Page 33 - The Knot Bible

Clove hitch

It can be tied using any size rope onto just about any object. It can be tied KNOT SCORE
in the bight, one-handed, in the air, and even with your eyes closed. Strength
Essentially formed from a pair of half hitches, the clove hitch is one of the Security
easiest and most versatile knots ever devised. And yet its one major fl aw Diffi culty Tying
as a hitch is that it’s not 100 per cent secure. That means you rely on it at Diffi culty Untying
Usefulness
your peril.

A few centuries ago, the clove hitch can disappear altogether with The dinghy will come untied and
was known as the builder’s knot, a just one tug. fl oat away, or, most commonly, a
reminder that most of these knots Where it really excels is as a fender will drop into the water.
have been around for a very long crossing knot, for tying parcels or The usual reasons for clove hitch
time and have probably been through for attaching ratlines to shrouds. Its failure are excessive movement,
several incarnations already. advantage here is that, if one part of such as the snatching of a mooring
And it’s not hard to see why the the line breaks, the clove hitch will line, or being pulled at an
clove hitch might be popular. It’s the hold and the rest of the contraption inappropriate angle. Pull a clove
simplest of knots which, once learnt, will remain unaffected. hitch back on itself, and it will
can be tied with your eyes closed. But the clove hitch should really loosen and eventually come undone.
And it can be used in a wide variety come with a health warning. It’s So, by all means make the most
of situations. Tied in the bight (page such an easy knot to tie and so of the clove hitch’s versatility, but
34), it can be dropped over a bollard immediately effective that it’s if you want something for the long
in a trice and still bear a mighty tempting to use it for everything. term, choose another knot. And
load. Tied with a loop (opposite), And, nine times out of ten, it will always use a round turn and two
it can be slipped very easily. Tied work just fi ne. But then, just when it half hitches for tying fenders to
as an ‘exploding’ knot (page 35), it matters most, it will let you down. the guardrail.

1 Take a turn around the pole, spar,
ring or other object, and lay it
diagonally over the standing part.