bowline knot

[Dru]

sheeit bro that looks like my rope coiling technique! Im not Alone Anymore!

[Retrosaurus]

Just a quick poll, OK?

How many of you "climbers" really want to be "sailors"?

Has any one been to a Village People concert?

[Alex]

"Downhaul's used to tension the luff by cranking the boom down at the gooseneck. Certainly not related to the main sheet though... "

The luff of the main? Is tensioned by the cunningham at the gooseneck, but doesnt have anything to do with the gooseneck per se. Cranking the boom down is, of course, physically impossible since the gooseneck is fixed to your mast. You can tension the boom, though with the boom vang?

But I think I understand the confusion, if you do not sail with a spinnaker or masthead rig, and thats my only experience except for cats and tris with an asym. If you call the cunningham a downhaul, thats cool, but on a masthead rig with a spinnaker pole that does end-to-end gybes, the downhaul holds the spinnaker pole steady from below, while the topping lift holds it steady from above. On dip-pole gybe boats some people call the downhaull the afterguy, for some odd reason.

Alex

[ 03-20-2002: Message edited by: Alex ]

[rayborbon]

I never read anything but the topic I always use the granny knot for everything.

[forrest_m]

ahoy mateys, belay that sailin' talk, this is a climbing website.

i have often used a bowline on a bight to tie into some large fixed object with the rope, especially if i am out of slings at the end of a long pitch. you cannot use a clove hitch in this case, and tying the rope directly to a tree or something means you don't have to untie. i always clip the loop of the bight into something else so that it cannot pull back through the knot. the bowline is also cool because you can impress your friends by tying it one handed:

step one: pass the free end around the anchor object.

step two: with the end within your closed fist, reach over the standing end and back up through the loop you just created (don't let go!)

step three: with the end still in your hand, pass your fist around the front side (toward you) of the standing end (out beyond your loop).

step four: when your hand is on the back side of the standing end, now open your hand, reach over the standing end and grab the rope end again (thus pulling the end around the standing end, rabbit around the tree-style)

step five: grasping the end, gently work your wrist back out of the two loops, drawing the end with you. voila! dress and load.

with practice, you can do this in like one and a half seconds. it works equally well with a bight (everything is doubled), but is easier to practice with a single line.