How to Tie Nautical Knots

Guide Note

If you've ever gone sailing, you've probably noticed that experienced sailors know how to tie what seem like a hundred different types of knots. Such knowledge isn't just useful, it's absolutely necessary aboard a sailboat. If you have any nautical aspirations, How to Tie Nautical Knots can teach you how to tie some of the most common knots used aboard sailboats.

Table of Contents

Nautical Knots Tips
  1. Use an eight knot to prevent a sheet from coming out of its cleat.
  2. Use a square knot to tie two lines together.
  3. Tie lines of different sizes together with a sheet bend.
  4. Tie your boat up to a dock cleat with a cleat hitch.
  5. Tie a clove hitch only for temporary tie-ups.
  6. Bowlines make good knots for tow lines.

Introduction

(CC photo by Liz Jones)
(CC photo by Liz Jones)
  • Every sailor should have a good handle on how to tie various sailing knots. Sailors use knots to secure boats to moorings, attach sails to masts, form towlines and prevent sail sheets from flying out of their cleats. If you plan to spend any amount of time on a sailboat, you should learn how to tie some of the most common nautical knots. US Sailing has good video tutorials for knot tying and the Tollesbury Sailing Club provides animations that may be helpful to you as you practice.1 2

Eight Knot

(Creative Commons photo by Martin Mustun)
(Creative Commons photo by Martin Mustun)
  1. Take the end of a piece of line and loop it over itself.
  2. Take the loose end of the line and pass it around behind the other end of the loop.
  3. Come up on the other side, then pass the free end down through the loop you created at the beginning.
  4. Pull to tighten the knot. It should look something like an "8."

Square Knot

(Wikimedia Commons)
(Wikimedia Commons)
  1. Hold two ends of line (either of the same line, or two lines that you wish to tie together) one in each hand.
  2. Cross the right-hand end (End A) over the left-hand end (End B).
  3. Pass End A behind, under and around the other line (the line attached to End B) and back up to where it was (on the left-hand side of End B). This step is just like the first step of tying your shoe.
  4. Now repeat this process in the other direction, but still using End A. In other words, cross End A over End B again, pulling it down under and around End B.
  5. End A should now be coming out of a loop made by these two crossings, with End B passing down and out of the same loop in the opposite direction.
  6. Pull both ends tight at the same time.

Sheet Bend

(Wikimedia Commons)
(Wikimedia Commons)
  1. Make a hook with one piece of line, with the bend in the hook facing away from you.
  2. Take the end of another line in one hand. Bringing it down from above the bend in the hook, pass it underneath the bend and bring it up towards you in the middle of the hook.
  3. Bring the end over the left-hand side of the hook, then around behind and across the back of both sides of the hook.
  4. Bring the end back to the front of the hook. Cross it over the right-hand side of the hook into the middle of the hook.
  5. Pass it underneath itself where you first brought it into the middle of the hook in Step 2.
  6. Bring it up between itself and the left-hand side of the hook.
  7. Take the two ends of one line in one and and the two ends of the other line in the other hand. Pull tight.

Cleat Hitch

(Creative Commons photo by Nadya Peek)
(Creative Commons photo by Nadya Peek)
  • Cleat hitches secure lines to cleats on the deck or on a dock.3 You may find a cleat hitch useful for tying a mooring line to your dock, or attaching a halyard to a deck cleat.
  1. Loop the end of a line around one horn (Horn A) of a cleat.
  2. Take the loose end of the line and pull it up around Horn A, then pass it across the body of the cleat down towards the opposite horn (Horn B).
  3. Loop the line under and around Horn B.
  4. Pass the line across the body of the cleat again, this time in the opposite direction from before, towards Horn A. The cleat should now have a loose sort of figure-eight around it.
  5. You can repeat the figure-eight several times around the cleat before tying it off.
  6. When you've completed all of the loops you wish, loop the line around one of the two horns a last time. However, this time when you cross the line over the body of the cleat, instead of crossing it over the last stretch of line, tuck the end of the line underneath that previous length of line.
  7. Pull the line tight. You should now have a tight figure-eight around the cleat that won't come loose when you pull on either end of the line you used.

Clove Hitch

  • Use a clove hitch to attach a line to a post.1 A clove hitch is a temporary knot, and will come loose eventually, so you should knot use it to tie anything that you can't keep your eye on. Don't leave your boat tied to a dock with only a clove hitch.
  1. Take a line and loop it around a pole or post.
  2. Loop the line around a second time, crossing over the first loop to form an "X" as you bring it around.
  3. Once you've brought the line around the second time, pass the end underneath the "X" you made, then up between the legs of the "X" on the other side.

Bowline

(Creative Commons photo by Patrick Quinn-Graham)
(Creative Commons photo by Patrick Quinn-Graham)
  • A bowline is a good, strong knot that won't slip. You can use it to tie a line to a post, to make a loop or attach a line to a sail.5 If you tie a bowline around your mast, one end of the line can be passed to another boat for a towing hookup.
  1. Pass your line around the back of a mast, post, or other stationary object. You can also make a loop by simply leaving a loop of space around an imaginary post. Keep the long end of the line to your right (End A), and the short end on your left (End B).
  2. Make a loop with the middle of the right-hand part of the line near the object to which you are tying it. The part of the line that goes from this loop around behind the object should pass on top of the part leading to End A.
  3. Take End B (the part that doesn't have a loop in it on the other side of the object) and bring it up through the right-hand loop from underneath.
  4. Pass End B underneath and around the end of the looped line that leads away from the object towards End A.
  5. Once you've brought End B around and crossed it underneath End A, pass End B back down through the original right-hand loop that you brought it up through before.
  6. Take hold of End B and the bit of right-hand line that leads back behind the object in one hand. Take End A in the other hand. Pull tight.

Conclusion

  • With your new knowledge of nautical knot-tying, you can now offer some help to your skipper when rigging the boat. However, the first few times you tie knots for use on a boat, you should have a more experienced sailor check them over. You don't want the boat coming loose from its mooring, or the sail falling down in the middle of a race! Check out Mahalo's page on How to Rig a Small Sailboat to learn about more necessary sailing skills.

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References for How to Tie Nautical Knots

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 US Sailing: All About Lines (Ropes)
  2. ↑ Tollesbury Sailing Club: Knots
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 The University of Chicago Sailing Club: Four Useful Sailing Knots
  4. ↑ SailingAhead.com: General Information On Ropes & Lines
  5. ↑ Apparent-Wind.com: The Bowline

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