Page 88 - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice
P. 88

require. It’s all done with the fingertips and a little
             wrist motion, with the same motion you use to start
             the Marlingspike Hitch (see page 7).
                Once you know these first three knots, you can
             work with the eye of the Bowline toward or away
             from you, and with or without a prop. Never again
             do you have to hang outboard or hunch sideways to
             get the line in a familiar orientation.
                The Fingertip method is the one to use when
             you want to impress someone by tying a Bowline
             behind your back.

             The Enhanced Bowline
             The Bowline is so universally revered that people
             feel they’ve done something wrong if it slips or jams.
             So it’s with a sense of bewilderment and guilt that
             we try to reinforce it with everything from shack-
             les to duct tape, when all along the problem almost
             certainly lies with the unprecedentedly slick line we
             use nowadays. But a simple extra tuck, or an extra
             turn before tucking, is all it takes to restore the King
             of Knots to its accustomed regal security (Figure   Figure 3-23A. Two-Bight Bowline. Start with the
             3-23). And this also seems to lessen the Bowline’s   Spilled-Hitch Bowline; after spilling the hitch, add
             inclination to jam under extremes of loading.  an identical hitch and spill it, too. Then pass the end
                                                          behind the standing part and through both hitches.
             Slipknot Bowline                             This knot is less liable to slip or jam than the regular
             And now, for something completely different, a knot   Bowline.
             startling enough to be performed purely as a trick
             yet practical enough to save your life. May I intro-
             duce the fabulous Slipknot Bowline (Figure 3-24).
                The illustrations tell the story, but it’s hard to
             believe the thing actually works until you’ve tried
             it yourself. And then it’s just about impossible to
             resist saying “Voilà!” as the knot appears out of
             nowhere.
                I once used this knot to make up to a piling at a
             cleatless section of dock, in near-dark, in a crowded
             marina, when a strong tide was running and our
             engine wasn’t. We could have and probably should
             have anchored out, but we knew the place and the
             wind was right; so as I stood in the bow with Slip-
             knot ready, we luffed up into the current alongside
             the dock. I threw the long end around the piling,
             dropped it through the Slipknot, and the Bowline   Figure 3-23B. Another Bowline for slick line. Merely
             capsized into being as the boat drifted back. The   tuck the end back through as shown.

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