SEAMANSHIP · Lesson 3 of 6
Ropework and Knots
30 min · Beginner friendly
You’ll learn toChoose the right knot for mooring, towing and sail handling · Describe how to tie a bowline, clove hitch, round turn and two half hitches, and a cleat hitch · Coil, stow and throw a line safely
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Listen to the complete lesson
About 9 min
Cruising needs a surprisingly small repertoire — five or six, tied confidently, cover almost everything. Practise with a real piece of rope as you read: a metre of any cord will do, and ten minutes of hands-on practice beats an hour of reading.
Take a guess
Your crew ties the dinghy to the dock with a knot that will never come undone. The tide has since pulled the painter bar-tight. Decide: what is the problem with that never-fails knot now?
Commit to an answer before reading on — a wrong guess here helps the right idea stick.
Talking About Rope
Aboard, rope with a job becomes a line. Polyester is the everyday workhorse; stretchy nylon is for anchoring and mooring, where stretch absorbs snatching loads. A few terms describe the line in your hands while you tie.
- Working end
- The end of the line you are tying with.
- Standing part
- The rest of the line — under load or leading away from the knot.
- Bight
- A slack loop formed without crossing the line over itself.
- Bitter end
- The very last inboard end of a line.
- To make fast
- To secure a line to a or other fitting.
Knowledge check
Stand out of the bight! someone shouts as the tow line is passed. What are you being warned about?
The Bowline
The bowline (pronounced boh-lin) is the loop knot. Reach for it whenever you want a fixed eye in the end of a line and will have slack when the time comes to undo it.
Bowline
working endstanding parta break in a strand means it passes underneath
Step 1 of 5Make a small loop in the standing part, an arm's length from the end. The standing part lies on top where it crosses.
Step 2 of 5Bring the working end up through the loop from below — the rabbit comes out of its hole.
Step 3 of 5Pass it behind the standing part — the rabbit runs round the tree. Both legs of that collar go under.
Step 4 of 5Take it back down through the same hole. The tail must finish inside the loop, alongside the leg it came up with.
Step 5 of 5Hold the loop and the tail and pull the standing part to snug it down. Leave a tail at least ten centimetres long.
- What it is for
- A fixed loop in the end of a line: mooring warps over a cleat, sheets onto a headsail. It never slips smaller and never shakes larger.
- How it fails
- It cannot be untied while it is loaded — so never use one where you may have to let go in a hurry. It can also capsize and spill if the standing part is jerked sideways, at right angles to the loop, as it can be when a loop is left dangling over a cleat horn.
Knowledge check
Tying a bowline: the rabbit has just come up out of the hole. What does it do next?
Hitches for Rings, Posts and Rails
Knowledge check
You need to secure the dinghy painter to a dockside ring while the dinghy tugs at it in a chop. Which knot is the best choice?
The round turn and two half hitches is that knot, and the reason is in the order of the parts: the turn goes on first and does the work.
Round turn & two half hitches
working endstanding parta break in a strand means it passes underneath
Step 1 of 4Take the working end a full turn round the rail, so both parts come away on the same side.
Step 2 of 4Bring the end back to the standing part and pass it round once: one half hitch.
Step 3 of 4Make a second half hitch the same way round as the first, below it.
Step 4 of 4Slide both hitches up snug. The round turn holds the load; the hitches only stop it undoing — which is why this one can be tied, and cast off, with the line still tugging.
- What it is for
- Securing a line to a ring, post or rail when it is already pulling — a dinghy painter, a mooring warp, a fender lanyard on a rail.
- How it fails
- Almost nothing, which is why it is the workhorse; but the hitches must both be made the same way round, or they sit as a slipping pair instead of locking each other. Left with no round turn beneath them, two half hitches alone will jam solid under load.
The Cleat Hitch: OXO
Knowledge check
You bring a loaded mooring line to a cleat. What goes onto the cleat first?
Cleat hitch (OXO)
working endstanding parta break in a strand means it passes underneath
Step 1 of 4Lead the line to the far horn first, then take one complete round turn round the base — the first O.
