Tie bow lines to rails when underway?

[wipe_out]

Hi,

I have seen in a few photos, which I can't find now to use as an example, that some coil up the bow lines and then secure the whole thing to the rail.. Not using rope holders or anything like that..

How are they so neatly securing the whole rope to the rail?

Is there a standard knot or method of doing this??

 

[pvb]

Frowned on by many!

 

[lw395]

Some coil the whole line in a very big coil, then cow-hitch the whole thing to the lifeline.
I think it's more secure to just lash the coil on with a length of 4mm line.
It is useful as a prelude to picking up a mooring from the cockpit for instance.
Or if you have wet lines you want to dry before going in the locker.

 

[V1701]

Some coil the whole line in a very big coil, then cow-hitch the whole thing to the lifeline.
I think it's more secure to just lash the coil on with a length of 4mm line.
It is useful as a prelude to picking up a mooring from the cockpit for instance.
Or if you have wet lines you want to dry before going in the locker.

And the length of 4mm line can be cow hitched onto the rail so it's there when you need it...

 

[sarabande]

are you very good at unknotting propellers ?

 

[sailorman]

Hi,

I have seen in a few photos, which I can't find now to use as an example, that some coil up the bow lines and then secure the whole thing to the rail.. Not using rope holders or anything like that..

How are they so neatly securing the whole rope to the rail?

Is there a standard knot or method of doing this??

A Dutch habit secured no doubt with a clove hitch & 1/2 hitch

 

[Leighb]

What is wrong with just taking them off, coiling them up and hanging them in the locker?

I would be worried about having long lines hanging around on the foredeck, however securely you think you have fixed them, wind and weather have a habit of making fools of us from time to time!

 

[rivonia]

Hi,

I have seen in a few photos, which I can't find now to use as an example, that some coil up the bow lines and then secure the whole thing to the rail.. Not using rope holders or anything like that..

How are they so neatly securing the whole rope to the rail?

Is there a standard knot or method of doing this??

Round turn and two half hitches

 

[prv]

A gasket hitch is the square-rig answer to securing a coil when one end of the line is made fast. But I would consider it unseamanlike to stow warps on the foredeck at sea. That's for canal boats.

Pete

 

[alisdair4]

A gasket hitch is the square-rig answer to securing a coil when one end of the line is made fast. But I would consider it unseamanlike to stow warps on the foredeck at sea. That's for canal boats.

Pete

+1

 

[wipe_out]

Thanks for all the comments.. I found a youtube clip showing a gasket hitch with the end passed through the loop that allows it to be easily hung.. That could work quite well..

 

[lustyd]

are you very good at unknotting propellers ?

My prop doesn't turn at sea on my SAILING boat so I think I'm safe as long as I check for lines in the water before startling the donkey.

 

[onesea]

I just learned something:
Gasket Hitch- Then name for the method I have used used for securing coils of rope for years.

I normally coil the rope so the Eye/ snap-shackle is where the Fig of 8 is.

I do not leave them on deck, this was reminded to me earlier this week when I was retrieving my spinnaker pole from 1/2 way overboard after a few hours beating..

 

[prv]

I just learned something:
Gasket Hitch- Then name for the method I have used used for securing coils of rope for years.

Worth noting that a lot of yottie sources have a slight difference compared to its original use for stowing clew gaskets on a square sail. One end of the clew gasket would be spliced onto the jackstay, fixed to the yard. This is the end that you make the binding turns with, and the locking loop, ending up with the coil hanging from the spliced end. It takes a little practice to leave just enough line to make the locking loop but not so much that the coil is swinging about at risk of getting drawn into sheet blocks and other gear at the yardarm.

Yottie stuff tends to show a line which is free at both ends. It's still the same coil, and of course works fine, but IMO showing it like this misses the salient point of the coil and why/when you would use it over another technique.

Pete

 

[Koeketiene]

Hi,

I have seen in a few photos, which I can't find now to use as an example, that some coil up the bow lines and then secure the whole thing to the rail.. Not using rope holders or anything like that..

How are they so neatly securing the whole rope to the rail?

Is there a standard knot or method of doing this??

Below is shown how we do it.
I only do this when we're just out for the day and we'll be mooring up in our own berth that evening (and therefore I know where the lines will go).

 

[ghostlymoron]

A gasket hitch is the square-rig answer to securing a coil when one end of the line is made fast. But I would consider it unseamanlike to stow warps on the foredeck at sea. That's for canal boats.
Pete

I use gasket hitches for making coils tidy but can't see how you would secure a coil to a rail with one. I'd use a cow hitch for that but only in flat water.

 

[wipe_out]

Below is shown how we do it.
I only do this when we're just out for the day and we'll be mooring up in our own berth that evening (and therefore I know where the lines will go).

That's interesting.. You loop the entire coil through itself.. That should be pretty secure..

 

[prv]

That's interesting.. You loop the entire coil through itself.. That should be pretty secure..

That's how lots of people (us included) stow the furling line for a roller genoa.

Pete

 

[prv]

I use gasket hitches for making coils tidy but can't see how you would secure a coil to a rail with one.

True; I was envisaging the end left on the cleat and the coil secured alongside it. Although you could make a gasket hitch with the line free, and then hitch the end to the rail. Clove hitch would do for normal stowage, two half hitches would be more secure for leaving on the bow, but irrelevant because I wouldn't leave warps there anyway

Pete

 

[neil1967]

We secure the free ends of our mooring lines (when moored) as shown in the photo above - it keeps them out of the way, but we don't leave them out when underway. I have sailed on racing yachts where spinnaker sheets/guys have been pre-rigged and the excess line is also secured this way when the kite is not in use. If you pass the coil under the safety line first and then bring it over the top and down through the rest of the coil, it makes it easier and quicker to release - you just grab the loop that is presented to you and pull and the whole coil ends up in your hand.

Neil