Check out the link to the site,"Knot Knowledge" provided, and click on to the "Highwayman's Hitch". I learned this hitch in Sail Magazine many years back, and they called it the "Scandinavian Hitch". In some of the Scandinavian countries, the boatmen would anchor in the deep protected rivers and go ashore with a long rope attached to their boat, and tie one of these hitches to a tree, and attach a long smaller diameter line to the end of the hitch, so that they could release it from the boat when they were ready to leave. I use this hitch a lot to hold my swim ladder up, but mostly I use it to have my bow line ready to release from my stern rail when I sail up to the club dock. The stern line is also ready for me to grab as I walk off my boat and on to the dock to tie off. I've found this to be a great quick release hitch, but I don't know if I'd trust it tied to a tree on shore, to secure my boat on an overnighter. Joe
