Newbie notes - on the bowline

[C Striker]

Ok I'll try this out and see how it is accepted.

The bowline... an awesome knot that will not come undone under load, yet is easy to untie. I read that somewhere, but still can't tie one. I am more of the - If ya can't tie a knot, tie a lot - crowd.

So I'm putting up my mast in the backyard to get it out of my way for the mod season. By myself and a furled genny. Told yas I got skills. That furler never banged the top once, even when I had to stop mid way of rollin her back to the daggerboard to shut the transom seat. I'll remember that little tidbit from now on. I get the raiser taught, check all the wires etc. I notice that one of the bowline knots doesn't have a piggytail on it! Good thing I did too, my mast may have fallen mid-way up. The working end was barely caught inside the loop.

So I worked the knot a bit to get me an inch hanging out of the knot. Then I checked the other 2 knots on the raiser.

Then the lightbulb went click in my head. I grabbed a roll of white electrical tape and taped them tricky knots. The trick is to stretch the tape when doing this. Without this, there isn't really grabbing power. I use this white tape for a living pulling cable, so trust me on this 1.

I didn't tape over the 1 inch tail though, so I can keep my eye on it. Thats my little but of newbie advice on that (bO-lin) knot. Seems they are a bit too easy to untie and over time may bite ya right in the arse!

Striker - out!

[delevi]

If the bowline is really tight, it doesn't need much of a tail. Don't quite understand your taping, but tape shouldn't be necessary at all. A properly tied bowline, once loaded should never untie on its own.... tape or no tape. Just make sure your taping doesn't actually cause the rope to slip inside the knot

To tie a proper bowline, feed one end of the rope through the item you're attaching. On the other end of the attachment point (not the one you just fed the line through) make a loop and twist it 180 degrees. Don't knot this loop, just hold it with two fingers. Take the first end of the rope and feed it through the loop you made, go around the rope behind the loop 180 degrees and feed back through the loop. Easy way to remember is: in, around, and out. Grap the end which exits the loop with one hand and the long part of the rope with the other hand. Pull both ends and the knott will tension. Once tensioned, the tail only needs to be an inch or so. When a bowline has been under large loads, it is not as easy to untie as advertised. Personally, I use pliers to assist me, which will break virtually any bowline in just a few seconds. By hand it can take several minutes. Some knots I found I could simply not untie without pliers.

Good luck,
Leon

[kmclemore]

If you can't learn it here or here, you can't learn it anywhere.

[puggsy]

Hi Clemor [ ???] Don't know where you got the animation, but it is a beauty...should be required viewing for everyone...Puggsy

[pokerrick1]

I don't get it

Rick

PS No wonder my boat crashed against the docks

PPS Actually not true - - - three new lines actually BROKE - - that's how violent the wave action was

[kadet]

Or simply put a half hitch or stopper knot in the tag which is called a locked bowline, then it should not come undone cause it is locked

[Oskar 26M]

It cant compete with that animation, but back in the days when I was first starting (before such things as web animations were available) a play on words helped me remember how to tie a bowline.

Unfortunately I cant remember who taught it to me, but It goes something like this (check it out against the animation):

"loop it back, then from the back, around the back, and back through"

I've never had a bowline come undone, and although the rope tail can unravel if its not either whipped or heat sealed, it wont unravel past the knot.

[kmclemore]

Hi Clemor [ ???] Don't know where you got the animation, but it is a beauty...should be required viewing for everyone...Puggsy

Glad to help. Click that first link for an even better animation. It also includes variations like the stopper knot and Dutch versions of the bowline knot.

Cheers,
Kevin McLemore
(I'm a moderator here)

[C Striker]

A properly tied bowline, once loaded should never untie on its own.... tape or no tape. Just make sure your taping doesn't actually cause the rope to slip inside the knot

Emphasis being - once under load. It's for the mast raiser, so they are never untied. Just used and abused. The working end sticking out an inch and not taped is so I can keep an eye out for slipping. Seems the locked bowline should be here, but I use tape and velcro for a living. Yes velcro holds my mast down on the holder when trailering. 4 or 5 wraps worth is strong as rope.

