A knotty problem

One of my ways of checking people for the Clipper Round The World Race is to make sure they can tie knots.

There are certain ones they have to know as part of their four-week training. I remember going down to a boat and asking a lady who had just joined to do a bowline.

She said ‘I haven’t done one for nine months’, and I was absolutely furious.

I said ‘Come on, you’re about to cross the Pacific Ocean and you haven’t been keeping up with your training, you’re a danger to yourself and to your fellow crew members’.

And she started arguing with me, then she realised the other two ladies who were there were on my side.

So I said, ‘Right I’ll be down tomorrow and you’ll show me all six of those knots.’

Of course I went down the next day and I couldn’t remember which boat she was on, so she got away with it!