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Bowline Knot - Seeking Advice
Currently I am working towards my NYS FF1 Certification. I took my Ropes and Knots class recently and am having trouble with the Bowline Knot. I've looked through tutorials, Youtube videos, and even the Firefighter Handbook, yet I still cannot do it. Sometimes I do manage it, and it feels as if I am missing a step sometimes.
Has anyone else had these problems and have found solutions? It's extremely frustrating.
And yes, I do know the whole "bunny comes out of the hole, goes around the tree, and back into the hole" saying.
Has anyone else had these problems and have found solutions? It's extremely frustrating.
And yes, I do know the whole "bunny comes out of the hole, goes around the tree, and back into the hole" saying.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by James Conlow on
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Try going to a rock climbing gym.
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Permalink Reply by Randy on
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to practice like I did, try tying it around say a pole while you stand in front of it. I found it easier to tie that way.
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Permalink Reply by capt4021 on
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one easy way i remembered make a hole and the rabbit went through the hole around the tree and back through the hole
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Permalink Reply by Kayli Borell on
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I think we have all struggled with it. I really have no advice to you other than good luck. I guess I just ahd a really good FF2 instructor when I went through it but I got her down now. I can even do it behind my back with my eyes closed with my gloves on! The tricky part is actually being able to tie the darn not to an object. Good luck with that and I hope you get it down!
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Permalink Reply by lutan1 on
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Here's some advice- don't tie it.
Bowlines were designed for 3 strand layered rope and if you tie a bowline against the lay of the rope, it can be prone to slippage.
The figure 8 on the bight was developed for use in single strand rope, such as kernmantle, in-lieu of the bowline because there are not channels or gaps between the strands where the crossing section of rope can bight into, therefore ensuring that it does not slip.
The other advantage of the figure 8 over the bowline is the ease in which it can be undone after exposure to a load.
If the bowline was considered to be safe for single strand, then why would we invent the figure 8 and figure 9 series of knots. The family of 8's or the Figure 9 is a far superior knot.
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Permalink Reply by Tony P on
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Quite likely mate, but if the course calls for the bowline, then you have to learn how to tie it! Like a lot of training, learn it by the book, then learn how to do it better in the real world.
Try this Andrew:
http://animatedknots.com/
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Appreciate what you're saying, but it's also flawed thinking. If it's not being taught properly (ie: how to tie it, what it is for and what sort of rope it's suited to), then there's a flaw in the system somewhere.
I know plenty of organisations that teach the bowline. I also know plenty of operators whose only answer when challenged about the bowline is ,"That's what we've been taught".
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I know my response doesn't help Andrew in his original question, but I think we often do things because it's tradition, or it's what we've always been taught, etc, and it just doesn't work....
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Permalink Reply by Mick Mayers on
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I looked to see if anyone had forwarded you the Animated Knots link yet and they had. I have been teaching rope rescue since the 80's and had they had that when I began, teaching would have been so much easier.
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Permalink Reply by Capt./Chaplain Mike Petrosky on
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Andrew-try the following website, www.animatedknots.com , it will walk you through step-by-step and you can watch how the knot forms in either a slow pace or faster pace. It has all the knots you could or should want to know, and it makes it very easy to practice along with the animation. Good luck. Mike.
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Permalink Reply by Jason Brooks on
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I teach a lot of people how to tie knots. There are several ways to tie a bowline. One of the things that I tell all my students when having trouble with any know, let someone else tie it and look at it. A lot of people see how the rope traces when tied correctly and then that helps it to click in your mind. If you can envision how the rope traces, it may help.
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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As the Aussies pointed out, the bowline is basically in curriculum seeminly because of tradition, the figure 8 is more prominent and more useful than the bowline. The animated knots sites also works, but as I watched the link it is backwards of how I tie the bowline and as J Brooks mentions, tracing the tied knot may help.
Here is how I tie it and may or may not help you:
1. hold a piece of rope straight vertically.
2. take the lower part of the rope and make a loop in the middle of the rope. (the loop would be off to the left of the rope) hold the loop flat with the rest of the rope vertical
3. take the lower part of the rope and come up through the bottom of the loop
4. go to the right of the upper part of the rope and around the back
5. go back down the loop and tighten...this should be your bowline
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