SHEET BEND

This knot looks like a bowline, but instead of  making a loop, it joins ropes of different sizes. It is also often refered to as the "reef knot", because it was originally used to tie reefing lines. The knot should be tied with both ends coming off the same side of the bend.

BOWLINE  or RESCUE KNOT

A knot to make a nonslip loop at the end of a rope. Form a small loop (the direction is important), and pass the free end of the knot up through the loop, around behind the standing part of the rope, and back down through the loop. This knot is probably the most popular knot in the sailing world. A chant to remember this knot is "The rabbit comes out of the hole, round the tree, and back down the hole again", where the hole is the small loop, and the rabbit is the running end of the rope.

SQUARE KNOT or REEF KNOT also called THEIF'S KNOT

A common knot made with two overhand knots. Square knots are used in first aid to tie bandages and to join two pieces of rope of the same thickness. A common chant to learn this knot is "Left over Right and Under, Right over Left and Under

WHIPING STEP 1

Start with a 2-foot length of twine or cotton fishing line. Form it into a loop and place it at one end of the rope.

WHIPING STEP 2

Wrap the twine tightly around the rope, starting 1/4 inch from the rope end.

WHIPING STEP 3

When the whipping is as wide as the rope is thick, pull out the ends hard and trim off the twine or fishing line.

RUNNING KNOT

SLIP KNOT

This knot easily slips along the rope around which it is made. The knot itself is a simple overhand knot. It can be used to tie a rope to a post.

TWO HALF HITCHES

This knot is used to tie a rope to a post, a tree, or a ring. Pass the running end of the rope over the pole twice. Then pass the running end of the rope over the standing part of rope, and tuck it back up and under itself, forming a half hitch. Repeat this for a second half hitch.