Page 32 - Knots and Splices (1st Edition)

KNOTS & SPLICES BK5.0 1/21/06 11:03 Page 31

41 CLOVE HITCH 41a
The Clove Hitch or Ratline Hitch is
one of the most misused knots or
hitches. It is often used, for example,
to secure a fender rope to a guard-
wire, which is wrong, because there
will be load on only one end and the
hitch will eventually roll undone and
the fender will be lost overboard.
(Fenders should not, in any case,
41b
be tied to guardwires. The way to
hang fenders is by using a Round
Turn and Two Half Hitches (39) from a
stanchion base or toerail.)
The point of a Clove Hitch is to
secure a line to a mid-point. This
might be setting up ratlines across
shrouds (hence the alternative name)
or securing the tiller while at anchor.
The requirement is always for a load 41c
on each end of the line.
There are two ways to form the
hitch. One is by rolling the line
around a spar (or fixed point) as
shown in 41a-c, and the other is by
dropping loops over the open end
of a tiller, spar or post as in 41d-f.
The result is the same in each case.

41d 41e 41f

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