Summer nears, thoughts shift to sailing. I found myself staring at the lake and tracing those triangular shapes. That afternoon, I took out a piece of rope and started practicing the knots.
When I learned sailing, I thought the common phrase “learning the ropes” meant the names of those ropes on a boat (they are called sheets or lines). To operate a sail boat, one must pull ropes decisively. A delay, hesitation or, worse, mistake will possibly capsize the boat, miss the turn, or, minimally, lose the speed. The captain’s job, essentially, is to time and coordinate all those rope pulling activities. They give commands that are precise, terse, and understood to all those well versed in sailing. I am still “learning the ropes.”
Sailors must pull the right rope at the right time. There is no time to untangle first. They must, therefore, be able to tie and untie ropes all the time. And they must trust these knots. Once tied, they must be secure, wet or dry. They also must be able to untie all knots quickly, also wet and dry. One of those knots is the Bowline. As I practiced it on a piece furniture, I found it beautiful — and not just this knot, all the knots used in sailing.
And I admire the beauty, in its design, simplicity, and effectiveness, of this Bowline. I realized that this is another aspect of learning the ropes: the knots. I thought of centuries of sailing and all those wisdom passed from generation to generation. And I smiled, “this is pretty cool.”