New Year's Resolution: "I will review my knots and practice them! Lots!"

Round Turn and Two Half Hitches

The round turn and two half hitches can be used to hang a coil of line or to dangle a fender at the right height along the side of a vessel.  

Bowline

The bowline is one of the more frequent knots you will tie, and among the most versatile. It can be used to make an eye at the end of a line or to tie off the end of a line around a post or other similar solid object. 

To make this knot even more secure you can tie a double bowline. 

The Clove Hitch

The clove hitch can also be used to drop a fender along the side of a vessel... for a short docking activity or when rafting up to another boat.  

The clove hitch should be used only for a temporary application. Over time it can work itself loose. Thus it should not be used to hang a coil of line for more than a short period. When used on a bouncing boat, the coil may drop on the deck after only a few minutes. 

The Double Sheet Bend

The sheet bend is used to attach two lines together. For SAR applications the double sheet bend, shown here is preferred to the single sheet bend as it is more secure, thus less likely to shake loose. 

The knots shown above are a few of the more common knots you will use on board a SAR vessel. The site AnimatedKnots.com provides excellent training material on a huge variety of knots. The priority for SAR crews is the ability to tie a small selection of knots quickly and under all conditions: nighttime, crappy weather, bouncy boat! 

Once you have mastered the knots shown in the Crew Manual, then you can take on some of the more exotic knots. 

Remember that the Crew Manual warns "never use this knot [the REEF KNOT] to join two lines when significant loads are anticipated". So one of the commonest knots is also one that should rarely or never be used for SAR. 

Again AnimatedKnots.com is a great reference; apart from boating knots the site includes specialized knots for climbing, fishing, and many other applications. There is even a special page for Search and Rescue applications. Many of these SAR knots are more for over land, e.g., mountain rescue. But learning those for marine SAR are valuable for crews in Unit 60. 

At the bottom of the SAR page is a section on: "Which Knot Should I Use?" This can be especially helpful since just knowing the mechanics of tying a certain knot is not enough. It is just as critical to know when to use a specific knot... and when not to use it!