Seamanship Part 4 - Herc Strap Rigging

[dropcap cap=H]erc straps, ratchet straps or cinch straps as they are well known are the powerful racheting straps commonly used to cinch down cargo in truck beds or in the back of a Hercules freighter aircraft (hence the term). [/dropcap]

There is really only one way to attach an ama to the iakos on an outrigger canoe and the lashing technique is outlined elsewhere. However there is choice available in attaching the iakos to the canoe.  The conventional lashings used for the ama are also widely used to attach the iakos to the canoe at the spreaders.  This is the most traditional and probably most true to the spirit of the sport technique. 

Requiring a little less technique, but providing some larger element of shock resistance with recovery are using stretched rubber, made from strips of motor vehicle tire inner tubes, to attach the iako.  This method gives great rebound after a collision or hard smack that the stern no doubt did not see coming and takes a little less time to administer than conventional lashing.

Another method that is extremely strong and perhaps the fastest to achieve is the use of Herc straps or ratchet straps.  The following video describes better than words how this can be accomplished.

Some cautions regarding the use of ratchet straps are the straps can exert extreme pressure and can cause cracking of attaching parts or the canoe itself.  Sometimes the cracking my not occur until a little smack from a collision exerts that little 'extra' "straw that breaks the camel's back" pressure and cracks could occur.

That said, the ratchet straps are the simplest and quickest to attach. Regardless of the method chosen, every outrigger canoeist should learn the basic skills of rigging a canoe.  As most of us know, its not just about going for a canoe ride.

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