Bowline Knot
If you’re going to learn any knot this season, this is the one you should focus on, as it is very versatile.Bowline Knots create a secure loop in the end of your rope. It can be used to fasten a mooring line to a post or a ring, with it not slipping when it is under load or pressure and can be easily untied with no load. You can join two bowline knots together, but you can’t untie it when it is under load. This type of knot can be easily done with one hand, which is useful in certain circumstances.
There are a few varieties of the bowline knot, such as an Eskimo Bowline, water Bowline and a left handed bowline. Whichever knot you choose to use, you must stress test it and inspect it thoroughly to make sure it is usable.
Anchor Hitch/Bend
This type of knot is used to secure a line to an anchor or a buoy and is sometimes called ‘the fisherman’s bend’ When the knot is used to attach a rope to an object it is generally referred to as a hitch, however the name bend comes from no restriction to joining more than one rope. This particular knot is quite like the Round Turn and Two half stitches because most people would add one or two half hitches. The simplicity of this trick is to pass the tail twice around the post and keep the second turn a bit loose.
Round Turn & 2 Half Stitches
Similar to the Anchor Knot, this is useful for attaching a mooring line to a dock, post or ring, and is made up of 2 important parts; the round turn and the two or more stitches. You can learn to tie this knot very easily with one hand, which again is very helpful when you need the other hand to control the strain of a vessel.
Barrel Hitch
This is generally used for lifting a barrel up and is particularly useful when the barrel or container is open and contains liquid. For safety and stability, the rope must be above the centre of gravity but not so far below so that it skips over the top. The rope must also be properly centred underneath the barrel to ensure smooth lifting. There are also different variations of this knot such as the overhand style and a figure 8 barrel hitch.
Cleat Hitch
A cleat hitch secures the rope to the boat cleat. Belaying a rope means securing it, but before cleats were well known, a rope was used to be secured to a pin in a beam of wood called a belaying pin. You can wrap the rope over the cleat as many times as you feel necessary although todays ropes may be stronger , thinner and more elastic so it may not be needed. A heavier load may mean additional crossovers.
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