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Advanced sailing knots - Double line bowline
10 January 2026 · 4 min · 1K views · Municipal Unit of Fournas, Greece
Hands display completed double bowline knot on rope
What this video covers
A double-line bowline — tied on a bight when both ends of a line are inaccessible — is demonstrated step by step.Watch The knot applies when only the middle of a line is reachable, such as when both ends are fixed to a cleat or fitting.0:26 The technique treats the doubled bight as a single working end, forms the initial eye exactly as in a standard bowline, then creates a second loop from the bight and passes it back through the eye.0:45 The critical step is gripping the correct side of the loop — the part that enters the eye — when pulling through to set the knot; grabbing the wrong side produces a loop that closes around an object rather than holding a fixed, stable eye.1:46 The finished knot yields two adjustable loops whose sizes can be tuned independently, though equal sizing is recommended.2:34 Strength is roughly double that of a single bowline, and the knot retains the bowline's characteristic property of jamming under load yet releasing cleanly when slack.2:03 The one common error — pulling the wrong strand through the eye — is demonstrated alongside the correct method so the difference is visible.2:34
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