Garcette

Rope Scraps

On old sailing ships, sailors would collect scraps of used or cut ropes when replacing or repairing them.
These rope scraps were then used for everything from knot-tying (matelotage) to securing any object on board: a crate, a bucket, provisions…
Crew members could be punished and receive blows from a garcette: they would be whipped with a garcette.

Lacing and Repair

Fortunately, these days, there's no question of receiving a blow from a garcette!
This small marine rope remains useful at sea for various repairs on board the boat, as it is always a fine thread, easy to knot and handle.

Repairing a sail by bringing two edges together with this rope end is called "lacing".
Lacing is a textile fastening method, which therefore does not require additional accessories (screws, nuts…). It is a very lightweight and easy-to-implement fastening system, while being very strong (depending on the chosen rope). It can be used for turnbuckles, shackles…
For multihulls, the attachment of a catamaran trampoline is also done with lacing.
This must be correctly done: the strands must not overlap and must remain perfectly parallel, and must be firmly tensioned.
For correct lacing in the case of net attachment, several turns are necessary.

It is also important to properly create your attachment point, with a knot or a splice (which is more aesthetic), and to finish the lacing by making a knot with the garcette.
This is repeated all around the net.
The principle is the same for attaching a guardrail net.
Our spools of garcette will suit most uses. If you want a more efficient rope, opt for our HMPE dyneema type ropes, which are even more resistant to tension and have a low coefficient of friction.