Solo Sailing 103: Tack and Gybe

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Center of scholarly knowledge and shipwrighting, Zeltiva is a port city unlike any other in Mizahar. [Lore]

Sailing 103: Tack and Gybe

Postby Fallon on August 2nd, 2015, 5:04 pm

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72nd Summer 515 AV
Early Afternoon

There was the low sloshing of water in Fallon's ears as she watched, eyes looking down into the depths of the water and her hand raising to point at towards the next target to be snatched upon. The sun overhead began to move, slipping through the heat of the day as the crew of the Waverider mulled about Matthew's Bay. Poles and nets became their allies, the large metal hooks catching upon the edges and guiding them ever closer, larger objects being entangled in nets and hauled up onto the deck. A careful and thought out process Fallon mused as she watched. The boat however remained as it was, the bodies moving about the deck while the captain had her going around ensuring the ropes were tight and the cargo was being securely tethered down in the hold.

Boot pressed against the damp wood of the crate, a tight pull of the rope as she brought it down towards the central loop at the base of the ship. It was with a bend that she tucked it through, pulling it tight and deciding what sort of knot would be necessary to use for such a case. It was beneath the swinging lantern than she heard the captain call at her from across the hold, "Use a Power Cinch Knot, Lass. Nice and sturdy."
"A what?"
She blinked at him.
She could hear a sigh, "Start with a bight, use it to tie a directional figure eight, pass the end through the loop below, then up through the figure eight loop. Pull it tight, and then finish it off with two half hitches below the loop. Easy Lass! When you're done, do the rest will you and get up deck."

She could hear the wood groaning as he moved away, her feet slamming down to brace as the boat rocked. Sighing, she withdrew the cord from the loop, her brow creasing as she tried to work out what he meant. Bight, that was where the rope comes down, loops around and then back on itself. Her lips pulled and pursed as she pulled it, brow creasing with focus as she worked through the words in her head. Figure of eight, she had seen those on the deck she remembered , the looped shape in her mind's eye being undone - how did it go? She pinched the rope together to make a loop and brought it back behind the main length, before wrapping it over and leaving a hole formed at the bottom where the dangling tail end of the rope hung. Her lips pursed, a brief rock back on her heels as she continued to pull the pinched rope round and downwards through the opening besides the tail. It looked right, she reasoned as she turned it over, watching the shape of it coil and run around, a loop left hanging in the middle of the rope.

From there she looked down at the metal loop within the hull of the boat, and bending down to tuck it on through. Above she could hear the muffled shouts of the crew, and so chose to hurry herself along, the words of the captain repeating in her mind. Her lips twitched the words back to herself, "Through the loop, then the eight loop," her eyes fixed upon it, a quick pushing tug of the end through and the hands letting it sit tight, "Then two half hitches. Half hitch... half hitch," Fallon moved the tail back and forth, feeling the now taught rope in her grasp as she attempted to figure it out. It was a simple thing, she knew that as she lay the tail upon the length and below the loop. How did it go?

"Hurry up Lass!" she heard the captain shout loudly.
"I'm coming! Steady on!" Fallon called back, tone a near snap. Cautiously she looped it around the tensed edge, wrapping it around and tucking the tail in on itself and tugging it tight once more to form an almost ring. With a frown she begrudgingly repeated the process, pulling the rope tight before scuttling off to the steps leading up onto the deck.
FALLON
Fallon | Coffee Codes | Skill Images

Fallon is a Master of Intimidation, "At this level, a Master intimidator often unconsciously intimidates their target unless the intimidator monitors their stance, tone, and actions to prevent this. Master intimidators will nearly always have a reputation that precedes them unless they have taken special care to prevent it."
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Fallon
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