Grace
Hi Dan,
As I've said in related posts, very, very few people belay efficiently to cleats, or to anything else. When I say "efficiently", I mean in a way that one can start by controlling any load that the line can handle, securing it so that you can walk away and not having the belay slip or jam, and then slack the load and cast off without binding or racing.
The grace for most people is that loads that can test a belay are rare in the marina world, so you can get by with just about any configuration that generates sufficient friction. The problem is that someday a serious load might just appear, and you will not be able to handle it. And this is exactly what has happened, many times, with some fairly horrific results. I have a photograph, for instance, of a foul belay to a bollard. At the moment the picture is taken, the rope is smoking, and some of the line handlers are falling down. A second later one of them had a broken leg, and a nearby heavy-duty cart was splintered.
Cleats, belaying pins, and the like, are highly-evolved tools, cabable of marvels. Few people will train themselves up to the belay's potential, and I can't do much about that. But I can enjoy the rhythm and logic and utility of a good belay, and hope that my example and my enjoyment will influence others.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss
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