Bowline
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The bowline () is an ancient and simple
knot A knot is an intentional complication in Rope, cordage which may be practical or decorative, or both. Practical knots are classified by function, including List of hitch knots, hitches, List of bend knots, bends, List of loop knots, loop knots, ...
used to form a fixed loop at the end of a rope. It has the virtues of being both easy to tie and untie; most notably, it is easy to untie after being subjected to a load. The bowline is sometimes referred to as ''king of the knots'' because of its importance. Along with the sheet bend and the
clove hitch The clove hitch is an ancient type of knot, made of two successive single hitches tied around an object. It is most effectively used to secure a middle section of rope to an object it crosses over, such as a line on a fencepost. It can also be ...
, the bowline is often considered one of the most essential knots. The common bowline shares some structural similarity with the sheet bend. Virtually all end-to-end joining knots (i.e., bends) have a corresponding loop knot. Although the bowline is generally considered a reliable knot, its main deficiencies are a tendency to work loose when not under load (or under cyclic loading), to slip when pulled sideways, and the bight portion of the knot to capsize in certain circumstances. To address these shortcomings, a number of more secure variations of the bowline have been developed for use in safety-critical applications, or by securing the knot with an overhand knot backup.


History

The bowline's name has an earlier meaning, dating to the
age of sail The Age of Sail is a period in European history that lasted at the latest from the mid-16th (or mid-15th) to the mid-19th centuries, in which the dominance of sailing ships in global trade and warfare culminated, particularly marked by the int ...
. On a square-rigged ship, a bowline (sometimes spelled as two words, ''bow line'') is a rope that holds the edge of a square
sail A sail is a tensile structure, which is made from fabric or other membrane materials, that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may b ...
towards the bow of the ship and into the wind, preventing it from being taken aback. A ship is said to be on a "taut bowline" when these lines are made as taut as possible in order to sail close-hauled to the wind. The bowline knot is thought to have been first mentioned in John Smith's 1627 work ''A Sea Grammar'' under the name Boling knot. Smith considered the knot to be strong and secure, saying, "The ''Boling knot'' is also so firmly made and fastened by the bridles into the cringles of the sails, they will break, or the sail split before it will slip." Another possible finding was discovered on the rigging of the
Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...
ian
Pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:pr ꜥꜣ, pr ꜥꜣ''; Meroitic language, Meroitic: 𐦲𐦤𐦧, ; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') was the title of the monarch of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty of Egypt, First Dynasty ( ...
Khufu's solar ship during an excavation in 1954.


Usage

The bowline is used to make a loop at one end of a line. It is tied with the rope's working end also known as the "tail" or "end". The loop may pass around or through an object during the making of the knot. The knot tightens when loaded at (pulled by) the standing part of the line. The bowline is commonly used in sailing small craft, for example to fasten a halyard to the head of a sail or to tie a jib sheet to a
clew Sail components include the features that define a sail's shape and function, plus its constituent parts from which it is manufactured. A sail may be classified in a variety of ways, including by its orientation to the vessel (e.g. ''fore-and-a ...
of a jib. The bowline is well known as a rescue knot for such purposes as rescuing people who might have fallen down a hole, or off a cliff onto a ledge. This knot is particularly useful in such a situation because it is possible to tie with one hand. As such, a person needing rescue could hold onto the rope with one hand and use the other to tie the knot around their waist before being pulled to safety by rescuers. The
Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...
recommends the bowline knot for tying down light
aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...
. A rope with a bowline retains approximately 2/3 of its strength, with variances depending upon the nature of the rope, as in practice the exact strength depends on a variety of factors. In the United Kingdom, the knot is listed as part of the training objectives for the Qualified Firefighter Assessment.


Tying

A
mnemonic A mnemonic device ( ), memory trick or memory device is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval in the human memory, often by associating the information with something that is easier to remember. It makes use of e ...
used to teach the tying of the bowline is to imagine the working end of the rope as a rabbit. * 1,2 – a loop is made into the standing part which will act as the rabbit's hole * 3 – the "rabbit" comes up the hole, * 4 – goes round the tree (standing part) right to left * 5 – and back down the hole This can be taught to children with the rhyme: "Up through the rabbit hole, round the big tree; down through the rabbit hole and off goes he." There is a potential with beginners to wrongly tie the bowline. This faulty knot stems from an incorrect first step while tying the rabbit hole. If the loop is made backwards so that the working end of the rope is on the bottom, the resulting knot will be the Eskimo bowline, looking like a sideways bowline, which is also a stable knot.


Security

As noted above, the simplicity of the bowline makes it a good knot for a general purpose end-of-line loop. However, in situations that require additional security, several variants have been developed:


Round turn bowline

The round turn bowline is made by the addition of an extra turn in the formation of the "rabbit hole" before the working end is threaded through.


Water bowline

Similar to the double bowline, the water bowline is made by forming a
clove hitch The clove hitch is an ancient type of knot, made of two successive single hitches tied around an object. It is most effectively used to secure a middle section of rope to an object it crosses over, such as a line on a fencepost. It can also be ...
before the working end is threaded through. It is said to be stronger and also more resistant to jamming than the other variations, especially when wet.


Yosemite bowline

In this variation the knot's working end is taken round the loop in the direction of the original round turn, then threaded back up through the original round turn before the knot is drawn tight. The Yosemite bowline is often used in climbing.


Other variants

The cowboy bowline (also called Dutch bowline), French bowline, and Portuguese bowline are variations of the bowline, each of which makes one loop. (Names of knots are mostly traditional and may not reflect their origins.) A running bowline can be used to make a noose which draws tighter as tension is placed on the standing part of the rope. The ''Birmingham bowline'' has two loops; the working part is passed twice around the standing part (the "rabbit" makes two trips out of the hole and around the tree). Other two-loop bowline knots include the Spanish bowline and the bowline on the bight; these can be tied in the middle of a rope without access to the ends. A triple bowline is used to make three loops. A Cossack knot is a bowline where the running end goes around the loop-start rather than the main part and has a more symmetric triangular shaped knot. A slipped version of the Cossack knot is called Kalmyk loop. Tying video for Kalmyk loop File:Birmingham_Bowline_Loose.jpg, Two-loop Birmingham bowline before tightening and dressing the knot. Two turns taken around the standing part of the line form two loops. File:Four knots.jpg, Variants: File:Bowline to 6 2 knot.gif, If a bowline is tied and the two free ends of the rope are brought together in the simplest way, the mathematical knot obtained is the so-called
6₂ knot In knot theory, the 62 knot is one of three prime knots with crossing number (knot theory), crossing number six, the others being the Stevedore knot (mathematics), stevedore knot and the 63 knot, 63 knot. This knot is sometimes referred to as th ...
. The sequence of necessary moves is depicted here.


See also

* List of knots * Karash double loop * Eye splice * Bowline on a bight


Notes


References


Further reading

*


External links


Video of the Lightning Method

YouTube animation of a Bowline knot
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Variants

* * {{Knots