Bowline
A fixed loop at the end of a rope that won't slip tighter or come undone under load, and still unties easily afterward.
Scouts BSA, Cub Scouts, Venturing · 4 min
What it's for
A bowline (say it "BOH-lin") makes a loop that stays the same size. Drop it over a post, tie a line to a tree or a boat, hang a bear bag, or make a loop for a rescue line. It holds a heavy pull and is easy to untie afterward by pushing the collar (the part around the standing part) forward.
How to tie it
New to rope words like working end and bight? See rope words.
Many Scouts remember it as a story: the rabbit comes out of the hole, runs around the tree, and goes back down the hole. The small loop is the hole, the standing part is the tree, and the working end is the rabbit.
Step 1: Make the hole
Make a small loop in the standing part, with the side toward the end lying on top. Leave enough rope below it for the size of loop you want.
Step 2: The rabbit comes out of the hole
Bring the working end up through the small loop from underneath.
Step 3: Around the tree
Take the end around behind the standing part.
Step 4: Back down the hole
Bring the end back down through the small loop, beside where it came up. Hold the end and its side of the big loop together, and pull the standing part to tighten.
Knots you trust your weight to
Climbing, rappelling, and rescue knots are only used with a trained, qualified instructor who checks every knot. This guide is for learning and practice, not a substitute for that training.
Check your knot
- The end finishes inside the big loop, and the collar wraps neatly around the standing part.
- Leave a tail at least a few inches long. A very short tail can work loose.
- Pull hard on the big loop: it shouldn't shrink or slip.
Where you'll use it
Requirements that call for this skill in 6 ranks, badges, and awards.
- Second Class, Scouts BSA · Rank
- Let's Camp, Cub Scouts · Adventure
- Motorboating, Scouts BSA · Merit Badge
- Rowing, Scouts BSA · Merit Badge
- Small-Boat Sailing, Scouts BSA · Merit Badge
- Ranger Award, Venturing · Award
- Ranger Award requirement C2h2: Show how to tie the bowline, bowline on a bight, sheet bend, fisherman's knot, clove hitch, timber hitch, taut-line hitch, two half hitches, and figure 8, and how to make square, shear, and diagonal lashings
- Ranger Award requirement S2c1: Learn these knots for vertical caving: endline knots (figure-eight, figure-eight on a bight, bowline), midline knots (butterfly, bowline on a bight), joiner knots (fisherman, water knot, figure-eight bend), and the Prusik ascending knot
Keep learning
- Sheet bend, Joins two ropes, even ropes of different thickness. It's the bowline's cousin, and it unties easily., 3 min
- Figure eight, A chunky stopper knot that keeps a rope from sliding through a hole or pulley — and the starting point for climbing knots., 3 min
- Two half hitches, A quick, dependable way to tie a rope to a post, ring, or tree — and easy to untie when you're done., 3 min
Explanations here are ours, written to help you learn. Your unit leader or counselor decides when a requirement is complete.