Bow line--another detail

Bow line, another important detail -- April 6, 2014 --Unfortunately half of dry sailing is the trailer--the set-up (30 minutes)  the launch (10-20 minutes depending on the line) --retrieval (15 minutes) --take down (15 minutes) --drive home (40 minutes to 2 hours depending on the beer situation). 

The launch ramp in Olympia has a floating dock--nice.  It is four and half feet higher than the ramp--not so nice. Once you push the boat off the trailer you have to hand the bow line up to someone on the dock.  Or, if you launch by yourself at 2:30 pm on a Thursday, you have to jump up on the dock, tie up the boat so it is out of the way for the next launch, jump back down into  the cold, dirty water, run to the truck and go park it.  (The advantage to a deserted dock is that there is no audience to watch you back down the ramp.) 

Just in case you drop it, you need a bowline that floats.  You need a bowline with a stainless snap hook so you can get it out of the way once you're out on the water.  A dorky little detail, but one that will really spoil your day if you don't take care of it.

Polypropylene  seems to work the best.  It floats, it doesn't stretch, it's easy to splice

and it doesn't usually tangle up in a propeller.  I like a line that is 20 - 25 feet long.

Coming up: A bow cleat suitable for towing.  A new main is ordered.

Today's cliche.  "Friends come and go; enemies accumulate."