Little Suprise Rigging Practice

Repetition of the “Small Surprise” drill will perfect your ability to set up ratlines and will provide a dummy model to practice all forms of rigging.

One of the tricks used by Capt. Jack Aubrey in the "Master and Commander, Far Side of the World" DVD is one you can use in developing a practice bed for rigging. Capt Jack used a decoy to Mount running lights at the right height to deceive the enemy into thinking he was following the HMS Surprise, Capt. Aubrey had the crew construct a "mini-surprise" complete with a mast yards and rigging.

Use the decoy idea to build yourself a practice bed consisting of a couple masts complete with yards. Make one set from wooden materials and the second from plastic.

Now for each mast set rig shrouds (The vertical supports for  ratlines) between the base of your bed and the mast top. String three to five shrouds with twisted multifilament thread one quarter

Capt. Aubrey was also a believer in practice prior to undertaking the real thing. He had the gun crew run through drills with the larboard guns to trim the time between shots. Practice hones the routine. Almost any form of practice will improve your skills through repetition.

Setting up ratlines is not as critical as gunnery practice, but never

Use the smallest, sharpest needle you can find and select a dark colored fine thread for "cross ropes". You will sew the cross ropes through each of the shroud lines keeping them about 1/4-inch apart. Do not pull tight; instead leave each thinner line a little slack. Once cross rope is in place through each shroud. 

Once each set is finished, use a dab of CA adhesive at each junction. Do two complete sets one on wood, the other on plastic. 

You will soon notice the plastic is not as resilient as the wooden set and the more rigging applied; the more the flexibility of plastic becomes a problem. When you have completed the rigging, you want to be sure you still have straight members, both masts and yards.