Hmm Made Eagle, christened a dozen or so more as scoutmaster, and my clove hitch (with half hitches) still came apart last weekend during the Hanna non-event.? The 12 year old who stopped me as I came down to the community beach to tell me one of the lines on the power boat was "off" didn't have the least bit of gule, fortunately.
PZ -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [email protected] Cc: David Shugarts <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 12:57 pm Subject: Re: catalina27-talk: Ralph's Hitch...(was...winch stuff) Hey Gang, I nearly was an Eagle Scout, but Life Scout is for Life, too. We all learn to tie our knots a certain way, and I learned to tie the bowline with the biter end in my right hand. I have trouble any other way with the rabbit and hole, etc. The bowline and the taught line hitch are my two favorite knots. My dad, a tugboat captain, taught me the trick to the taughtline hitch by tucking the second wrap underneath the first. Its great for all sorts of things. The magic to the bowline is that you can get it apart, guaranteed, every time. Just push that one loop back and it opens right up. I had to work a bit on a salt encrusted, petrified bowline once, but it, too, came apart. No other knot would have. And it will always hold when tension is on it. The part one must be wary of is if there is no tension and it can shake loose. I just say wary... being aware of. It can usually stay together but it can shake loose as well. And speaking of old westerns, horses and sailboats, when I was a teenager sailing the "family" Lighting, my crew of one and I came into the YC dock one day to grab a snack up at the snack bar and just tied the painter to the dock (boat headed into the wind), left the sails up (as I had a thousand times before), and my friend and I walked up the dock. When we walked back I noticed our boat was under sail heading perfectly out into the open water. No one was onboard! Well, the clove hitch (!!!) I had tied the boat to the dock rail had come undone. Talk about using the wrong knot. I had recently learned it and wanted to try it out. Well, the loose mainsheet had caught on a cleat, and I had left the tiller tied midship. It just fell into the wind and took off. I ran down the dock and convinced the skipper of a powerboat that was just coming in that we had to go chase my boat. It took some convincing, but we were soon off under full throttle chasing this sailboat which w! as under no command. This was on an estuary, a channel, which had a finite run the boat could make before hitting the other side. We caught up to it, came along side and I jumped in and took control. Whoa... horsy. The kicker was my tugboat-captain dad was working that week and steaming by and witnessed the whole thing. He wasn't sure what he was seeing, however, and was a bit surprised when I explained what had happened. I've since learned to at least think and try to use the right knot for the right job. The bowline and the taughtline hitch (and two half hitches) seem to fill most purposes. Brad Noah's Ark San Diego, CA ---- David Shugarts <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi, Joe-- > > Spoken like a true Eagle in every way! First, I notice that you say "as an > Eagle Scout," which is a reflection that you don't really view it in the > past tense. Once an Eagle, always an Eagle. > > Second, the bowline works reliably, and it unties well. It's money in the > bank. > > But third, you are open to other ideas. > > There is a somewhat similar thing when you look at the tautline hitch. As a > Scout, I was taught the tautline (er, taut the taughtline?) as a hitch > starting with two parallel turns. But when I had a chance to sail on a > wooden schooner, I was shown the sailor's tautline, in which the second turn > stoppers the first turn. I later learned to call the sailor's hitch a > "midshipman's hitch" and look them up in Ashley's Book of Knots. Here is a > good page about this hitch: > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tautline_hitch > > The stoppered hitch holds better, but, as they point out, doesn't adjust as > well under load. > > What was really hilarious was when I got into aviation, and watched people > tying down the airplanes. > > (I may seem to digress, but, you may notice in the old cowboy movies that > most of the actors don't know how to put a hitch on a rail when they tie up > their horse at the saloon. You watch them kind of vaguely put a couple of > turns around the rail and then stop and wonder how that's going to hold, but > then they just saunter into the saloon anyway.) > > Well, aviation is like that, because I became convinced the knot the pilots > were searching for is the tautline, but few could tie it. So I watched over > and over again as pilots did the same "cowboy thing" to their airplanes. > When I got the chance, I wrote about it for my pilot readers, many of whom > were pleased to learn the correct knot. > > --Dave S. (Demitri) > Eagle Scout since 1965 > > > On 9/10/08 10:29 AM, "Joe McCary" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Ah, here is where most people have a moral problem with the Bowline. As an > > Eagle Scout, I trust my ability to tie a Bowline. In my 45+ years since > > learning it, I can't recall a single time that it has come loose or failed > > me. Now I am open to new ideas so I will give the Ralph a try sometime when > > it doesn't matter and see how it does. > > > > > > Joe McCary > > Aeolus II, West River, MD #4795 > > www.aeoluswestriver.net > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > >> On Behalf Of Jim Bernstorf > >> > >> Trashing the bowline really goes against my basic Boy Scout instincts of > >> being prepared. > >> > >> I have to really work to > >> remember which hole the rabbit goes in! > > > >
