By Kevin

There are only a few knots that you need to know to cruise on a sailboat.

Essential Knots

• Figure Eight: Used as a stopper knot on the end of a line to keep it from running free through blocks or clutches (gear on deck that lines run through).
• Clove Hitch: A temporary knot used to secure fenders to lifelines, tie a dinghy to a pole, etc. (See rolling hitch below for a more secure version.)
• Square Knot: Used to secure a sail to a boom, an item to the deck, etc. Make sure it is not a granny knot. Not very secure.
• Sheet Bend: Used to join two different ropes to make a longer rope. Works well for ropes of different sizes. This looks similar to a square knot but it very secure.
• Bowline: The king of knots. This useful knot is very secure but easy to untie when it has been under load. Use it to “loop around” something and secure it, to make a harness, to make footholds to turn a rope into ladder, etc.

Other Useful Knots

• Rolling Hitch: Use this as a more secure clove hitch, I.E. to secure the end of a rope around a pole. I use this to tie up my dinghy at the dock and also to tie a backup snubber line to my anchor chain when I need an additional snubber in high winds.
• Trucker’s Hitch: Use this knot to cinch down a load with good tension. For instance, when I tie diesel jerry jugs down on deck I use a trucker’s hitch to tension down the line.
• Buntline Hitch: Use this knot to fasten the end of a rope to an object, very securely. It is a “slip knot” so that when you pull on it, it gets tighter, whereas a bowline is not a slip knot. Make sure you don’t tie this around a body part (use a bowline for that). I use this knot to tie a line to my dinghy’s anchor and to tie a halyard to a sail. If extra security is needed, I add a few half hitches.
• Tautline Hitch: This is a slip knot that is tied to itself, allowing you to secure a rope to something and then adjust the length of the rope by sliding the knot up or down. The classic use for this is guy lines holding up a tent. But, I sometimes use it to secure my fenders to my lifelines so that I can then adjust how far the fenders hang down over the side of the boat.

There are many, many knots out there but you don’t need to know any more than the above to cruise successfully. And, you can get by with just the five essentials listed and some creativity.

Below is a little set of waterproof cheat cards from ProKnot.com that I carry onboard as a reference for when I forget exactly how a certain knot is made. All the knots above are found on these cards, so I highly recommend them as your only necessary knot reference.