“Marlin Spike Seamanship” like electrical systems, has never clicked with me. I can do all of the important knots for sailing, Sheet Bend, Rolling Hitch, Bowline, etc. and have completed a few rough looking  three strand eye splices, but the double braid stuff and the decorative wrap never seem to work out.

The Main Sheet was always too big for the blocks on Santosha and never ran smooth so this year I though myself into learning splicing. I managed after a couple of attempts to splice an eye in the new mainsheet, and turned my attention to something i had only read about but never seen, Soft Shackles.

These seem like a great idea and look very nautical, so armed with 20′ of Dyneema, and some new Uni-Fids in hand I set to it.

It was very simple until the knot… this was my fifth attempt, don’t try after a few glasses of wine…

Now I have the hang of it I will be trying some more rope work, I need the whip my wheel and I have always wanted a monkeys fist heaving line….

There are many instructional videos out there but this one worked for me: