Sailing knots every sailor should know, and how to tie them

Which knots do you really need? Five: the bowline, the cleat hitch, the figure eight, the clove hitch and the reef knot, plus the sheet bend for the odd job. Learn those until you can tie them with cold hands and a flapping sail, and you can handle almost everything on a dinghy or a cruiser.

How do you tie a bowline?

The bowline makes a fixed loop that does not slip under load and is easy to untie afterwards. Use it for a sheet on a sail, a loop round a post, or a line you need to hand to someone.

1. Make a small loop in the standing part, with the working end on top. This is the “rabbit hole”.
2. Pass the working end up through the loop, as if the rabbit comes out of the hole.
3. Take it round behind the standing part, the tree.
4. Go back down the hole.
5. Hold the working end and the loop together in one hand, pull the standing part with the other and snug it down.

It can work loose when the line is slack or shaken, so leave a decent tail. Modern slippery synthetic lines are less forgiving than old hemp, so test a bowline in your line before trusting it, and add a stopper knot if it creeps.

How do you tie a cleat hitch?

Use a cleat hitch to make a line fast to a cleat: dock lines, halyards, a mooring warp.

1. Take a full turn round the base of the cleat. This takes the load.
2. Cross over the top to the far horn and under it.
3. Cross back over the top and under the opposite horn, making a figure eight.
4. Finish with one locking turn, where the line ends up pointing along the cleat, not across it.

Two or three figure-eight crossings are enough. More only makes it hard to untie.

How do you tie a figure eight?

The figure eight is a stopper. It sits at the end of a sheet so the line cannot run out through a block or fairlead. Make a loop, pass the end behind the standing part, then down through the loop. Pull tight and it forms a figure eight shape that jams against the block.

When should you use a clove hitch?

For fenders, a temporary tie to a post, or anything you will untie soon. Two turns round the object, with the second one crossing under the first, and the knot holds as long as there is steady tension on both ends. It can slip if the load changes direction or goes slack, so it is not a mooring knot. A round turn and two half hitches is the better choice for a post that has to hold overnight.

Reef knot or sheet bend?

A reef knot joins two lines of the same size, such as the ties that hold a reefed sail. Right over left, then left over right. If it comes out looking like a granny knot, it will slip.

Do not use a reef knot for anything that carries load. To join two lines of different thickness, use a sheet bend: make a bight in the thicker line, pass the thinner line up through it, round behind both parts and tuck it under its own standing part.

How do you practise?

Practise at home with a metre of 8 mm line and keep it in your bag. Tie each knot ten times with your eyes shut, then once with gloves on. That is the realistic standard, because on the water you will tie them wet, cold and half distracted.

After the knots, the next thing that makes you faster on the water is knowing your own numbers. Our guide to analysing a sailing session is the place to start.