English Braids: UK rope manufacturer (credit: English Braids)

Club Night on 23 October saw the long-awaited visit to the Club by Mr. Julian Tucker, South Coast Marine Manager for English Braids Ltd. Following hard on the heels of the Trafalgar Night Dinner, Julian’s presentation was a welcome exposition of practical techniques of which even Nelson might have approved.

English Braids are a real home-grown success story. From their beginning 40 years ago making cords for window blinds, they have expanded to become a leading rope manufacturer and a force to be reckoned with across a number of industrial sectors, including marine, construction and entertainment markets. Their success is founded on a combination of up-to-date manufacturing, superior products and a positive attitude to business, as the Club found when it approached them.

After a short talk on the history of the company and various types of fibres and the ropes made from them, Julian got down to brass tacks by showing how to differentiate between English Braids’ high quality ropes and the inferior offerings from the opposition (surprisingly, the price differential is not great so why not pay for quality?). After this startlingly simple but effective demonstration, members will certainly be inspecting the stock of their local chandlers with a more discerning eye. Julian also conducted an equally simple but effective series of experiments to show us the properties of different fibres and ropes and their significance to sailors. This catalysed a lively debate involving some of the sailing members on what constituted best practice – it was almost like a session of the Ropework Workshop.

Julian followed these eye-openers with a short master class in splicing three-strand, braided and 12-strand cordage. He carried out these operations with consummate speed and skill while maintaining a steady flow of explanatory patter. You can always tell when experts are at work: they make it look so easy. Finally, Julian very kindly presented the Club with a substantial quantity of materials for use in the Ropework Workshop, discount vouchers for use in one of his chandler customers (valid on all products, not just English Braids’) and a stock of useful data sheets on different types of rope.

Julian later reported negative and positive aspects of his visit to the Club. On the debit side, he awoke in his cabin in the middle of the night and his head collided with something unyielding; returning to his wife with a cut and a black eye required some explanation. On the credit side, he says that an account of his visit makes an excellent conversational gambit when making sales calls to his customers. It seems that the Little Ship Club name still carries some weight in the marine sector.

Those of you who missed this exciting event may like to know that Julian will visit again at some point. He will also be providing the Club with a short film of rope being manufactured at English Braids’ Malvern headquarters. To complement this, Richard Taylor and I hope to run an updated version of the Ropework Workshop in the early New Year, incorporating the film and demonstrating splices in braided rope, using the materials left by Julian.

Ian Stewart

And here is a video of a splicing demonstration from English Braids themselves.