Page 47 - Frank Rosenow "Seagoing Knots"

The Flip-over Bowline

The drawings are arranged from left to right, from top to bottom.
Face the line and make a loop with the end on top of the standing part.
With the juncture grasped between thumb and forefinger and your other
fingers bearing on the standing part (second drawing), twist your right
hand away from you so a loop is formed in the standing part.
Into this, the end naturally falls (third drawing).
Flip the end behind the standing part and down into the small loop
(fourth and fifth drawings).
To finish, push the line snug around the standing part while pulling at

the end (last drawing).
Manipulate until tension in the knot is well balanced.
As the name I make bold to use for it (there being none firmly estab¬
lished) implies, the flipover must not be tied in ponderous stages but in
one flowing sequence. Slap down the end on the standing part with
enough impact to start the twisting process, let the end remain alive as it
flips up into the small loop formed and see that it continues without a
pause around the standing part and back down into the loop.
The only moment of contemplation should come at the end when you

work the knot into shape.
To loosen the bowline, push the standing part back into the knot. This
takes the strain off all parts of the knot simultaneously.

The Bowline Stopper

In a quiet anchorage on the Baltic Sea, I once shared some delicious
pan-fried herring with a Stockholm gentleman in a very narrow and very
elegant skerry cruiser. Having treated me to the herring, with tart lingon-
berries on the side, he popped over another tidbit, a stopper turn for the
bowline end.
The bowline, as is previously said, is safe on its own if tied to suitable
line and snugged up properly. But there are times, when the safety of the
boat or a crew member depend on it, that you want to add something.

Rather than a simple half hitch, use this stopper, which consists of an
overhand knot on the end taken around the bight as shown in the drawing.
It lies very snug against the bowline without straining it.

KNOTS