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It is a scene we have already seen, usually followed by an exponential series of shouts, imprecations and agitation aboard. But there is no doubts: the author of this funny scene is the skipper, who could have showed, quickly and before mooring, how to throw the rope and coil it, that is to roll it up before launch.
Let’s start from this point. So, let’s see how to prepare the rope after fixing it on the stern cleat.
The first thing to do is to take its terminal part with your left hand if you work with the right one, with the head pointed to the hand holding the rope which comes from the cleat.
Then, you have to create some rings in order to obtain a sufficient length for the launch from the boat to the dock. Rings must be created by turning the rope between your index finger and your thumb or with a wrist rotation so that they will be flat and parallel and not with spiral-shaped.
After coiling enough metres of rope, you can divide the part which will be thrown from that one you will hold in the other hand.
If there is still a little time before mooring, you can place the rope on a plane surface. But it must be always divided in order to not repeat the operation. To do that, it is sufficient to cross the two parts like in the picture below.
When you are ready for the launch, you only have to take the two parts and throw the rope with a large arm movement.
In this picture, the arm throwing the rope is the right one. So, the left hand sustaining the other part of the coiled rope will remain open in order to give more rope if necessary.
It’ s a deal done. Those who, in the dock, hoped in a comical scene will be disappointed.
