Rope twisting

Humans are not the only ones that get into a twist! Ropes are particularly good at this. Surprisingly, this type of behaviour is not common across the Channel. British ropes, on the other hand, tend to twist which makes sailors sing a lot. In other word, to put it straight, this video is a must if you want your ropes to get on to the right track! For pity’s sake, don’t fight against a twisted control line: once under load, if the braid structure is unbalanced, it is game over!

Twisting is very common on sheaved halyards and can cause real difficulties when manoeuvring (formation of bumps). Before changing your halyard, check that the problem is not due to the rotation of one of the fittings (blocks and sheaves). If this is not the case, and if you need to replace the rope, we will show you how to avoid twisting your new halyard while rigging it (twist again). And to convince you to be careful, we conduct a test on a traction bench in order to compare the breaking load between a twisted rope and one that is in line with the axis. In your opinion, what is the percentage of load loss caused by the twisting?

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