A “found fender” we picked out of the water in Puget Sound
This is a fender that my crew and I picked up in Puget Sound recently. About a $ 70.00 loss to another boat. Our cost was the time it took to sail up to the fender and do a “fender overboard” drill and pick it up from the water.
The fancy quick height adjuster had came undone and the fender fell off the boat. I have seen many fender adjusters break or fall off.
Lee’s Fender Knot
After I did an article on using the Spar Hitch to tie fenders a friend Lee told me about a similar knot that he uses for fenders and storing lines on a boat.
This is similar to what Ashley calls a Backhand Hitch (knot # 1852 in The Ashley Book of Knots) except the Half Hitch is tied in the opposite direction and this reversal seems to make the knot more secure. Ashley also shows the Backhand Hitch as being tied with two Half Hitches to finish it off.
As the Coast Guard and other Law Enforcement Groups step up their on the water equipment checks having the proper safety equipment becomes more important to prevent being cited for improper equipment. Knowing that your boat meets the proper State and Federal safety equipment rules is a great feeling if a Law Enforcement Vessel approaches, it’s also a great way to tell your crew you care about their safety.
Spar Hitch – Fender Knot
The Spar Hitch is a great knot for tying fenders to a lifeline. It is very secure and will hold around small and slick objects. The load can be at different angles. The Spar Hitch is also know as Ground Line Hitch, Picket Line Hitch and is the same basic construction as the Sack Knot. The knot dates back to the days of the Cavalry and the horses needed to be tied to a line at night and it was also used to tie the neck of a sack closed.
The Spar Hitch can be tied right or left handed or “slippery.” The Spar Hitch looks similar to a Clove Hitch but holds much better.
Towboat Hitch / Capstan Hitch
The Towboat Hitch or Capstan Hitch is a good knot when you need a non-jamming tie to a single post, bit, bollard or sailboat winch. The Towboat Hitch or Capstan Hitch can be tied quickly. It can be untied under load.
The Towboat Hitch or Capstan Hitch is very useful but not well known. I use it on a regular basis on my boat to tie lines to the winches when rafting to other boats or tying to the dock for spring lines. The Towboat Hitch / Capstan Hitch is not in Chapman’s and is not well known even to mariners with many years experience on the water. The Towboat Hitch / Capstan Hitch is a good to use if you need to tie your boat to a post or piling.
The Towboat Hitch / Capstan Hitch is also known as Lighterman’s Hitch or Backhanded Mooring Hitch.
Listen to the Marine VHF radio most any weekend in the Puget Sound area and you will hear report of found Kayaks and Canoes drifting in the water with nobody in them. When an empty drifting boat is found all the options for the Watchstanders are tough, is this a boat that just drifted off the beach or a dock, was it being towed behind a boat and the tow line parted, or any one of many possible reasons the boat is loose in the water. Did someone fall out of it? do they launch a Search And Rescue effort? If they launch a Search And Rescue mission where do they look? No matter how you look at it the decisions are difficult and someone’s life can hang in the balance of the decisions by the Watchstanders.
On Saturday October 23, 2010 the Washington State Ferry Tillicum reported sighting an orange kayak with a lifejacket and paddle aboard near Blake Island at 6:50 in the morning.
Not a good example of how to tie a cleat
Walking down any dock and you will soon decide that tying a cleat is a dying skill. Many docks have up to 40% and sometimes more of the cleats tied strangely, this includes the docks of yacht clubs that bear the names of major cities in the Northwest. Boating is part style and poorly tied cleats cause you to loose style points as how your cleats are tied is one of the first things people notice when walking by your slip. Badly tied cleats can also be a safety issue in some circumstances.
So lets style a safe cleat!
Here are a few tips that my crew and I have found very helpful when tying my boat in it’s slip.
Spring lines going to a winch.
Tying the boat to the dock seems to be taken for granted by many and not much thought put into it. Every boater has probably seen boats pull into their slip and as the dock lines are made fast to the cleats amidst much hand waving and “discussion” by the skipper about how to properly handle the dock lines.
All my dock lines have eyes on each end and the dock lines stay at the dock while we go sailing. The dock lines are then waiting when we return and mooring the boat is as simple as just dropping the eyes over the appropriate cleats and winch. Quick, easy and no confusion by the crew on where the boat goes and the boat is always moored in the proper place.
Boating Safety Tips, Tricks & Thoughts from Captnmike 