A Handy Hitch

[ChuckThomas]

I would like to show a hitch that I have discovered and ask what you think.

First I am a humble student of seamanship, especially learning new and improved techniques for sailing and docking. Captain Jack Lang is a great teacher on single handed docking and sailing.

Scenario: You are by yourself at the fuel dock and boats are everywhere. Your bow is pointed into the wind. You know the technique to use fender and a line attached at the bow to walk the stern away from the dock until you can safely back away. The problem is that the loop around the pylon has to be let go, and the line will fall to the water. You will drag it until you can move to the front and retrieve it.

Imagine the hitch pictured. The blue pen is the pylon. The top line is the standing end attached to your bow cleat. The coiled end at the bottom is the bitter end that is lead astern to where you have it ready to be pulled. No tension is on the bitter end at this time. You successfully put the boat in forward and slowly move the stern away from the dock. When you are ready to release from the pylon you just pull the bitter end. The hitch will come apart and all of the line will be on the boat.

What do you think?

I have used this many times and I have found many uses. I once even walked a boat down a dock using a series of these and never had to leave the cockpit.

 

[ChuckThomas]

One point to make. This is not a knot that one would use to tie to a dock for long term. Your regular dock lines would be for that. This knot is just for getting away from the dock. I attach this hitch as the last step before departing.

 

[Guest]

Hitch

Hi Chuck, it is also called a highwayman's hitch. Some believe it was used by them for a quick get-away as they dashed out the bank door with their booty. I've used it some and it does work for those solo situations.

Terry Cox

 

[caguy]

I use it to tie my boat to my truck bed when launching. I am then able to release the boat from the truck at the dock.

 

[Joe11688]

Chuck,
That's one of my favorite hitches. I use it to hold the end of my bow line to my stern rail when I'm sailing up to the club dock. When I pull up along side of the dock, I merely step off the boat with both the bow and stern lines in my hands ready to tie her off. I don't think that I'd try this on a boat with a lot of free board, but I'm able to do this on my O'day 222. I also use the Highwayman's Hitch to secure my swim ladder. I remember reading about this hitch in Cruising World or Sail Magazine many years ago and they called it the "Scandinavian Hitch." They told about how the boaters in a certain country would anchor out on the river and tie the stern of their boats to a tree with this hitch. When they got ready to up anchor, they would tie a lighter line to the end of the hitch so that they collapse the knot from the cockpit of the boat. There's another knot that works very similar to this one and it's called the Mooring Hitch, but the mooring hitch has more of a chance of getting caught on the object that it's tied to, whereas the Highwayman's Hitch will break away clear of the object. check it out. http://www.ropeworks.biz/
Joe

 

[Benny]

Yeah, that would work nicely but a more realistic scenario is that the fuel tender will give you a hand by holding the bow pulpit until you can get your stern out. After all it is in his best interest that you get out of the way.

 

[gfrazzle]

"Chuck's" hitch

You will still need to release the bitter end of the highwayman's hitch since it will still be wrapped around the piling. Chuck's hitch will be free and the line can be pulled in without letting the bitter end run free. Handy knot Chuck!

 

[Joe]

chucks's hitch?

You will still need to release the bitter end of the highwayman's hitch since it will still be wrapped around the piling. Chuck's hitch will be free and the line can be pulled in without letting the bitter end run free. Handy knot Chuck!

Sorry sir, you are incorrect. The mooring hitch requires you to release the bitter end, but the highwayman's hitch does not because the intitial bight allows both standing and bitter end to wrap from the same direction. If you're having to release the bitter end to pull the rope back into the boat you are tying it incorrectly.

The highwayman's hitch is a very useful knot with many applications.

 

[gfrazzle]

Handy Hitch

Joe, I stand corrected- I had the highwayman's and the mooring hitch reversed.

 

[ChuckThomas]

Thanks for the input. I have used this hitch in a lot of applications. Glad to know the name now.

 

[txtowman]

i use it to tie my bottle of rum to the table

 

[sand sailor]

thats sweet but i'll probably never get to use it . here all we have is cleats to tie off to