You guys rock! No clue how I didn't run across this site before I bought the boat. If I had, things would have turned out so different. Now I'm stuck picking up the pieces @!#@%$$^%$#$

Striker

[pokerrick1]

Sea Striker you make a point - - - why didn't you find this site before you bought your boat - - - you would have done things much better. I would think it would be in Roger's AND all dealer's BEST INTEREST to make this site known to their PROPECTS and suggest they browse. Prospects would get 98% positive comments and MANY, MANY hints to help them - - - not only with the buy decision, but the what do I need with it decision (never mind mods, etc.).

Rick

[tangentair]

Interesting Kevin - that site called your illustration knot a Dutch bowline or left hand - I learned it as a tugboat bowline and when the end exits inside the loop, it was called a sailor's bowline. I don't know why it was called a tugboat, but the boswains mate that taught me allways said to tie a sailor's because with the line exiting the bind inside the loop it would be less likely to catch and snag other lines or objects.
It is also a good knot to earn to tie one handed, I can not begin to describe in words how, but when you are holding on to a line with one hand that is loosing strength, it is helpful to be able to wrap the line around your chest with the other hand, twist the line around your wrist and pull the end back through. That way they do not have to search for your body.

[opie]

This is how I forced myself to learn to tie a bowline with one hand:

Makeup a wild scenario: You fall over a cliff and stop just short of disaster.

Now you find yourself hanging from the cliff with both hands on a lonely root sticking out of the cliff face above the 250 foot drop to the rocks way below your dangling feet.

A dumb, but welcome hiker throws a 3/8" rescue rope over the cliff to you, but with no knot or loop in it.

You are getting tired of holding on and you only have strength for 60 more seconds. You find the guts to grab the rope with one hand while putting all your weight on the root with the other hand.

Now, knowing you could never hold onto the 3/8" line without it slipping through your fingers, you have 60 seconds to wrap the rope around your waist and with one-hand, tie a bowline with the end of the rope to save your life. Start the timer and GO!

(At first, It took me 20 minutes to get it done, but now I can tie a quick bowline with only one hand.)

So, set up the idea, put one hand behind your back, have your Admiral throw you a rope to save yourself. (If no rope comes, that may be a hint of home trouble. )

[Captain Steve]

Ah, the infamous one handed bowline. My scoutmaster made sure we all could tie it that way. I still remember how!

[Chinook]

I learned to tie the one handed bowline while working one winter at a Forest Service nursery on the north coast of California. I spent that winter pulling and packing 2 year old douglas fir seedlings for the upcoming spring transplant season. The 16 inch long seedlings were separated and placed on a long conveyor belt by the tree pulling crew. At the head of the belt I would place the bundles into a large, waxed paper bag and then fold it up, tape it closed, and tie a jute twine line around it. That's where the one handed bowline came into play. The packing line moved fast, and there was no time for extra or wasted motion. The one handed bowline allowed a non slip loop to be quickly tied on one end of the twine. The other end, after going around the large closed bag, went through the bowline loop and was cinched down with 2 half hitches. After 2 months working that packing line, the process of tying a bowline is permanently imbedded in my brain. The only problem is that, for me to tie the knot, I have to be standing in the same position as when I was tying up a bag full of trees, and the line has to be looped in the same position. Once that is set, I can tie it blindfolded.

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

If there is one knot to learn, its the bowline. I learned this from very young and the hardest part was always how to make the first loop. The trick how I learned was to wrap a loop around my waist (like I had fallen in a well and someone threw me a rope) then with the right hand, hold the end of the line over top of the part on my left side (like in a cross shape) and then do a clockwise flip of the right wrist while holding the two together. This always makes the loop in the correct way and then you just feed the end under the tree and into the rabbit hole (or whatever it was in boy scouts).

But you guys got me with the one-handed bowline. Don't think I've ever tried that as I've always held the loop in one hand and then fed the end under and in with the other hand. Anyone got a slick animation for how to do it one handed?