Step 2 of 4Cross diagonally over the top and round under the opposite horn — the first half of the X.
Step 3 of 4Bring it back across the other way to complete the figure-of-eight, and round under the far horn.
Step 4 of 4Finish with the end turned back and laid flat under the last turn — the final O. Two crosses is plenty.
- What it is for
- Making any line fast to a cleat: mooring warps, halyards, the lot. The first round turn carries the load on friction, which is what lets you surge a line out under control instead of it snatching.
- How it fails
- Crossing turns laid on first, with no round turn beneath them, jam under load — you can neither ease the line nor free it in a hurry. So does a mound of extra figures-of-eight: one or two crosses and a flat lock is a cleat hitch, six is a knot you will be cutting off in the dark.
Stoppers and Joiners
Knowledge check
Why is a figure-of-eight knot tied in the end of each headsail sheet?
Figure-of-eight
working endstanding parta break in a strand means it passes underneath
Step 1 of 3Cross the working end over the standing part to make a loop.
Step 2 of 3Take the end round behind the standing part.
Step 3 of 3Bring it down through the loop and pull it tight. Over, under, over: that is the eight.
- What it is for
- A stopper in the end of a sheet or halyard: bulkier than the block or fairlead it must not pass through, so a line let go by accident is stopped before it escapes the boat.
- How it fails
- It is a stopper and nothing else — it will not attach a line to anything. Tied too near the very end it can pull off, and an overhand knot used in its place jams so hard after loading that it has to be cut out.
Sheet bend
working endstanding parta break in a strand means it passes underneath
Step 1 of 4Make a bight in the thicker rope.
Step 2 of 4Pass the thinner rope's end up through the bight from below.
Step 3 of 4Take it round behind both legs of the bight.
Step 4 of 4Tuck it under its own standing part and work it snug. Both short ends must finish on the same side of the pull.
- What it is for
- Joining two ropes, and the only seamanlike choice when they are of different thickness — the bight goes in the thicker rope, the tuck is made with the thinner.
- How it fails
- If the two short ends finish on opposite sides of the bight it becomes the left-handed sheet bend, which spills under load. It also loosens when slack, so it is not for a join that will be left unwatched: double the tuck for anything serious.
The familiar reef knot joins nothing: it is for tying sail ties around a lowered sail and no more. Used to join two ropes under load it capsizes and spills.
Coil, Stow, Throw
Coil a line in even loops from the fixed end towards the free end, so twists escape rather than accumulate; modern braided rope may prefer to fall in loose figure-of-eights, which is fine. Hang every coiled halyard so it can be cast off and run instantly — a sail must be able to come down the moment you need it down.
To throw a line, split the coil: keep a third of the loops — and your end — in the non-throwing hand, and throw the other two-thirds with a smooth underarm swing, aiming slightly beyond the so the line falls across them. No line throws well from a tangled heap.
Your turn
Choose the best knot for each job and say why: (1) attaching a mooring warp to a dockside ring while the boat surges in swell; (2) putting a loop in a line to drop over a mooring cleat; (3) hanging a fender from the guardrail; (4) securing the end of a genoa sheet against running through its block; (5) taking the strain off a genoa sheet that has a riding turn jammed on the winch.
Work it through on paper first — then check yourself against the solution. Reading a worked answer feels like learning; producing one is learning.
Key points
- Bowline: a fixed loop that never slips and unties easily — but not while under load.
- Round turn and two half hitches: the ring-and-post knot that can be tied and released under load.
- Clove hitch: seconds to tie, ideal for fenders, too unreliable for anything critical.
- Cleat hitch: OXO — round turn first, figure-of-eight cross, tidy finish.
- Figure-of-eight stoppers live in the ends of sheets; reef knots are for sail ties only.
- Sheet bend: the way to join two ropes of different thickness — bight in the thicker, tuck with the thinner, both short ends on the same side.
- Coil lines so they run freely, hang halyards ready to release, and never trust fingers near loaded rope.
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