Q&A: Without It, What?

by Peter Swanson, Loose Cannon
As the editor of Ocean Navigator, which was always one of boating magazines worth reading, Timothy Queeney had a pretty good run. He left the magazine after it was sold in 2021 (and was shut down permanently earlier this year). Loose Cannon recently spoke to Queeney about his reinvention as an author with a first-book about to go on sale.

Tim, Bravo on ROPE! In hindsight such an obvious topic. What made you decide to write this book?

The inspiration to write ROPE came from… a rope. We always had sailboats when I was growing up and so there was plenty of line around my parents’ house. After my dad died some years ago, my mom suggested I take the milk crates of boat rope home with me to Maine. Over the next few years I used pieces of that rope for various tasks ashore and afloat.

One day I grabbed a line from the crate for some purpose but it was knotted in an awkward place. I was about to loosen the knot when I stopped and realized that my dad’s fingers had tied it. It was a physical sign of him still here in the world. I hung that line, knot intact, on the wall and began to think about rope in a way I hadn’t before. After rooting around online I found no one had written a book about rope and its significance in human history. That seemed like a missing piece so I thought I might tell that story. – Full report