Page 157 - Adlard Coles "The Knot Bible"

Reef knot

The reef knot is probably as old, or older, than sailing itself. And, if you
want to reef a sail or tie a ligature, there’s probably no better knot. But
beware using it to tie two lines together, as this can be downright
dangerous. There’s very good reason why the knot is featured here rather
than in the earlier chapter on bends.

The ancient Greeks knew it as the and you’ve got another undesirable:
Heracles knot, and the Romans as a thief knot.
the knot of Hercules. It features on Legend has it that sailors used the
ancient Egyptian sculptures and has thief knot to tie up their ditty bags.
been used in jewellery since ancient If someone was tempted to open the
times. As the ‘love knot’, it is used to bag and steal from it, they would
symbolise the union of two people, instinctively close it again with a
often in the form of a ring. As the reef knot. The sailor would then
‘square knot’ it has been used to immediately know his bag had been
bind everything from parcels to tampered with.
ligatures. And, as the ‘reef knot’, it In practice, there’s little difference
has been used for furling sails on between the thief knot and a true
ships for centuries. reef knot – except that if you pull
The reef knot, then, is one of the both ends of the thief knot it will
oldest and most symbolic knots in ‘capsize’, whereas the same action
existence. It’s also fundamentally will tighten a reef knot. But why risk
unstable and relies on being pressed it? Tie a true reef knot every time.
against something for its security.
Which is why it’s brilliant for tying
together packages and suchlike, but
extremely unreliable for ‘bending’
together two unsupported lines.
Ashley goes as far as to say:
‘Employed as a bend (to tie two rope
ends together), the reef knot is
probably responsible for more deaths
and injuries than have been caused
by the failure of all other knots
combined.’ Strong words indeed.
Another reason the reef knot is so
distrusted by seasoned knot-tyers is
because of its close resemblance to
even less stable, knots. As the saying
goes: ‘Right over left, left over right,
makes a knot both tidy and tight.’ 1 The reef knot is best used to bind 2 Right over left and under...
Tie right over right, or left over objects using lines of the same size. Overlay the two lines as shown.
left, on the other hand, and you end
up with that most despicable of
things: a granny knot. Tie it with the
ends emerging on different sides,

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