Who’s up for a little French whipping? A reader asked me to explain what was going with my stick. My tiller stick that is. He noticed is was a bit knotty.
Years ago, it was just a piece of varnished ash, but it kept grinding on the starboard gunwale, so I sewed a nice piece of marine leather on it. Aside from it being crooked, it was a good start. But on certain points of sail the stick was still rubbing: enter a scrap of nylon rope and an instructional video that’s a little too long, but is narrated with a charming accent:
That piece wasn’t long enough, so enter the next section, this time using a scrap of cotton clothesline. This is the best because you can do the French hitching as tight as you can, then soak it, let it dry/shrink and you’ve got a pretty snug, grippy, and cool looking place to put your hand and protect your varnish.
It looks fancy, but the secret is that it is just a whole lot of half hitches.
I think you should have kept the double entendre bit going for the whole piece.
So tempting to comment, but I am knot going to go there.
You people are really going to to goad me into making a bad pun. Just to show you I have a tiny bit of restraint, I’m just going to say no. There, I said it. No. 🙂
Methinks thou dost protest too much (you did start this after all). However, we will resist trying to whip you into shape.
I’m just about at the end of my rope here… Are you happy now?
Quite.
Just wanted to say thank your for using one of my videos in your blog post. A very smart looking tiller stick. Regards, John.
Likewise, thanks for having such a neat video!