Article by Capt. Mark Sampson
Strolling around one of our local marinas, I couldn’t help but notice a particularly large sportfishing yacht that had apparently stopped by Ocean City for a day or two on its way south to some distant port. To say the least, the sixty-something foot vessel was impressive and I imagine a rig that came with a price tag that would easily rival the cost of the average American home.
Everything about the boat appeared sharp as a tack until I took note of how she was tied up. All mooring lines and equipment were in place, including the spring lines, breast lines and fenders, but it appeared that whoever it was that secured the vessel to her moorings had absolutely no idea how to properly tie even the most basic knot. It looked as though every time someone had to secure a line to the boat or the dock they just threw together a conglomeration of bends, twists and wraps and figured “that will suffice to hold the boat” and left it at that. Even the way they tied their lines to the cleats on the boat showed that they had no idea what they were doing.
What I witnessed that day was not an isolated incident. Walk around any dock where a lot of boats are moored and you're just about guaranteed to see vessels of all sizes and types tied up with knots that will do anything but "hold" if they're really put to the test, which is further confirmation that there's a lot more to seamanship than just owning a boat!
“Marlinspike seamanship” is the term that’s used to describe the practice of working with ropes and lines on a boat. While it’s not necessary for boaters to be experts at marlinspike, there are a certainly a few very basic knots that every boater really needs to know if they wish to properly moor their vessel, and quite frankly, if you can’t properly tie-up your own boat then you probably shouldn’t own one in the first place.
The space and format of this column won’t allow me to give a total description of how to tie each one of these knots, so best I can do is describe the knot and it’s function and suggest that folks find the resources on-line or in books that have photos and precise descriptions of how to tie them. Even better would be to find someone who can show you first-hand. These knots are not difficult to learn and once you have them down you’ll be using them on your boat all the time so they’ll not likely be forgotten.
The first knot that comes to mind isn’t really a knot at all – it’s just the way a line is tied to a cleat. Walk around any dock at any marina and you’ll find plenty of examples of boaters who have no idea how to properly secure a line to a cleat, even though it’s something they probably do every time they use their boat! Tying a line to a cleat involves taking the line around the base of the cleat one complete time, coming around one horn of the cleat and then making a half-hitch and pulling it tight over the other horn. That’s it. No more wraps or loops or twists need to be made on the cleat. The most common mistake boaters make when securing to a cleat is that they “stack” the cleat by putting loop after loop after loop of line on it. All that extra line piled up on a cleat does not help with the holding power, it only makes it more difficult to untie later.
A “clove hitch” is used to secure a line to a piling and is nothing more than two half hitches that wrap around the piling in such a way that as pressure is applied from the boat the line grips the piling tighter and keeps the line from slipping. A clove hitch is a very simple and secure connection that when the time comes can be easily removed from the piling.
Permanent loops or "eyes" are usually "spliced" in the ends of lines that will be used for mooring. Once you know how to do it, splicing a loop into a three-strand line is relatively quick and easy to do. Splicing braided line is definitely more challenging and time consuming. As long as they have a few extra bucks laying around to buy pre-spliced lines or to pay someone to splice lines for them, being able to splice a line is not necessarily something every boater needs to know. However, for any of a thousand reasons, sooner or later every boater will need to put a temporary loop in the end of a line and a “bowline” is the knot that should be used to make that loop. Bowline knots are quick and easy to tie but they take a little time and practice to learn. The beauty of the bowline knot is that even after it has been pulled very tight it can always be easily untied.
A properly tied knot will not only hold securely, but also be able to be untied even after long use with heavy tension. If the knots securing your boat to the dock right now aren't doing this, it's time to brush up on your marlinspike because no matter what size or type of boat they have, every boater NEEDS to know how to properly tie to a cleat and a piling, and how to make a loop with a bowline knot so that they will never have to worry about their boat leaving the dock without them.
Capt. Mark Sampson is an outdoor writer and captain of the charter boat, “Fish Finder”, docked at the Ocean City Fishing Center.