The Commodore Says "We need new snap-shackle lanyards".

Red Ranger has a fair number of snap shackles.

• Four on various halyards.

• Four on the Pelican hooks for the lifelines.

• Two on the running backstays.

• Four on the various blocks we use for the Yankee sheets.

• One on the mizzen sheet.

• Maybe two more for turning blocks on the stays'l sheets.

Call it 18 individual snap shackle ring pulls. A Ronstan shackle lanyard is about $4.00. Grand total of $72 to put lanyards on all of them.

A 100' spool of 1.5mm "mini-cord", however, is barely $10.00.

There are a number of examples of snap-shackle ring pull projects. For example, Grog's Animated Knots has the Cobra Knot (or Solomon's Bar or Portuguese Sinnet). This is an elegantly simple way to create a lanyard.

Best of all, it's an easy thing for crafty people (like Sister-in-law Sara) to do while hanging around. Within hours, she had mastered the knot and churned out 18 or so great-looking lanyards.

We're thinking of sending her a few more spools of 1.5mm line and selling her output on eBay or Etsy. Or maybe we'll use them as trade goods with other cruisers.

Check out "Paracord Lanyard" for examples of what's possible.