Page 37 - Knots You Need to Know Easy-to-Follow Guide to the 30 Most Useful Knots

The Portuguese Bowline

One of the handiest of the specialized knots is a double-looped bowline
called the Portuguese bend, which makes an excellent emergency
bosun’s chair for hoisting a person aloft to repair a mast. Its two

interconnected loops can be adjusted after the knot is formed, so that
one loop will fit around the person’s chest and the other will make a
sufficiently roomy seat. If it is properly tied, the knot will support the
heaviest person aboard without either slipping or jamming.

1. To tie a Portuguese bowline, coil a pair of counterclockwise turns into a

piece of line. Hold the coils securely with the left hand, and with the right
hand grasp the point at which the line’s working end crosses over the
standing part, as shown. Then turn the right hand palm upward (arrow),
so that the working end passes first down behind the coils and then up
through them.