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2torial #0540:
Learn2 Tie
Basic Knots (Continued)
Knot 7: Tie a one-handed bowline
This knot is indispensable if you only have one
hand free and need a strong, stationary loop. It's
exactly the same knot described above, but once
mastered, takes a fraction of the time to tie it.
Step 1: Grab it
Pass the rope around your middle. Hold the
working end out away from your body with your
nondominant hand.
Hold the free end with your dominant hand. Hold
it about an inch or two from the end of the line
with the line running up your arm.
Step 2: Do the
macarena!
Okay, so it's not the macarena, but you'll do
some wiggling with the hand that holds the free
end. Don't let go of the free end!
Put your hand over the working end. Wrap it
under and bring it up next to your belly (assuming
you've wrapped the rope around your middle). You
should have formed a loop around your wrist. That's
the hole in the rabbit diagram above.
With your fingertips, wrap the free end around
and up on the other side of the working end. (Which
line is the working end again? It's the line that
your non-dominant hand is touching. Take care that
you don't wrap the free end around the loop of
that's around your midsection.)
For the final triumphant move, pull your hand,
and the free end with it, down through the loop
around your wrist. This might take some wiggling.
Step 3: Tighten it
Keep holding on to the free end with your
dominant hand. Pull the working end away from you
with your nondominant hand. You should have it!
Step 4: Practice for
emergencies
Before you get stuck down a well or at the
bottom of a cliff where someone must pull you up,
practice doing the one-handed bowline with your
practice rope around your middle. Once you get the
hang of it, it'll be easy to wrap a loop around
other obstacles, or perhaps someone unconscious,
and tie the one-handed bowline in seconds.
 Knot
8
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