More competent sailor holding end of rope in both hands (5)
I believe the answer is:
abler
'more competent' is the definition.
('able' can be similar in meaning to 'competent')
'sailor holding end of rope in both hands' is the wordplay.
'sailor' becomes 'ab' (abbreviation for able seaman).
'holding' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'end of' says to take the final letters.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'both hands' becomes 'LR' (abbreviations for left and right).
The final letter of 'rope' is 'e'.
'e' put within 'lr' is 'ler'.
'ab'+'ler'='ABLER'
(Other definitions for abler that I've seen before include "More skilful" , "fitter" , "stronger" , "More skilled" , "More proficient" .)