Tradecraft topics: Sailing knots

Next in a series of postings concerning sailing tradecraft, offering various tips on technique, is the topic of sailing knots.  There are a few knots that all sailors should know, for reasons of safety and for utility.  Videos linked here are from the awesome website AnimatedKnots.com, demonstrating how to tie the knots.  In no particular order except for the bowline - which always comes first! - here are 12 knots, hitches, and bends, plus 3 other cleats, coils, and flakes - that I tend to use all the time on board Volant...

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KNOTS, HITCHES, and BENDS

Bowline - To form a secure loop that will not slip but is easily untied even after load is applied.  For example, tying this around your body so you can be hauled out of the water can save your life. Regarded as the king of knots and the most important safety knot to know.  Learn how to tie this with gloves, on a rolling deck, getting soaked with waves, with numb cold fingers, in the dark.  For extra challenge, there's a method to tie this knot with one hand, for example, when you need the other hand to hold onto the boat.  

Reef (square) knot - To tie reef lines of light line or nylon webbing around the mainsail fabric when reefing.  This knot can slip and release, especially with slippery, high-tech line, so it is not as secure as alternative methods of joining ends of a line.  

Two half hitches - To tie off a line to a fixed object.  The example here shows round turns ahead of the two half hitches, which is a good application for attaching a line to a post.  This is how we attach dock lines to the piers in the West Basin Marina harbor.

     

Alpine butterfly loop - To tie a midline loop in a standing line that can bear load in any direction and is easy to untie.  If the bowline is king, this knot is usually thought of as queen of knots.  This alpine butterfly loop youtube video is an alternative method of tying this knot.  Useful for purposes of attaching something to a line, hauling and retrieving something aloft, or making a simple 2:1 block and tackle for cinching a load down.  For the latter, finish with two half hitches for the tail.  Truckers use this or a variation for tying loads down.  I used to use it for lashing canoes to the roof of my car.  

Clove hitch - To tie off a line to a fixed object like a rail or post.  This is not secure except for light duty because it can slip or bind up.  It is more secure if, after tying the clove hitch, you tie two half hitches around the standing part of the line with the tail.  I use this for tying things to the stern pulpit that I don't want to fall off.   

Figure 8 knot - To add a stopper to the tail of the line, for example, to prevent it from being pulled through an on-deck rope clutch.  Although it is easy to untie, that is also its vice - it can come untied if the line is flogged.  Before you adopt this knot, check out the next one down.

Double overhand stopper - I like this knot better than the figure 8 knot as a stopper at the end of a line because it is slightly bulkier, will not come undone, and is rounder in shape to make it more reliable to grip.  However, it is harder to untie than the figure 8 knot.  Note that when you tie a stopper knot, leave about 8 inches of tail past the knot - not how it is shown here - so that you have enough purchase to grip the line and pull it back from a rope clutch or wherever it jams.

Halyard hitch - Useful to attach a line securely to a ring, shackle, or other small fixed object without compromising the strength of the line as much as some alternatives.  This knot will bind up after large loads are applied, and untying it is usually impossible (get out your knife!).  It can be an alternative to a shackle permanently spliced to a line, though breaking strength of the line is reduced.  We tied a shackle to a dock line with this hitch a while ago, and it will be forever tied!  Leave a little more tail than is shown here.

Slip knot - Used for a temporary attachment that is very easy to untie by just pulling on the tail.  Use this knot on sail ties when securing the mainsail around the boom to stow it.  

Sheet bend - For joining 2 lines of equal or unequal diameter.  This is a quick-to-tie connector knot, but it is not as reliable for a permanent connection between 2 lines as alternatives like, for example, the alpine butterfly bend.  

Uni knot - Used to attach a line to a shackle, ring, rail, bucket bail, etc.  Can be more versatile than a halyard hitch because you can tie it on the standing part of the line and then slip it down.  It works for skinny or fat objects.  I usually tie this knot in a slightly different way, by making 3 turns toward the loop and passing the tail inside the turns alongside the standing part of the line.  This knot holds even in bungee cord, which is difficult to do.

Midshipman's hitch - Used to tie a loop to the standing part of the line that can be slipped along the line and re-tensioned.  I usually tie a slight variation of this, often termed a "taut line hitch", with 2 loops around the standing line instead of 1.  This taut line hitch youtube video shows the method I usually use, though using 2 half hitches instead of 1 to finish the knot makes it more secure.  

CLEATS, COILS, and FLAKES

Cleat hitch - To secure a line to a cleat, for example, attaching a dock line to a cleat ashore.  I prefer to take 2 full loops around the cleat before crossing over the figure 8's (and do just 2 figure 8's, not a dozen of them).  These loops hold most of the load and the hitch will not bind up.  Be sure to tie a cleat hitch correctly.  If not, the line can slip out or bind up permanently.  There are stories of bound-up dock lines that had to be cut off to allow the boat to disembark.  Once, when we were rafted in South Haven, the cleat hitch on the boat next to us let go and boats started banging together at 3am!  Note that the cleat hitch shown on animatedknots.com for a dock line is incorrect!  Use this one.

Coil loose line - There are many methods to coil a line to stow it.  This one is really close to the method I like to use.  Make sure you do not add a half-twist to each coil as you form it, in an attempt to make it lay down neatly and look pretty.  If you do that, when it uncoils, every coil will tend to hockle and foul the line.  Also, I don't favor coiling a line with figure 8's using a winch drum at one end because twists can be forced into the line unknowingly.  Instead, let each coil drape over your arm or hand naturally without any twisting, following the memory of the line.  At least every other segment will tend to form a figure 8.  Line coiled this way will pay out smoothly without hockles. 

Flemish flake - This makes an attractive, seamanlike finish for dock line tails.  To get the length right, I usually form this by wrapping from the inside (middle) out and rotating the whole assembly, instead of the way the video depicts here, which requires a lot of luck to get the tail length right.

That's it!  Get some rope and practice!  

If you enjoy using these knots, you can learn about the thousands of other knots that exist, each perfect for its purpose!  The traditional time-honored source for information about knots is The Ashley Book of Knots, originally published in 1944, which includes descriptions, history, and illustrations for 3900 knots!  This is not one of them!...  

A knot that The Ashley Book of Knots somehow fails to include!  ;-)