OK, Tillerman, I love the bowline. Why?
It's the King of Knots
Because it's the perfect knot. It's secure in pretty much any conditions. It's relatively easy to tie and untie. It's neat and tidy. A model of efficiency. Whoever figured it out is a smart cookie. It's not as intuitive as other simpler knots or as fancy as more complicated ones but it just works.
Here is a video on how to tie one, although it makes it a little more complicated than it really is. I prefer the bunny goes through the hole, round the tree, back in the hole. Although that only works 50% of the time*
*I have knot-tieing anxiety. Alone, in the quiet of my own home, I can tie a bowline with my eyes closed, one-handed behind my back but if I need to tie one in an urgent situation, it will usualy take me 5 attempts. I get the loop the wrong way round.
Nice one. I was thinking of writing about my favorite knot ... not the bowline.
But what's all that about the bunny being wrong 50% of the time? My bunny works 100% of the time... as long as the rabbit hole is in front of the tree and the bunny comes out of the hole first.
Posted by: tillerman | September 12, 2008 at 09:39 AM
Tillerman, you are so wise. I never learned that bit.
Posted by: Adam Turinas | September 12, 2008 at 09:43 AM
Brilliant!! Now, can you tie one behind your back? ;-)
- Christy -
Posted by: Christy | September 12, 2008 at 01:17 PM
The trick to getting it right is being sure that when you create the rabbit hole, the tree lies BEHIND the line that subsequently traces the path of the rabbit.
Posted by: Carol Anne | September 13, 2008 at 10:53 PM
Step 4...tell at the crew to get that ****in roving fender out because you've taken so long tying your knot that you missed the cleat you're drifting into a gin palace owned by a litigation lawyer.
There's a quick and dirty 'emergency bowline' which takes about 1.5 secs. Shall I youtube that?
Posted by: Peter Mc | October 01, 2008 at 12:30 PM