>>687479find a mentor. someone with experience who's passionate about it and likes to share their passion and knowledge. hard to find, but impossible to beat. barring that, books, internet, make a friend who's also enthused to get into it and practice together, double checking everything.
>>687590i can't speak for ship rigging, but for climbing here's a better knot list:
>family of 8stying in to the rope and anchors
>clove hitchquickly attaching yourself to the anchor
>munter hitchwhen you lose your atc and need an emergency belay/rap method
>double overhandquickly joining two similar diameter ropes for rapping
>double fisherman'sjoining two different diameter ropes, or if you want them securely joined for a while
>water knotjoining two ends of webbing (basically just an overhand follow-through)
