{"id":3601,"date":"2026-05-22T12:01:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T12:01:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/?p=3601"},"modified":"2026-05-22T12:01:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T12:01:47","slug":"the-octopus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/the-octopus\/","title":{"rendered":"The Octopus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Octopus\" width=\"563\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gUCAgFnaYHE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p data-pm-slice=\"1 1 []\">It\u2019s called \u201cThe Octopus\u201d because, you have to admit, it does look like one.<\/p>\n<p>Also, like an octopus, it is very clever. For the cost of a single elastic band, it solves one of the oldest problems on a boat: What to do with all the bits of string.<\/p>\n<p>Boats accumulate bits of string \u2013 and sailors are always needing bits of string (that\u2019s why they never throw them away.)<\/p>\n<p>But neither do they tidy them up \u2013 at least, not in a way which makes all those bits of string easily accessible next time they\u2019re needed.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, they tend to accumulate in the bottom of the cockpit cave locker, or at the back of the chart table. Aboard <em>Largo,<\/em> I used to loop them round the handholds on the inside of the companionway.<\/p>\n<p>The Octopus is the solution. Any thin piece of line less than about a metre in length gets added to the Octopus \u2013 just push one end into the elastic band.<\/p>\n<p>When you need a piece of line less than about a metre in length, hold up the Octopus in one hand, give it a shake, select your piece of string and pull.<\/p>\n<p>You don\u2019t need to coil it neatly again \u2013 just bundle it up and chuck it back where it came from. The next time you need it, just give it a shake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s called \u201cThe Octopus\u201d because, you have to admit, it does look like one. Also, like an octopus, it is very clever. For the cost of a single elastic band, it solves one of the oldest problems on a boat: What to do with all the bits of string. Boats accumulate bits of string \u2013 &#8230; <a title=\"The Octopus\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/the-octopus\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about The Octopus\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-singlehanded"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3601"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3603,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3601\/revisions\/3603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}