What are the Basic Instructions to handle ropes on Classic Sailing Ships?

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When sailing on this kind of ship you will have to make changes to the sails and, for that, you should know how to handle the ropes.

Most of our ropes are located on two pin tables: one is near the main mast and the other one is near the foremast. We will take you to one of these pin tables to practice, and these are the instructions for the seven basic actions that you need to remember:

• Haul away
• Sweat
• Hold
• Let go
• Fix
• Coil
• Ease away

Let’s see what they mean and how to do them properly:

Haul away

If we want you to pull the rope we will use the term haul away:

1. First you should take a step back from the pin.
2. Your thumb towards you so that it won’t get stuck between the rope and the pin.
3. Strong arms are not required to pull the rope, using the weight of your body is much easier.
4. If a rope is really heavy though, pull together with other people, but be careful to all stand on the same side of the rope.

Speaking of pulling heavy ropes, it can be much easier if you sweat.

Sweat

To sweat you need to:

1. Lean back and use your weight to pull the rope backwards.
2. Then lean forward and push the rope down towards the pin.
3. When sweating, make sure that you coordinate with the person pulling the rope (hauling away).

As the name suggests, sweating to set a sail is a good workout!
Some ropes can even require multiple sweaters. So don’t be shy to ask for help.

Hold

When we need you to stop what you’re doing, we’ll say “hold“:

1. Use both your hands to firmly grab the rope.
2. Don’t let go of any tension.
3. Use the pin table to add friction and hold the tension better.
4. Once we decide the rope has the right tension we’ll have to fix.

Fix

1. Look at where the rope comes from and start on the opposite side.
2. Draw an eight-figure around the pin pull and repeat.
3. To finish, the trick is to twist the last loop by half a turn and pull to tighten the knot.

Let go

Fixing very heavy ropes with many people pulling them can be challenging. We, the crew, will take care of it, but you will need to let go and give the slack the rope needs to go around the pin. So when we ask for it, let go of the rope right away.

Once we’re done adjusting a rope, we can’t just let it lie on the deck, we have to coil it:

Coil

On Atyla we coil the rope clockwise around the pin:

1. Use your hand to untwist the rope and make beautiful circular coils
2. Someone can do the twisting to help you.
3. Make sure that you make coils of equal length and leave the end of the rope to rest around the pin.
4. It is super important to coil the ropes properly so that they are always ready to be used: This will make a huge difference in case of an emergency

So far, we’ve only seen how to pull the ropes but sometimes we also need to ease away:

Ease away

1. To release some tension you first need to unfix the rope but be careful with your fingers.
2. Then place your hands like in the video and slowly give the rope some slack.
3. Mind your feet because they might get trapped in the rope

Last tips

If the wind direction or the course changes, if we see another ship or even a buoy, the officer on watch may give an order to change the sails. We will then guide you and make the change together as a team.

If you forgot one of the instructions or you’re not too sure about something please ask, we’ll be happy to help you.

Now you should know what haul away, sweat, hold, let go, fix coil and ease away mean. In other words, you’re almost ready to sail!

All you need now is a little bit of practice so, get out on the deck, have fun, and make the most of your sailing experience on Atyla!

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