Two Different Boating Knots

When you’re out cruising around on your boat and you’re ready to come in to the dock, what can you do?  Don’t throw together some haphazard knot – you might find yourself swimming out to your boat!

Instead, try tying one of these different knots:

Icicle Hitch

In order to tie this knot, you’ll need to the help of a pole.  To begin, wrap the rope around the pole four times, and be sure to work in a motion moving away from the end of the pole.  Leave a loop hanging.  Take the end of the rope in excess of the loop and place it alongside the standing end of the rope.  Pass the loop behind both of the ends and hook it over the pole.  Finally, tighten the knot.

Poacher’s Knot

This knot is a little easier than most.  First, form a tight bight at the end of the rope.  Loosely wrap the end of the rope around the bight twice, but leave enough room to pass the end of the rope through.  Tuck the end through the two turns, and pull the rope tight.

Hopefully this article helped you learn how to tie a couple basic boating knots so you’re better prepared on your next excursion.  The Poacher’s Knot is a little easier than others, so it may be a good one for you if you are a beginner.  If descriptions don’t work that well for you, search for boating knot videos online, and you’ll be sure to find plenty of resources.