for the last 10 years. The method was shown to me by a climber (half way up a mountain) and described as an "Australian Flake".

I've almost always got to refold lines "tidied up" by visitors after they've gone. The advantages are most noticeable in the reefing pennant for my headsail, as it runs all the way out very quickly. If you do it any other way, you run into the "twist lock" described in the video. It also means that the mainsheet is always free to run through the blocks. You'd be surprised how easy it is to throw a line flaked like this, rather than coiled, too.

Flaking electrical cable protects the wire from breaking and the plastic sheathe from twisting and cracking. My wife now uses it for collecting the tape for her Electric Fence around her pony paddock. It's saved her a small fortune as the tape doesn't twist and break.