The bowline is definitely the "if you are going to only learn one knot" type of knot. What are some of your favourites that you use on your boat?

Halyard knot. I use this on all the halyards.

Timber hitch. For mainsail reefs.

Fishermen's Bend. Or a variation used to attach fenders to lifelines.

About 5.5

Well done, truckie, Prusik...and the others, sure we need them and using them
One more, I would prefer for climbing the mast , on continues rope , very very easy to do is ..
but not just for climbing, can replace the truckie for the ones not familiar with..

If you can't tie knots tie lots

I rely to heavily on just a few, bowline, clove hitch, half hitch, a lazy version of the truckie's hitch. I really should learn some more knots.

Ahh. One of my favourite topics.

I was a Boy Scout, so I started on knots from a young age.

Anybody who sails on a yacht and adheres to:- "If you can't do knots, do lots.", is a danger to himself, others and the vessel.

There is no excuse for anybody who goes on a vessel to sea for not knowing how to, take a turn on it, put a half hitch on it, secure it with a clove hitch and a lock hitch, put a bowline on it or tie it with a reef knot.

These are the absolute minimum requirements for anybody going to sea with me.

1. Take a turn on it...............If you take a turn of the line around a dock cleat and hold it, no matter what the load of the vessel wanting to move, the line will usually break before it will slip through your hands.

2. Put a half hitch on it and hold it, your hands are safe and there is no way the load will overcome your hold. However by doing that you have surrendered the ability to release the line while under heavy load.

3. Secure it with a clove hitch. You might not see it when you watch a western movie but this is the knot the cowboys use when they tie their horses to the "hitching rail". That is why they called it the hitching rail dummy. As bluemoon says, the clove hitch will loosen and come undone when jerked upon which was good for the cowboys horses. When the saloon got rowdy, someone tossed a lantern and the saloon caught fire, the horses would panic, start jerking on their tethers, loosen the "Clove hitch" and get away.

This is basic and everybody should know it.

3 1/2. Secure it with a clove hitch and a lock hitch. The clove hitch is just two half hitches around a bar in the same direction forming a knot that looks like an H. Simple. A 2 year old can be taught to do it. The lock hitch secures it and is just a simple matter of using the tail of the knot to put a half hitch on the standing (load) part of the knot.

3 3/4 The slip clove hitch with slip lock. This is the knot you use to secure your boom tent to your lifelines. Your boom tent is your shade/rain sail and needs to be set like a sail. Forget about awnings with battens in them. They are for amateurs. I am talking about a boom tent the yacht can safely carry at anchor in 30 knots +.

The backbone of the rig is the, mast to boomend line, which needs the fore end of the tent securely fixed, and the rear end of the tent, like your main sail, out haulable. That done, the fore edge of the tent/sail (luff) needs to be set. The tent needs to be short of the lifelines by 300 mm or more each side. The lashing lines from the eyelets are taken to the lifelines and secured with a slip clove hitch with a slip lock.

Those in the know will know what I am talking about. To those that don't know what I am talking about I say think about how you tie your shoe laces.

The slip clove hitch with slip lock is a knot that will not loosen if tied correctly yet can be undone in less than a second by just yanking the tail of the line. If you want to get rid of the boom tent real quick, that is the knot to use.

4. The bowline. The rabbit comes out of the hole, goes around the tree and goes back down the hole. Remember that and you will get it right. In the meantime I have tied the knot three times while you are thinking about it.

I will do a video of how I do it and post in this thread later.

4. The reef knot. Right over left and under, left over right and under. Same knot you tie your shoes with but without the bows.

5. The rolling hitch or timber hitch. This is a very useful knot for yachtsmen when they want to transfer the load on a line to a different point such as moving the genoa car forward or aft on it's track without having to let the sheet go slack. It is tied to the sheet between the clew and turning block, tension taken on it, and then the tail of the sheet is unloaded and can be transferred to wherever required.



The first 4 knots are simple and essential for anybody on or off the water and should be taught in every primary school.

The fifth knot is basic also but it's safe usage requires a slightly higher level of understanding of physics and load dynamics.

There are probably a thousand other knots, some industrial in use, and others, art performed at sea when there is nothing else to do. I do believe though the above 5 will suffice for most yachtsmen.

I am sure if you go on Youtube you will find all of them explained in full plus a whole lot more.

Estar hitch. Modern addition to buntline for use with synthetics. Also fully tested. Google cruisers forum for a full write up. Additional testing there on the humble bowline as well.

NowandZen said..
Figure 8 knot in the end of each sheet!

except the spinnaker sheets !!