The Flying Bowline - A great knot or just a silly party trick?

Halcyon Yachts

Halcyon Yachts

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What do you think about the Flying Bowline? Does anyone actually use it for anything other than showing off?


I really like it... It is one I usually teach when running a course and the students all seem to love it!

Pete
 
I use it as a party trick, no more. Haven't bothered to study it enough to determine how well it would hold. It only works if the rope is (a) heavy enough and (b) flexible enough. Some methods of tying a bowline are at least as quick.
 
snowleopard said:
I use it as a party trick, no more. Haven't bothered to study it enough to determine how well it would hold. It only works if the rope is (a) heavy enough and (b) flexible enough. Some methods of tying a bowline are at least as quick.
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I've used it, seems perfectly good to me, though I wouldn't use it for critical applications. I agree it the rope needs to be flexible enough, but it doesn't have to be particularly heavy, I learnt to tie it in this flying fashion with 6mm rope.
 
I've used it as a "party trick" but I can know tie a traditional bowline just as quick and without the risk of taking some ones eye out with the working end.
 
From the video, that seems to be the same as a double dragon, which is a very good loop knot, as long as you wrap round twice before pulling the bight through. If you only do it once (resulting in a tugboat bowline), it results in a knot that's prone to capsizing.
 
marklucas said:
But only a fool would use a bowline to moot a yacht.
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Ha Ha here you are giving opinions about fools and moorings....I find it very hard to supress a giggle.:D

The greatest anxiety I have ever experienced tied up in any group of marinas and boatyards occurred during my visit to your Maryland, and in the Chesapeake Bay in particular, where yacht after yacht just barrelled in towards pontoons at full speed, no fenders ready, no lines ready, REPEATEDLY, with a lot of hollering and shouting.

At first, really concerned, I would rapidly respond to help avoid disasters.

After several days of this repeated experience I decided not to do it any more because I must tell you my efforts were only rewarded with testosterone fuelled rudeness.

Instead on my boat we laid bets the moment an incoming boat was spotted that a splendid show of incompetence would result.

The results were as anticipated every time, with sickening crunches and groans and thumps and tearing noises and a lot of hollering and shouting and swearing..:D

You are in no position to criticise anything.

The most prudent course for you to follow would be to keep quiet, and be polite here, and visit to learn, to properly rivet a moot point. :D
 
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Yeasty said:
I've used it as a "party trick" but I can know tie a traditional bowline just as quick and without the risk of taking some ones eye out with the working end.
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Agreed, if you use the sailors twist-wrist method not the boy scout rabbit and tree. You can do this one-handed if needed.
 
You can't undo a bowline under load, but other than that it's a perfectly decent knot for securing mooring lines for extended periods, and holds well in laid rope of the sort we use for mooring warps.

My boat is held in her pontoon by a pre-set long line with loops at various points. The end loops are figure eights on bights, the intermediate ones are alpine butterflies. I use a couple of extra lines to hold her off the dock, and those will be secured with bowlines. The main line is never untied.
 
KAL said:
Makes a perfectly good bowline, all with a cool flourish. What's not to like?
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It's not a bowline. It is a completely different knot. I haven't seen anything to suggest how reliable it is under a range of circumstances so I wouldn't use it in any critical application without a fair bit of research and/or testing.
 
VO5 said:
Ha Ha here you are giving opinions about fools and moorings....I find it very hard to supress a giggle.:D

The greatest anxiety I have ever experienced tied up in any group of marinas and boatyards occurred during my visit to your Maryland, and in the Chesapeake Bay in particular, where yacht after yacht just barrelled in towards pontoons at full speed, no fenders ready, no lines ready, REPEATEDLY, with a lot of hollering and shouting.

At first, really concerned, I would rapidly respond to help avoid disasters.

After several days of this repeated experience I decided not to do it any more because I must tell you my efforts were only rewarded with testosterone fuelled rudeness.

Instead on my boat we laid bets the moment an incoming boat was spotted that a splendid show of incompetence would result.

The results were as anticipated every time, with sickening crunches and groans and thumps and tearing noises and a lot of hollering and shouting and swearing..:D

You are in no position to criticise anything.

The most prudent course for you to follow would be to keep quiet, and be polite here, and visit to learn, to properly rivet a moot point. :D
Click to expand...

Ahem.

You are indeed correct that there are many interesting approaches to mooring the Chesapeake and I have witnessed several - usually jocks out for the weekend who without having to worry about tide also forget about wind, particularly a cross-wind when reversing into a box mooring - the most prevalent type in the area. Makes it worth getting in early and a prime seat!

But before you start throwing bricks around in the greenhouse, perhaps you should review some of your own thoughts. FWIW, whilst I currently reside in Maryland, I am British. I gained my YM Offshore some 20 years ago and then became a part-time instructor. I don't need to be spoken down to, thank you. Apologies for the typo - it was typed on a tablet with a small keyboard in an airport lounge - something I am sure all of us have done at some point I am sure.
 
There is a super quick one handed method that is very good in one real situation that I've been in: if you want to tie a sheet to the clew of a raised sail under pressure. You can hold the clew of the sail in one hand and tie the sheet with the other. I've actually done this when a rookie knot came undone and the jib was flapping in the wind. I went to the bow, grabbed the sail and re-tied the sheet. Nobody else on the boat understood the complexity of what I'd done, but at least I felt good about it.

AAARGGG! I just tried to practice this and I've forgotten how to do it!
 
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marklucas said:
Ahem.

You are indeed correct that there are many interesting approaches to mooring the Chesapeake and I have witnessed several - usually jocks out for the weekend who without having to worry about tide also forget about wind, particularly a cross-wind when reversing into a box mooring - the most prevalent type in the area. Makes it worth getting in early and a prime seat!

But before you start throwing bricks around in the greenhouse, perhaps you should review some of your own thoughts. FWIW, whilst I currently reside in Maryland, I am British. I gained my YM Offshore some 20 years ago and then became a part-time instructor. I don't need to be spoken down to, thank you. Apologies for the typo - it was typed on a tablet with a small keyboard in an airport lounge - something I am sure all of us have done at some point I am sure.
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Well, I don't envy you or the tasks you may have in them thar shores there...

I was anchored in a creek and three mobos drew up close. Alarmingly one of them was a small fast USCG patrol vessel. They were more polite, but all of them were mystified by the black ball and one of them ventured to ask "Hey ! Whatsup with the blue flag man ?" I suppose none of them have ever encountered a blue ensign ever. :rolleyes:
 
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