My favorite Sailing Invention – The Bowline

OK, Tillerman, I love the bowline. Why?

It's the King of Knots

Because it's the perfect knot. It's secure in pretty much any conditions. It's relatively easy to tie and untie. It's neat and tidy. A model of efficiency. Whoever figured it out is a smart cookie. It's not as intuitive as other simpler knots or as fancy as more complicated ones but it just works.

Here is a video on how to tie one, although it makes it a little more complicated than it really is. I prefer the bunny goes through the hole, round the tree, back in the hole. Although that only works 50% of the time*

*I have knot-tieing anxiety. Alone, in the quiet of my own home, I can tie a bowline with my eyes closed, one-handed behind my back but if I need to tie one in an urgent situation, it will usualy take me 5 attempts. I get the loop the wrong way round.