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The Five Knots Every Boy Should Know

BEING ABLE TO TIE KNOTS in rope is extremely useful. It is amazing how many people only know a reef and a granny knot. Rather than naming hundreds, we’ve narrowed it down to five extremely useful examples.

However, they take endless practice. I learned a bowline on a sailing ship in the Pacific. For three weeks, I used an old bit of rope on every watch, night and day. On my return to England, I attempted to demonstrate the knot – and found it had vanished from memory. To be fair, it didn’t take long to recall, but knots should be practised every now and then, so they will be there when you need them. There are hundreds of good books available, including expert levels of splicing and decorative knots. These are the standard basics – useful to all.

1. THE REEF KNOT

This knot is used to reef sails – that is, to reduce the amount of sail area when the wind is getting stronger. If you look at a dinghy sail, you’ll notice cords hanging from the material. As the sail is folded on the boom, the cords are tied together using reef knots. It is symmetrical and pleasing to the eye.

The rule to remember is: left over right, right over left.

2. THE FIGURE OF EIGHT

This is a “stopper’ – it goes at the end of a rope and prevents the rope passing through a hole. A double figure of eight is sometimes used to give the rope end weight for throwing. It’s called a figure of eight because it looks like the number eight.

3. THE BOWLINE (PRONOUNCED BOW-LIN)

This is a fantastically useful, solid knot. It is used whenever a loop on the end of a rope is needed – for a post, a ring, or anything else really.

1 Make a loop towards yourself, leaving enough free at the end to go around your post, tree or similar object

2 Now – imagine the loop is a rabbit hole and the tip is the rabbit. The other end of the rope is the tree. Feed the tip up through the hole – the rabbit coming up.

3 Pass the rabbit round the back of the tree.

4 Pass the rabbit back down the hole – back into the original loop.

5 Pull tight carefully.

NOTE: You can make a simple lasso by making a bowline and passing the other end of the rope through the loop. The bowline does not slip, so is useful for making a loop to lower someone, or to throw to a drowning person.

4. SHEET BEND

This is a useful knot for joining two ropes together. Reef knots fail completely when joining ropes of different diameters – but a sheet bend works very well.

5. A CLOVE HITCH – FOR HITCHING TWO THINGS TOGETHER VERY QUICKLY

This is a short-term knot – the sort of thing you see used by cowboys in westerns to hitch their horses. Its main benefit is that it’s very fast to make. Basically, it’s wrapping a rope around a post and tucking an end into a loop. Practise this one over and over until you can do it quickly.

These five knots will be useful in a huge variety of situations, from building a treehouse to camping, to sailing, to tying up your horse outside a saloon. They will not come easily. They take practice and patience. Knowing this will not impress girls, but it could save your life – or your horse.