Line or sheet or halyard or . . . . .
Let’s explain why the question ‘How Many Ropes on a Sailing Boat?’ is simple in one way but complex in another.
The complexity is because there are dozens or even hundreds of bits of string all over tall ships, but very few of them are actually called ‘ropes’. There are halyards, sheets, brails, vangs, tricing lines, warps, whips and jackstays to mention but a few categories. Within each type there are lots of specific titles like jib topsail sheet, peak halyard, bunt lines and so on.
Once you know the job a rope does then the rest of the name describes where it acts. This sailing language helps define exactly what each rope does. So when someone says “the lazy fore-topmast staysail sheet has come off the clew” you would know where to look to find and re-attach it. (Clear as mud, but to help you can learn some of the vocab in our FREE Tall Ship Guide Book.)
Don’t despair, there is no need to know them all, or any, before you go sailing. We delight in helping people learn the ropes, that’s what we do!
So… the easy bit is to list How Many Ropes on a Boat there are!
1. The Bell Rope
The Bell Rope does as it suggests and smacks the clapper against the side of the bell. (Let’s get pedantic here, the bit of a bell that does the hitting is not a clanger as may be believed but a clapper, so clap your hands if this makes sense to you!).
The ships bell is usually situated on the foredeck, and used primarily for communication between the deck crew and the helmsman / officers during anchoring operations. The anchoring team use it to let the helm know how much chain has been payed out. This, along with some visual signals indicating the direction and angle of the chain ‘stay’, inform the helm which way to steer to set the anchor correctly (for more on anchors, see HERE).
2. The Bolt Rope
The rope that is hidden in the front of a head-sail, sewn into a fold of canvas, is called a ‘bolt rope’. The purpose of this rope is to create a straight front edge (‘luff’) on sails that are not hanked onto a stay. The name relates to the fact that the canvas is folded over the rope and a fold of cloth is known as a bolt, hence Bolt Rope.
Often the rope along the bottom edge (‘foot’) of a sail is also known as the ‘bolt rope’, although these are not usually encased in canvas.
3. The Tow Rope
For towing tenders behind ships, and much larger versions may be deployed should the ship itself need a tow in an emergency. Mooring lines are often repurposed in this case (so a ‘line’ can become a ‘rope’ in certain circumstances!) Short tow ropes snatch and are in danger of breaking whatever they are tied to. A longer rope has more stretch and is gentler on the both the towing ship and the ship being towed.
4. The Footrope
The sling of rope under the yard arms for your feet to stand on when you are working aloft is called a footrope. These are usually served for grip and rigidity, and tarred black for longevity… so they don’t always look much like ropes anymore!
5. The Manrope
The man ropes are the two ropes dropped either side of a rope ladder to assist with boarding and disembarking a vessel, especially necessary for pilots who may be embarking from the deck of the pilot boat onto the ship, not always in the kindest of conditions!
These ropes usually have knots tied in them for grip and are made of very heavy duty cordage.
6. The Top Rope and Heel Rope
These may be used to raise (‘shoot’) a topmast or yard from deck, either during refit periods or if the topmast needs to be taken down for running repairs, or for the ship to fit beneath a bridge.
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If you can think of any we have missed, let us know!
For more on the history and multifarious uses of rope, see a great Wikipedia article HERE.
