Boating and Sailing.pdf - Moja ladja

You haven’t really made a secure knot with this
arrangement, but the friction of the line against
the horn does the job so that there’s no pressure
against the half-hitch. It won’t slip.
It doesn’t take 10 half-hitches to hold your
boat. You can add a couple more turns around
the base and a final half-hitch if you’re leaving it
for a long period—it will make you feel better,
even if it doesn’t hold the boat any better.
Coil any excess rope neatly on the dock as near
the edge as possible, so it won’t tangle with
people’s feet.
Knots You’ll Use Most Often
Chapter 9: Nautical Knots
137
Boat Bytes
Always store the same lines
in the same boxes. Be
compulsive about this—put
all the gear you use into
the same boxes all the
time. That way, in an emergency
or hurry-up situation, you can
quickly find what you need and
it’ll be ready to go.
A neat coil of line next to the
cleat is a mark of good seamanship.
The easy way to
make this coil is to start with
the bitter end laid flat on the
dock. Turn it clockwise to
form a circular loop on the
dock. Continue to turn it to
pull in all the remaining
line, right up to the cleat,
forming a series of neat, concentric
coils that won’t tangle
with the feet of passers-by.
There are dozens of knots that the salts and scoutmasters of the world would have you
learn, but between surfing the Internet and figuring out how to program your VCR, you
probably don’t have time for all that stuff. It’s better to learn only a couple knots really well
so that you can tie them fast and flawlessly, even under the most challenging of conditions.
Here are four knots that you’ll use most often while boating, plus a bonus knot for you
anglers:
◆ Bowline ◆ Clove hitch
◆ Half-hitch
◆ Two half-hitches
◆ Uni-knot
I’ll discuss each of these knots in the following sections.