How to make a rope shorter for easy storage
If you have long ropes (it does not matter why, for sailing, mountain climbing, camping, shibari, etc) sooner or later you will need to organize them somehow. Preferably without entangling, One obvious solution is to coil them up. But can you uncoil 10-20m rope without “spontaneous knots”? And what if you have a “collection” of 2,3,5,10,12,15,20m? Unmanageable spaghetti!
The method I use makes a rope 11 times shorter. In the example below I use a 408cm rope and transform it into a 38cm long braid. And look how easy and fast you can “unbraid” the plait (or unplait the braid).
Step by step. (And do not forget to check the video below.)
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- More than 4m here. Let’s begin.
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- Fold the rope in two
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- Make a figure 8 knot in the very centre leaving a loop. It’s easier to begin with this type of knot than Larks’ Head. (see below).
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- Do not tighten the knot too much. It should be loose enough for easy undoing. Note the loop.
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- Pass the rope through the formed loop.
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- Form a new loop and tighten a bit.
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- Then simply repeat the process
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- Until all rope is used.
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- You can start with a Lark’s head, which is a loop. And you do not have to untie it during unpleating the braid.
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- No rope left for another loop
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- Pass the ends of the rope through the last loop to prevent untying.
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- Job done!
The figure of 8 method:
The Lark’s head method: