The Complete Rigger's Apprentice: Tools and Techniques for Modern and Traditional Rigging, Second Edition

Brian Toss is a legend (briantoss.com), but his writing is astonishingly unpretentious, accessible, and unerringly favors the useful over the impressive. I can't count how often I use the tips and tricks I learned from this book. This has measurably improved my seamanship, and I need all the help I can get. Long, may your memory live on, Brian Toss.

Every time I pick up this book I learn something new. Brion's book is full of tips and tricks that save time, avoid problems, and make things better. The book is very well organized, and covers the range from practical lessons learned to detailed specifications on rigging design. The illustrations are excellent. He has opinions, but they are well supported, backed by for more experience than I have, tempered by an innate desire to constantly improve, do things the right way, and avoid problems. Side note...I tie my shoes properly, but have had issues with them coming undone, for years. I learned about the Turquoise Turtle Knot (p. 371) and have not had my shoelaces come undone (unless I untied them) since. This book is full of ideas like this. I refer to it frequently, and it deserves a spot on the short list of practical books. It is NOT just a book of knots. Certainly for anyone who works works on any type of rigging. Boat or land.

I've been fascinated by ropes, knots, splicing and rigging for decades. I've got dozens of books on knot work, rope access techniques, technical climbing, caving and more. I bought this book mainly to just fill out my collection. My only regret now is not purchasing it sooner. I've learned a lot even in the first few chapters: practical techniques for common tasks (the author's method for tying a marlinspike hitch is by far the best I've ever seen), bits of history, theory, etc... Sometimes I might have to reread a passage a time or two to absorb it but that's only because of the volume of information packed into it. Cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Overall the book is full of information. Knots of every kind some not heard of. Theory is excellent. . Print is small so if you have limited vision like me I'd buy a larger print if possible. I've enjoyed what I have read thus far. It's still worth buying.

You can’t sail without this book

It is sad that we lost Brion Toss as the expertise he shared in his writing, presentations, and work in the boating community made a positive impact to thousands. I found this book to be an outstanding resource.

Worth every penny.

My captain on the Matthew gave a jab at my simple braided lanyard and I took it up as a challenge to up my marlinspike skills. A rope group told me about the plan in Byron’s book and I amped up my game. You see the results here. Bravo Zulu to an author who has now crossed the bar.

It's clear that this book has not been updated since it was first published. 95% of the book is very long winded, detailed text with a few hand drawn images in there for balance. This is certainly a lot of valuable information - but no one is going to read that anymore. Complete waste of time waiting for this book to arrive. It desperately needs to be updated and modernized to make it relevant for today.

Great book to keep on board, Rest In Peace Brian you will be sorely missed in the sailing world SV Karana FP46

Ótimo livro

Detta är en "amerikansk" bok, på gott och ont. Den försöker täcka (och täcker) mycket mer än vad titeln lovar, stora delar av texten blir försök till underhållning snarare än fakta och metodöverföring. Exempel är omoderna i många stycken även om man tar hänsyn till utgivningsåret, och sk "moderna material" och moderna tekniker finns det inte mycket av. Om man väntar sig en genomgång av nutida riggar för segelbåtar finns det risk att man tycker att stora delar av boken är onödig, till exempel avsnitt om att splitsa stålwire, tillverka olika prydnadsknopar, diskutera fördelar och nackdelar med traditionella riggar och trämaster, att det finns olämpliga typer av rostfri riggwire och varför pressade ändstycken egentligen inte är särskilt bra. De användbara avsnitten är tyvärr dessutom relativt tunna.

Bel libro che con un testo comprensibile e bei disegni introduce ai principali basilari del Rigging da cui attingere per analizzare ed osservare l’armo delle barche a vela.