Sailing News

The Perfect Bowline Knot Every Time

Yeah,
I consider myself a sailor.
I like to sail. Every summer I get the chance to tie a few bowlines. Most of them are leisurely made with lots of care. I’ve got all the time in the world to massage and pull the lines into a beautiful knot. But, then there are the few times during the summer that duty calls, and I need to tie a bowline really fast. That’s when I realize I don’t fully conceptualize what I’m doing.

Heavens sakes man, I know to make a loop and all.
I come out of the hole, around the tree, and back down the hole. But when the helmsman is glaring at the back of my head and the jib is flailing across my face and the deck – I find I’m not so good at tying a bowline or thinking. Okay, in my defense, sometimes I nail it, but sometimes I make something unrecognizable that might require a sharp knife to undo.

Truly, it’s not like riding a bicycle.
In a panic almost anyone can hop on any bike and go. But, grab a line and run forward while a sailboat is pitching about all three axes and tie a perfect bowline, that’s another matter.

Ten minutes of practice and I had it down cold [VIDEO].
Really, ten minutes have undone all the rabbit-hole problems of the past. I’ve shown 4th graders how to tie the bowline. I will show anybody who will listen to me that the bowline is so very simple – no mystery at all.

Here are some bowlines:
I may have unwittingly tied a few of these, and they probably worked like a charm. And no, I cannot tie them on demand or recognize them once I have. Never again though.

Bowline examples

 

I just want a bowline that my friends and family will recognize.

bowlineNow I can do it!
I can make a perfect bowline every time because I stand upon the shoulders of YouTube giants who have come before me. They slowly and kindly explained to me that a bowline is just made by a slip knot. I watched, but at first I was not a good student. I nodded my head and said to myself, “That’s cool.” However, with the onset of a long New York winter I vowed that I must learn their magic and practice their ways.

 

 

 

 

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