What is a V Bridle, and What is it used for?

An Anchorplait® V-bridle is an excellent, secure method of sharing the load between two strongpoints on the bow or stern of a yacht. V bridles can be attached to the forward mooring cleats via the fairleads on the toe rail to avoid routing your line over the bow roller. V-bridles are extremely useful for permanent swing and trot moorings, anchor chain snubbing, and for attaching yacht drogues or towing warps.

The Elements of a V-Bridle

The Jimmy Green V-bridle consists of a continuous line made into a V-shape with a central Brummel locking tuck splice. The centre splice could be a soft eye around a fitting or a hard eye formed around a stainless thimble. The two ‘legs’ or ‘tails’ are usually attached to cleats on either side of the bow or to the aft quarters. The eye splice then forms the apex of the V shape for attachment forward or aft of the boat.

The beauty of the Anchorplait® centre eye splice is that the line is continuous, and the strength is therefore not reliant on any joint like the Y splice, where two separate ropes are joined together.

At this point, it should be noted that it is basically impossible to successfully put a centre eye splice in a rope of three-strand construction. It is also inadvisable to attempt it with a braided line because the major disruption to the strands and fibres will adversely affect their strength.

Even with an Anchorplait® centre eye splice, the maximum deployment angle must always be set up with caution, but the continuity of the line makes it much less prone to failure at a wider than optimum angle than any joining splice between two separate ropes.

The Most Suitable Rope for a V Bridle

Anchorplait® White Nylon, available exclusively from Jimmy Green, has eight strands plaited together in four pairs of opposing lay strands, two pairs left hand and two pairs right hand laid to create a balanced construction. The four pairs of plaits can be neatly worked to accommodate the Brummel Locking central eye or loop.

Nylon (polyamide) has excellent shock-absorbing elongation, dependable strength, excellent durability, and UV and abrasion resistance. Polyester is also an acceptable alternative with excellent all-round properties similar to Nylon but with slightly less stretch. The elasticity can be augmented on either rope with the addition of a mooring compensator.

The Benefits of V Bridles

A V Bridle at the bow keeps the lines clear of the bow roller, the anchor and any other deck equipment or rigging. At the stern, a V-bridle keeps the lines clear of the steering mechanisms (rudder) and the propeller and cockpit.

The strength of the bridle is not reliant on splicing two separate ropes together.

A V Bridle reduces the yawing effect around the mooring or anchor. As the boat swings, the load increasingly transfers to the other tail to counter the movement.

When pulling straight, the overall load is theoretically halved, and even in practice, the total load will be greatly reduced on each line. In addition, the ropes will be under strain proportionally less of the time, which should extend their working life considerably. The knock-on effect is that your deck cleats will benefit from less strain as well.

Further reading or shop for:

Mooring Bridles 

Chain Snubbing Bridles

Examples of Jimmy Green Marine Custom Build V Bridles