the art of the marine knot in the spotlight at the Musée des Pêcheries de Fécamp

Ever since men sailed, there have been sailors’ knots. For mooring, hoisting sails or raising trawls, there are hundreds of them. However, you don’t need to know a whole bunch of them to be a good sailor. “In the navy, five knots is already not bad”comments Luc Prover, knot maker at Fecamp (Seine Maritime). “The main thing is to know how to do them very well, with one hand, in the dark, even behind your back, because the other hand is used to hold on to the boat”he said.

To see even more, go to the museum des Pêcheries, in Fécamp, where the international knot dancers meet. They came from all over France and Northern Europe to show and exchange their know-how. If he there are useful knots, there are also ornamental ones, more whimsical. Mauritius Mc Partlanknot maker, is British. He started tangling the strings at the age of 7, and never stopped.