Barbara Merry is a marine rope worker with twenty years of experience in the splicing trade. Founder and owner of the Marlinspike Artist, she has worked on projects for boats of all sizes, from small traditional sailing craft and working schooners to commercial fishing vessels and U.S. Coast Guard cutters. She has taught at the Wooden Boat School and the Northeast Maritime Institute, and has written on rope and rope technology for WoodenBoat and Invention and Technology.

John Darwin is a master of rope technology and sailed in many capacities from deckhand to captain before working shoreside for a large rope manufacturer. A former rope designer, John still tests and fabricates rope.