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sounds more like a clove hitch, Gary - if you toss a line around a vertical pole just right you can grab the free end and tie a clove hitch in two steps....we had a Scoutmaster who won the knot tying contest every year on this one knot -I could beat him on all the others, but this one I couldnt beat him..

Cleat hitch. Walk around any marina and look at the mess on the majority of dock and boat cleats, making a mental note not to do that in public. Then learn to cleat a line properly. It's actually easier to do it the right way. There's nothing more landlubberly than a mish-mash pile of line on a cleat for all to see. It's also harder to undo when you need to, sometimes in a hurry. Learn when to use a locking hitch, and when NOT to.

3-strand splices, especially the eye splice. Someone already brought this up - it's easy to learn, and versatile as all get out. Make your own dock lines of just the right length, with just the right eye size. I've spliced rings onto lines using the similar chain splice, and of course, to anchor chain.

Bowline, stopper knots (several types - pick one you like), sheet bend or figure-8 bend (like for tying a messenger to the end of the jib halyard on my furler), and the round turn (or two) with two half hitches, usually for dock lines to a vertical pole or bollard. Learn those, and you'll be well equipped. Everything else is gravy.

I am one of those guys who don't know diddly-squat about tying a real knot, until I bought my first sailboat (a 1980 MAC25). Then I began to realize what importance there was in tying bona-fide tried and true knots. And like BScott pointed out; easy to untie ... how true how true.

And so I want to add a bit more to that by saying, a knot that doesn't untie itself from its moorings (in a slip) while you are asleep across town is also worth its weight in gold.

So my favorite (never forgotten) knot, is the Bowline.
Followed by the Alpine Butterfly. Why? Makes for a great stern bridal to attach one or two tubers to. Loops will hold tightly to hard laterally shifting loads in either direction and is a cinch to untie. Also adds a quick and uniform tie-point(s) to a raft-up with a friends boat.

And lastly I use the 'truckers hitch' (took awhile to get that one in my head) But use that rather than mechanical tie-down straps on trailering my Easy to untie and stays tight and works. Found that one out by accident But no harm done Thanks to the truckers hitch ... so I am sold there. Plus my was delivered to my house all the way from California to Florida towed on its own trailer protected by truckers hitches. They were still tight and I was very very impressed.

Thank you Crikey for the animated knot site

-Tom

Everyone has said it, the bowline is the number one knot to learn.
Figure of eight, truckers hitch and clove hitch are also high on my list.
The highwayman's hitch is useful for single handed sailors. I would not rely on it for anything more than a short term attachment but when led back to the cockpit it works well for a well solo sailing controlled release from a dock in a cross wind.

Mac26Mpaul wrote:Ex Navy too, and out of all of em, bowline is clearly the most important. then I would vote "round turn and two half hitches". Those two are enough to do just about everything.
On a sailboat, you will want a stop knot too like a figure eight or stopper knot,, put this one in the end of your sheets to stop them getting away.
But just to look cool in front of other sailers, I'd add "Reef Knot" Sheet Bend" and "Clove Hitch"
They are all easy and nothing else is really needed . Master them and you will be set for life!

I use the round turn and two half hitches for lots of stuff, both on the water and land. It's probably about the simplest one to do. In addition, I use the reef knot fairly often.

Catigale wrote:sounds more like a clove hitch, Gary - if you toss a line around a vertical pole just right you can grab the free end and tie a clove hitch in two steps....we had a Scoutmaster who won the knot tying contest every year on this one knot -I could beat him on all the others, but this one I couldnt beat him..

You would think when I cannot remember stuff I did yesterday, twenty eight years ago would be completely erased.

Nope, some of me is still sharp as a tack.

I remembered the name bolin. That name was burned in my memory. Looking at knots in today's books and Internet, the only knot that looked close is called the bowline

So I started digging, and it turns out I had remembered it correctly. Turns out the bolin or flying billion, is a close cousin to the bowline knot.

Easier to show you than explain it

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CocXkMwx ... ata_player

This is by far my favorite knot. I will be working at doing this again all week.

So you say that is easy, try tying that around something quick. OK

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJAd-NSk ... ata_player

Hey Gary - good links!

Around here, the word for the knot spelled "bowline" is pronounced "bolin". I don't think you can consistently distinguish those "flying bolins" for a regular "bowline" by its pronunciation.

(But I doubt there is a regulatory body that dictates how to pronounce knots). I'm knot shore.

Concurrence.

Bowline is critical.

Then stopper knots on jib sheets, reef knot on sail covers. Half hitches on bumpers.

It's also important to know how to cleat a line properly. This is the one I find I need to teach to crew, since it's almost invariably them on the dock (or on the rudders).

Never managed a sheet bend. And I too would love to make a rolling hitch.

And Then....... There's The Infamous....tadaaa Hatchet knot.. takes a hatchet to remove it.. not so good... unless a family member OWNS a West Marine Store..
Real Difference between Rope and Line.. ? Only one..
Both being from the same manufacturer and being exactly the same product.. Line at a Boating supply store will cost double of the same line ( now called rope)found anywhere else..