Page 136 - Knots You Need to Know Easy-to-Follow Guide to the 30 Most Useful Knots

Cleats for Belaying

A stout cleat provides a quick, sure way to make fast a line—and hold it,
no matter how great the strain. The commonest cleat, used for holding
down anything from a mainsheet to a mooring line, consists of two arms,

or horns, attached to a base, which should be screwed or bolted to the
boat. A line being secured to a standard cleat is wrapped, or belayed, in a
series of figure eights (right).

A good seaman can belay a line on a standard cleat in two or three
seconds. But specialized, fast-acting cleats developed for racing make
belaying virtually instantaneous. Jam cleats snag the line in a sharp V
under one arm, or horn, and cam cleats grip the line between two

swiveling serrated jaws (below). Both cam and jam cleats release a line
just as quickly—making them useful for mainsheets and jib sheets, which
demand frequent adjusting.

Mooring lines and most halyards are usually made fast to standard
cleats, and secured with a final half hitch to prevent the belay from
accidentally unwinding. On some larger boats the bow cleat is replaced
by a bitt (page 93), which will hold a heavy hawser in rough seas.