COLOURED PEGS TO MARK THE DISTANCE
BETWEEN EACH LENGTH OF ROPE

INSTALLING THE ROPES
FROM THE BOAT.

    When hanging the ropes from the line it is essential to leave a length of line with slip knots but without ropes, equivalent to the approximate length of the vessel. In order to start working, the boat is positioned between the rope laden with mussels and the first slip knot without a rope attached. This is done so that there will not be a surplus of rope laden with mussels within the boat when re-tubing is carried out. As the re-tubing process is being carried out, and we move along the line, this "free" or "empty" section also moves -being progressively displaced towards the other end of the line. So, when the process is finished this "free" section, without ropes hung from it, is at the other end of the line and is ready to be used for re-tubing the next time it is carried out but, this time, in the opposite direction.

    Obviously, when the start of the line is at the bow, the first length of rope to be re-tubed will appear over the stern. So, the first newly re-tubed rope must be hung from the first slip knot at the bow.

    AThus, when re-tubing starts, there will be a length of line without any ropes attached from which the first rope is to be hung. Consequently, the length of rope that we pull on board for re-tubing does not pile up inside the boat because the "free" section of the line is on board and the surplus is unloaded over the bow, already re-tubed, with a difference of two to three lengths of rope.

    If this is not done in this way, we would have a length of line as long as the boat itself on board with all its mussel laden ropes attached while we are re-tubing.

    For example, if the vessel is 5 m in length and two 4 m lengths of rope are attached every metre, there would be 40 m of rope loaded with mussels on board. (5 x 2 x 4 = 40) This would make manoeuvring extremely difficult and would have negative repercussions on the efficiency of the re-tubing process. (See figure 5).