Captain Gerry demonstrates how to tie a bowline knot. The bowline is among the most commonly used knots on a sailboat. With it, you can tie a line (rope) in a loop around anything else to anchor the line. The bowline is not only strong and secure but is easy to break loose later, even when pulled tight under a load.

Step 1: Hold one end of the string in your left hand, and one end in your right hand.

Step 2: Make a small loop with the end of the string in your left hand. These instructions assume you start with an “underhand” loop, so that the free end of the string is under the intersection formed by the loop.

Step 3: Put the end of the string in your right hand through the loop made by your left hand. The end should be coming towards you as it goes through the loop.

Step 4: Bring the end around (behind) the string that is facing up from the loop.

Step 5: Put that same string back through the loop. This time the end is going away from you.

Step 6: Take the top loose string in your left hand and all the rest of the string and pull in opposite directions to tighten the hitch.

Or …

Use a mnemonic to remember the knot:
1. Think of the loop as a “rabbit’s hole” and the string end coming off the loop as a “tree.”
2. Imagine the other loose end of the string, which you’re holding in your right hand, is the “rabbit.”
3. The rabbit comes up the hole, runs around the tree, and goes back down the hole.