Recently I have been asked by a couple of sailors for recommendations for new ropes for their boat. I am not sure whether this is because they think I know something about the topic or because they know I will express an opinion about most anything to do with sailing. In any case I thought I might bore the readers with a summary of what I know and think about the ropes available to sailor these days.

Things used to be pretty simple. There was three stranded nylon rope that was good (and only good) for dock lines and anchor rodes. There was single braid polypropylene rope, almost always yellow, used everywhere for ski rope. Ski rope was sometimes used by power-boaters and fishermen as dock and tow rope to the dismay of anyone who knew anything about ropes. Then there was double braided polyester (“Dacron”) used for almost everything on a sailboat. Double braid rope has a cover of braided strands, or plaits, and a separate core also of braided plaits. At one time, all double braided polyester ropes featured a cover and core made with 16 two stranded pairs of fibers.

It is possible to make braided rope with a single braid. The yellow ski rope mentioned above is an example.

Cruisers and racers have different needs when it comes to ropes. Cruisers want decent performance, ease of use, and long life times for their ropes. Racers want minimum stretch in highly loaded lines like halyards, lightness in spinnaker and jib sheets, and good grip on hands, wenches, and cleats. Cost is an issue for both.

Modern ropes now come in a wide variety of materials and styles of construction. New materials include -

“Dyneema” - a brand name for ultra-high-molecular-weight-polyethylene (UHMWPE.)
“Vectran” - a brand name for a liquid crystal polymer.
“Zylon” - a brand name for polyurethane polymer (PBO.)
“Cordura – a brand name for a Nylon 66 product.

These exotic fibers are very strong for their weight and stretch very little under load. However, they are more expensive (some a lot more) than our old friends polyester, polypropylene and nylon.

Most rope is now being manufactured overseas and is being manufactured to metric standards. This can have an impact. For example, if you ask for 5/16” line, you will actually get 8mm line. 8mm line is .3149” in diameter. 5/16” line is .3125” in diameter. So 8mm line is a bit thicker than 5/16”.

Manufactures have a number of options for the construction of rope. They can take an exotic and single braid it. They can take an exotic and make it a core and put a polyester (or polypropylene) cover over it. They can blend an expensive exotic with cheaper polyester or polypropylene and make it a single braid, or a core, or a cover. Price is impacted as shown in this table.

Given all of these choices, what is a sailor to do? For the cruiser, I think the selection is pretty easy.

For your sheets, you want something that is easy to handle (said to have a good “hand”) doesn't make kinks easily (doesn't “hock”) is relatively cheap and will last a long time. I think that describes a product called “Regatta Braid” made by New England ropes. It is a single braid polyester product. West Marine has it and I am sure Charlie will order it for you (and eat the freight.) Looks like you can even get it in colors. (Racers sometimes color code the lines to help their crew. I have done this and it looks great the first year. After that, all the colors fade.) Get it thick enough to have a good hand. Nothing less than 8mm in my view. For halyards, a polyester-polyester double braid is fine. A 6mm (1/4”) line would be plenty strong for any boat that fits our lake, but this might be too thin to cleat well depending on your set up. Moreover, and this a a general observation for both cruisers and racers, small diameter lines are tougher on your hands. So for the cruiser halyard, 8mm might be best. For “control lines” such as vangs, cunninghams and outhauls, 6mm polyester-polyester is just fine and I recommend that you consider Samson's Trophy Braid. It has a fuzzy cover that cleats well and has a good hand. Trophy Braid also makes a good main sheet, but see below.

For racers things get much more complicated. Be aware that some class rules dictate minimum diameters for lines. Again, strength is not generally going to be an issue with any line. You can pick up a 7,000 pound boat with 6mm PBO. Here are suggestions and thoughts. For halyards, go with a polyester cover and an exotic blended core. Hardly any stretch or creep at a reasonable price. For jib sheets, dingies should consider a single braid exotic blend or a polyethylene single braid. You can go with a thicker line to please the crew and these lines are so light that they float. They don't absorb water either. Sunlight is death on polyethylene (and PBO) and it does not wear very well. You will be lucky to get two years out of a polyethylene line.

Bigger boats should consider either a polyethylene cover exotic blended core or a polyester cover exotic blended core jib sheet depending on how long you want to use the rope. The later will last several years.

For spinnaker sheets polyethylene covered exotic blend core seems to me to be the way to go, and if class rules permit, strip the cover off of the part of the sheet that doesn't see a cleat or a wench. 8mm will handle more that 3,000 pounds before it breaks, what can your crew handle?

For main sheets I have become sold on single braid polyethylene. This not your Dad's ski rope. It has a good hand, is hock resistant and light. The only problem is life and it is of low enough cost to replace if needed. All of the major rope manufactures - Marstron, New England, Yale and Samson, have versions.

After service as a main sheet, a polyethylene single braid makes a great painter, so give it to Wayne.

Control lines are a challenge. I would lean toward polyethylene covered exotic blend cored if weight and water absorption were the concern (with a single braid exotic blend closed behind.) For a better hand and a longer life, I might look at a 32 plait polyester cover like the Robline or Yale's Maxibraid. I'd check with my crew before I went to a 5mm or smaller even though the Olympic crews handle the stuff. At some point, these cut like wire.

Well, for what is worth, there are my thoughts. By the way, if you do up-grade to a new rope, consider a splice where applicable. A knot throws away about 60% of the strength.