Whipping is a basic skill, simply and easily learned, but mastering it makes you look like a real seaman. So whip those lines and leave the cows in the pasture.
Cows? What cows? The picturesque language of sailors includes the term “cow tail,” a reference to ropes whose ends have become frayed or unraveled until they look like a bovine’s back end. This is usually considered a sign of poor seamanship and costs you points among the serious boaters.
Store-bought rope is usually cut with a hot-knife that seals the end by melting it. That keeps it from cow-tailing; if you need to cut it, a cigarette lighter will melt the cut ends together. Rigger Brian Toss calls it a “butane back splice.” But this quick fix ends up ugly and usually creates a hard lump or even a sharp edge at the end of the rope.
To avoid this and display your fine seamanship, put whippings on the ends of all your lines by simply wrapping marline, whipping twine or even very small seine twine – known as small stuff – tightly around the rope near the end. Properly done, the problem is dealt with. Permanently.
In fact, a good way to cut a rope is to put on your whippings first. Put two whippings where you want to cut the rope, about an inch apart from each other. Then lay your knife across the rope between them and drive it through with a hammer. That will make a neat, straight cut and with the whippings, it won’t fray.
WHIPPING 101
There are two kinds of rope you will encounter: three-strand twisted (called laid line) and braided.
The quickest and easiest method is the Common Whipping. This simply consists of whipping twine wrapped tightly around the rope near the end, with the ends of the twine tucked under the wraps. Here’s how: take the end of your whipping twine and make a long bight (a U shape) along the rope near its end. This bight should be a bit longer than the length of the whipping you are going to make (say, an inch and a half).
Starting about an inch from the end of the twine, wrap the rest of the twine tightly around the rope, working toward the loop end of the bight. If you are putting a whipping on laid line (three-strand twist) make sure that you wrap it against the lay, opposite the direction that the rope is twisted.
Make the wraps tight and close together. None of the rope should be visible through between the wraps. To get good, tight wraps, don’t cut off a length of twine from the spool. Instead, drop the spool onto the deck and put your foot on it. By holding the twine down with your foot, you can pull up hard on each wrap to make it very tight.
