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**Essential Line Handling for Boats**
Published 2022-12-23; Last updated 2025-02-11![](winch.jpg attrib="Image by George Hodan, CC0" attrib-url="https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/es/view-image.php?image=434883" width=480px)
This article describes the essential knots and other rope handling techniques for recreational boating. Despite the common perception, you really do not need to know how to tie many knots to begin to contribute effectively on a boat. That includes not even needing the famous bowline knot at first!
Ropes are called "lines" on a boat when using them and "cordage" when buying or making them. Surprisingly, the most useful line handling skills are ones that many experienced sailors still perform incorrectly: (dock) cleating, coiling three-strand mooring lines, and coiling braided lines. You can level up your nautical expertise and be a great asset on board any boat by learning to perform these properly. Those three skills are guaranteed to be needed on every outing. They are also for tasks the skipper is often not able to do personally while they are at the helm, and they will especially appreciate your assistance.
![ ](rigging.jpg width=350px attrib="Image by Richard Revel, CCO", attrib-url="https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=192418") Once you can perform coiling and cleating, learn to tie on fenders with a round turn and two half hitches. This is something that also arises every outing on larger boats. The skipper can do it themselves, but it is a big help to have others able to.
If on a sailboat, proper use of winches and clutches (jammers) is the next most important skill. Finally, you may wish to add a few key knots and other techniques to your abilities. The set of line handling skills for everyday boating is surprisingly small. In this article, I call out the minimal set that is sufficient to take you through years of boating and up to intermediate level sailing.
Of course, knots and other rope techniques are themselves a fascinating subject. There is no reason to stop at only the essentials if you find this topic interesting. Gatekeeping boating on line handling is silly, but using boating as a gateway to playing with ropes is very welcome.
On a dinghy, grab lines on a boat with your thumb pointing towards your chest and the end under tension by your pinky. Hold them at least 1/3 m (one foot) away from anything that could pinch your hand, such as a cleat, winch, or pulley.
On a larger keelboat, be even more careful about only grabbing lines far from a pinching or crushing hazard. It is theoretically a good idea to have the pinky end of your hand towards the load, but may be impractical on larger boats because of the angle from which the lines come to you.
Always hold a line that will be under significant strain by half-wrapping it around some kind of rounded surface, instead of holding directly from the load. The rounded surface can be a cleat on the dock for a dockline or a winch or block (pulley) on the boat. This adds enough friction to prevent you from being pulled forward and lets you control the direction of force on your arm.
Be careful to avoid accidentally sitting, leaning, or standing on a line. In that situation, it is dangerous for you if a line moves. It could also cause a problem with operating the boat--a "foot cleat" stops the line from moving and may prevent the skipper from controlling the boat. This is equivalent to a passenger leaning on the steering wheel of a car! Stepping on ropes also grinds dirt into them, which weakens them.
 Never wrap a line around your hand to get more purchase. This can bind dangerously and prevent you from releasing the rope in an emergency, burn your hand, or cut off circulation. If you can't get a good enough grip, you can wrap it inside your hand, use a winch, ask for help, or put on gloves.
Below are the basic line handling skills for crewing or being a guest on a sailboat. I prioritize mastering them in this order, based on how helpful they are to have crew know.
For example, on a keelboat you will coil lines after casting off and cleat them on return every time. You're then going to operate a winch at least ten or twenty times every sail. So, those are a high priority to learn.
 Needed for storing cover-and-core running rigging lines on a sailboat, such as halyards and sheets. Some boats also use covered lines for mooring. The linked video shows the figure 8 coil, which I find easiest to teach and perform reliably.
There are two other methods for achieving the same outcome via twists. These are twisting each coils alternating directions, and twisting the line as the coil comes in. The catch is that if you get the twists wrong it is much easier to make a mistake with these methods, and then the line will not run freely through blocks when it is later used.
 For a fixed line, start from the working (attached) end and coil towards the bitter (free) end so that twists work their way out. If there is a winch nearby, that can be used as a tool to explicitly make the figure 8s, which is a very fast method.
 Unlike covered, braided lines, three-strand lines can be coiled in a circle instead of figure 8s. This is because they already have a twist built in to them. (They are also used exclusively for mooring and towing, so aren't run through blocks when in use).
Bring the line from one hand to another, laying it flat to make big circles that lie against each other. Do not coil around your elbow. Wet mooring lines are best stowed either hanging in a locker or simply looped over a rail. Dry mooring lines can be stowed with a coil and crown in a locker.
The figure 8 method can be used for three-strand lines as well.
 When sailing for a weekend or less I store docklines on the lifelines. It saves time and they're handy for rafting up or docking again on short notice.
Just take the coiled line and pull it through itself around the lifeline, forming a closed cow hitch.
Prefer a rail to a lifeline if possible and ensure that there isn't a long loop hanging down on the side of the boat.
For tying fenders to a lifeline; docking to a bull rail, post,
or ring; attaching an anchor to the rode; and fastening anything
to a pole, bar, or ring.
