Outdated Sea Traditions

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by roverhi

Not outdated at all, still do it on passages to see the 24 hour run and DR if the satellites start lieing to us.

I think we would be in a very small minority.... down there with the CW people....

[SkiprJohn]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Reading the Walker log at midday

I remember those "good old days." We'd read it after each watch to see if we had outdone the rest of the crew just for bragging rights.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

Sailing to new lands, planting a flag and claiming the place (and locals!) for your King seems to have gone out of fashion a bit.......

Last time anyone tried that by sea... in 1982... it ended in tears for the planters and claimers....

[atoll]

Originally Posted by nigel1

According to some, Winston Churchill stated that the traditions of the Royal Navy were "Rum, Sodomy and the lash"
This quote was thought to have arisen from an old catch phrase dating back to the 1800's to describe sailors
“Ashore it’s wine, women and song; aboard it’s rum, bum and concertina.”

according to Greek tradition it is only the person getting it in the bum who is considered to be homosexual..............

[StuM]

Originally Posted by atoll

according to Greek tradition it is only the person getting it in the bum who is considered to be homosexual..............

According to navy tradition, a true shipmate is someone who goes ashore, gets two BJs then comes back and give you one

[captain58sailin]

It's not gay if you are underway!

[Muckle Flugga]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

A long outdated tradition/practice that still hasn't been dropped:

Using a sheet bend or double sheet bend to secure two lines together .

SWL

Outdated tradition???

[Muckle Flugga]

These days and large quite hard (and inadvisable!) to stab the mast in a calm…

[TeddyDiver]

Dunno if these traditions has been mentioned..
Keelhauling, gallows and flogging

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Muckle Flugga

Outdated tradition???

Yep, waaaaay out dated or at least should be...

[Muckle Flugga]

Originally Posted by Wotname

Yep, waaaaay out dated or at least should be...

Would you care to enlarge on this fragment of highly questionable opinion, or are you just trolling?

[JPA Cate]

Actually, I think Wottie wanted to start a thread that would be fun. The prob is that it isn't really a tradition to keelhaul, etc., more of a practice.

A.

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by Muckle Flugga

Would you care to enlarge on this fragment of highly questionable opinion, or are you just trolling?

LOL, no, he is not trolling. There was a long thread about this last year with easy step by step instructions:
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ad-128727.html

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

In some regards sailors are quick to take on new technology (new materials, electronics, even eventually new anchor design ). In some areas though, we seem to be traditionalists, following methods a little blindly because "it is the way it has always been done". Tying some knots seems to fall firmly in the latter category (as does calculating Course to Steer ).

The knots we are currently tying have been in use at least a couple of hundred years and were design for lines of natural fibres that do not slip easily.

The better "new" knots that were first in use nearly a century ago have been largely ignored.

Why are we so slow to take on change?
It is not as if some of the currently taught knots are the best.
........

Where I think we are currently poorly served with "traditional knots" is when it comes to bends (knots that join two lines together).

The Sheet bend slips under high load and can be shaken loose frightfully quickly.

The Double Sheet bend performs much better (almost as well as the Double Fisherman, particularly if the correct version of the two is used and it is dressed well). It too can shake loose quite easily though, so is a poor choice where load is applied and release and applied again, particularly in water. Also in older stiffer line it is difficult to dress and if there is any substantial time between tying the bend and load being applied, it can loosen up enough that it simply slips under load. Disconcertingly, reports that it can occasionally slip completely (for no apparent reason) keep cropping up.

The Double Fisherman faces the problem that it cannot be undone when significant load has been applied.

The Carrick is a reasonable choice, but is slow to dress (can slip substantially undressed) and is not widely taught. It us also very easy to get wrong unless you practise it frequently.

There is not really a decent "traditional" one at all if the lines are of moderately different diameter........

Here is the near perfect bend any sailor worth his salt should consider learning to tie, the 'Zeppelin'. If you only learn to tie one bend, this should be it:

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

Actually, I think Wottie wanted to start a thread that would be fun. The prob is that it isn't really a tradition to keelhaul, etc., more of a practice.

A.

Knots are fun .

Ann, I can't resist helping to make this bend more widely known. I would say the majority of cruisers/sailors and even commercial marine operators have never heard of this bend and are still using vastly inferior options.

Unfortunately, old traditions/practices die hard .

SWL

[Muckle Flugga]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

Knots are fun .

Ann, I can't resist helping to make this bend more widely known. I would say the majority of cruisers/sailors and even commercial marine operators have never heard of this bend and are still using vastly inferior options.

Unfortunately, old traditions/practices die hard .

SWL

Well, the overwhelming majority of the entire world, not just sailors use particularly double sheet bends with excellent results. Indeed it is universally, and I mean universally considered an excellent knot for its specified application so you and the other commenter here would appear to be an outlier. To call it "outdated" is certainly an exaggeration. I have never had one fail (correctly applied) in more than 30 years sailing under all conditions. I have heard of the Zeppelin loop, of course, it is a standard in all even fairly basic knot books. Used to be used for tethering airships. And???

I don't have time right now to thumb through the whole thread… deadlining on a refit project. But z loops or z bends if you like don't strike me as particularly good for joining two lines of SIGNIFICANTLY UNEQUAL DIAMETER, which is the primary function of the double sheet bend.