TECHNICAL ROPES AND RIGGING
Toby Heppell is the Sailing Editor at Yachting Monthly. He has been sailing since he got his first dinghy at the age of four. He has raced and cruised extensively across the globe, won international competitions and has been writing about sailing his whole adult life.
There was a time when selecting the correct rope for a specific task was scarcely more complicated than choosing a larger diameter for higher loads. But as new materials have been developed – offering differing characteristics, woven in different ways, with or without a jacket – deciding on which rope is right for you can be something of a minefield.
Typically, the better a rope performs in any number of areas, the higher the price tag, so for most sailors there is something of a cost-benefit analysis to be made when deciding which product to buy. It is wise to ask yourself what specific improvement you are paying for and whether, ultimately, it is worth the additional expense.
It is also worth noting that, though we tend to equate cheaper with lower performance, that is not always the case. Sometimes picking up a more expensive rope assuming it will behave better due to the higher price tag can leave you with an inferior product for a