Prefer RT2HH to a bowline when you have to tie or release under tension, or need a tight wrap. This knot is just a full wrap plus a clove hitch. It can be finished with extra half hitches to further prevent slipping or take up extra line on the working end.
When tying a boat to a bull rail, first run the line under the rail when coming off the boat and then start the wraps.
 Needed for tensioning halyards, sheets, and outhauls. This is only essential for keelboats, as powerboats and dinghies don't have these kinds of winches. Proper winch operation is as much about not injuring your hands or back as treating the boat well.
To dress (a.k.a. set up, load) the winch:
- Remove and stow the handle.
- Wrap the line three or four times clockwise around the drum. Do not let the line overwrap itself.
- Bring the line up over the metal tongue
- Pull it about 270 degrees around through the self-tailing jaws at the top
To trim a line on a winch:
- Grab the line after the self-tailing jaws with your hands far from the winch and thumbs pointed away from the winch. Do not wrap the line around your hand. Pull the line by hand until it becomes too hard.
- Lock the handle in place.
- Put your weight over the top of the winch and turn the handle. On a dual-speed winch one direction will have twice the power as the other. On a ratcheting winch, turning counter-clockwise will do nothing.
To ease a line on a winch:
- Put your palm around the wraps to keep them from overriding and provide some friction.
- Grab the free end of the line with your other hand, keeping your thumb pointing away from the winch and keeping your hand about 30 cm away from the drum.
- Unwrap the line from the jaws, retaining the wraps.
- Slowly let the line pass throuh your hand.
- Re-wrap through the jaws when done.
To free a line from a winch when tacking or gybing:
- Remove and stow the handle.
- Keeping your hand far from the winch, unwrap the line from the jaws while maintaining tension.
- When the tension leaves the working end, fling the line in counter-clockwise circles to make it completely clear of the drum.
Always be careful to avoid the lines around the drum overriding. To clear an overriden line on a winch:
- Tie an icicle hitch or rolling hitch around the working end with a second line.
- Tension that second line on another winch.
- Free the tangled original line when it is not under tension.
- Re-tension the original line on the original winch.
- Ease the second line and remove the hitch.
 Clutches aka jammers allow multiple lines to be used with the same winch by holding the ones that are not being adjusted. To open or close the clutch, put tension on the line and pull the line slightly while operating the handle.
To jam a winched line in place, close the clutch while tightening the line, and then remove the line from the winch. You should not have to use more than finger pressure on the clutch handle. Do not press down hard on the handle or it may snap or get stuck.
To put a jammed line on the winch for adjustment, first dress the winch, second put the line under tension, and then third open the clutch all of the way while tightening the line slightly. When the clutch is open, the handle of the clutch will be forward, not pointing up. Make sure it is all of the way open.
Do not pull a line through a closed clutch or release a clutch on an untensioned line. It will pull the cover through the jaws while the core slips, detaching them and putting excess wear on the cover. Over time that will cause the clutch to not grip the line tightly.
 Needed for docking, and some halyards and outhauls. Always begin around the far cleat horn relative to the working end. For docking, make one or more full wraps at the base depending on the relative size of the line and cleat. Finish with the locking hitch or a full wrap (making an "OXO"), depending on the relative risks of binding vs. slipping. For halyards and outhauls the initial full wrap is not needed.
![ ](cleat.jpg attrib="Annapolis Performance Sailing" attrib-url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBqsF72xNSU" width=400px) Some people do not make the initial full wrap for docking when they will only be docked for a short time. I always anticipate that I might be docked or away from the boat longer than expected and make the full wrap. Half a second while cleating is a small tradeoff to eliminate the risk of a dockline coming loose!
This is how to get a line to someone on another boat or a dock without it going in the water or hitting them in the face. The key points are:
- Throw about half of the coils and let the other half run out.
- Aim for the catcher's outstretched arm on the side, not their face and body.
- Aim for a point well past the target when throwing a dry line. It is lighter than you might expect.
 Make a simple loop over the mainsail and boom, avoiding catching the mainsheet or other lines in it. Pass the end of the sail tie webbing through its own eye at the other end and cinch reasonably tight, like a belt on your waist. Don't crank it down hard.
Finish by tying a slip knot with the loose end. The loop of the slip knot and the tail should be about equal length.
Depending on your boat, you will occasionally need to use some of these techniques. They are in the skipper section not only because they are less frequently employed than the other methods. They also usually don't have to be done very quickly, but do have to be done exactly correctly or there will be a problem later.
 A ball passed through a loop has replaced the traditional studding sail halyard bend for the sail end of dinghy halyards. Compared to a knot, it saves a few centimeters at the top of the halyard and is and easier to tie and untie, especially with cold, wet hands in gloves.
(The next level up is a diamond knot in a dyneema halyard, which can the reduce chafe against the ball that is an issue for very frequent dinghy racers.)
 Needed for anchor snubbers and clearing a jammed winch, and can also be used to attach objects to vertical poles. This hitch slips in one direction for adjustment and grabs in the other direction for working. It must be tied in a line parallel to the bar or line that is under tension.
