FTV Deck Training Classes

Division 3 Atlantic group had deck training today. Now, we are really underway. Seamanship was on the schedule with Captain DeCicco. First, we reviewed the knots we had learned in our STCW Basic Safety class we all took last semester. We did a Square Knot and the Bowline.

Square Knot

Bowline

After we made sure we hadn’t forgotten those over break 1/C Andrew Byrne went over the French Bowline and the Spanish Bowline, which are used as rescue knots.

French Bowline

Spanish Bowline

Then, when we were ready to truly test our aptitude for this major, they showed us how to splice, which isn't as difficult as we freshmen thought it would be. Well, not at first, but after practicing for a while, we all managed to figure it out. Though, some of the finished products looked a little fatter and a bit more frayed than others. We started to get competitive with each other looking up at the person across from us to see who could splice better and faster. But it was all in good fun and there wasn't a person that didn't need help at one point. We all helped out our shipmates when we could. After all of that, we cleaned up the Seatorium and headed out, telling ourselves how “salty” we are on our way to be. We had a great time and are looking forward to more training on this cruise.

Directions for Knots:Reef, Bowline, and the Figure Eight

Learn knot tying step by step

This tutorial shows the best knots from the three primary knot categories: Loop Knots (make a loop in the rope), Bends (rope to rope knots) and Hitches (rope to object knots).