To tie an icicle hitch, start under the line under the target pole or line and wrap the hitch line around it, winding up/forward towards the load (this is the opposite of a rolling hitch beginning!)
Bring the hitch line back to the other side of where it started behind itself and then under the target line, i.e., keep wrapping in the same winding direction but now moving away from the load. Finish with a cow hitch passing under the standing end of the line. This cow hitch which will end up passing under itself twice when tied correctly.
 When complete and put under tension, the wraps should spread out from the knot towards the load.
Practical Sailor and BoatUS both recommend the icicle hitch instead of the rolling hitch for slippery lines and snubbers because it grips the same or better and is easier to untie later. I've exclusively switched to using icicle hitches for everything that I once used rolling hitches for.
![ ](flemish-coil.jpg attrib="© Leo Reynolds, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0" attrib-url="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lwr/8692344636")
 The Flemish coil is a way of storing mooring line tails on a dock. Start the coil flat on the dock at the center, and just keep it flat and spin the entire coil around until it has consumed all of the line. Do not wrap the line around a fixed coil.
 The Trucker's Hitch uses a rolling hitch and a slip knot or figure 8, and can be doubled up for increased purchase. It is needed for attaching a small boat to a trailer or roof rack, tying down a boat cover, and rigging jack lines.
The bowline is used for attaching sheets to a sail clew, tying on a dinghy painter, tying to a mooring ball, attaching a boom gybe preventer, tying around a person or as a foot loop for a rescue, and generally is the go-to (and arguably overused) sailing knot. In performance dinghies a bowline is often needed to connect the outhaul and cunningham when the boom is attached each session.
Despite the name, this is confusingly not the way to attach the mooring line to the bow or the dock.
The largest drawbacks of the bowline are that it cannot be tied under tension and can work loose if tension is not maintained. Many sailors say that a bowline should be your go-to knot. I feel that RT2HH should be your default knot and then depending on the needs you should know when to use one of the others from this page.
Important bowline variations are the niche water bowline for towed objects and bowline on a bight for tying in the middle of a line.
The Figure 8, a.k.a. Flemish knot, is a stopper knot that is easily untied, good for the ends of jib/genoa sheets, the mainsheet, or a small boat's vang. Spinnaker sheets do not use stopper knots.
The double overhand is a stopper knot that is more permanent than a figure 8. Good for halyards as a stopper at the bottom, or for stopping the ball at the top of a dinghy halyard.
Knots weaken lines by as much as 50%. The line will break at the knot, not in the middle of the tensioned line. For strength, permanent attachments are spliced in lines or sewn in webbing instead of tied. Existing loops are best linked by shackles instead of knots.
Tying more knots in a line rarely makes a better hold, and definitely makes it harder to untie. The exception is that some knots in slipperier ropes benefit from finishing with a few half hitches.
Modern synthetic lines do not hold knots as well as traditional lines. Most knots will slip easily in something like an unsleeved dyneema/spectra line. Even modern three-braid and sleeved lines have much less friction than tarred hemp, so beware of knot information that is more than 20 years old.
Some general rope vocabulary, mostly for fun because this isn't essential in practice:
Working end : The free end of a line used to tie a knot.
Standing part : The part of the line attached to something else, so not available to manipulate for tying a knot.
Bight : Some part of the middle of a rope. This is used when referring to tying a knot "on a bight", meaning without a working end available.
Lazy line : A line that is not currently in use or under tension because some partner rope on the other side is under tension. Frequently used for the sheets, the lines attached to the jib sail, and running backstays, which are lines that support and tension the mast.
Working line : A line that is under tension.
Bitter end : The end of the anchor line that is tied to the boat.
Sleeve : The woven covering providing UV protection and friction on a modern line.
Core : The interior of a modern line, which provides the strength.
I cover the names of specific lines for sailing and mooring in my other guides. They aren't "essential", either. In cases where you need to know that, you're with someone and they will clarify, such as "the big red rope on the left side of the boat"; you are by yourself and don't need to know the name; or you are reading and have time to look it up.
This guide for rope essentials is of course only the beginning of rope techniques employed on boats, although it covers 99% of daily use. There's a wonderful world of knots for all kinds of lines and purposes to learn after these.
I use maybe another ten knots occasionally for specific applications, including the slip knot, double fisherman bend, halyard hitch, cow hitch/lark's head, sheet bend/double sheet bend, and reef (square) knot.
Line maintenance skills such as splicing, eye splicing, fusing, and whipping are essential for boat maintenance and likely more important than learning most esoteric knots, which are of more aesthetic and historical interest than practical use.
If you must tie knots in unsleeved dyneema/spectra, two knots that Evans Starzinger developed and recommends are:
These can still slip, though. Prefer splicing for dyneema.
Some interesting sources for going down the rabbit hole on knots are:
Beware that all of them have information that may sound authoritative but in practice not be fully accurate for your exact situation, type of line, or application.
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