Running bowline

The bowline forms a fixed loop that does not change size under load. In the running bowline, this small loop is tied around the rope's own standing part. The standing part can therefore slide through the loop, and the large noose that forms gets smaller when pulled.

The bowline itself does not jam, even when the noose is pulled tight. That is why the noose can be opened easily after use and the knot is quick to untie. The catch: the running bowline only holds together while there is tension on the noose. When the tension eases, the noose can loosen and slide off the object.

First look at the small bowline: the end comes up through the loop, runs around behind the standing part and goes back down through the loop. In the usual bowline it lies on the inside of the loop, not the outside. If the end lies outside, it is a so-called left-hand bowline, which many knot books regard as less reliable because it can capsize more easily – meaning flip into a different shape under load and come undone.

Then check that it works: the standing part must slide freely through the small loop. If it sticks, the loop is too tight or tied the wrong way round. Set the bowline itself firmly before you use the noose, and leave a sufficiently long tail. A tail that is too short is one of the most common reasons why bowline variants come undone.

The running bowline is handy for grabbing or retrieving objects you cannot reach: a branch, a bundle, a line that has drifted off. It can also help to throw a line over a high branch and cinch it there, or to draw a loose bundle together. Its strength is that it opens easily again afterwards.

If a bundle has to stay together permanently, a knot that holds without tension is better, such as a constrictor knot or the marling hitch. For tying to a tree, the timber hitch or the round turn and two half hitches is often more suitable.

Tightening nooses are dangerous if they get onto living beings. Never put them around the neck or limbs of people or animals, not even as a joke or in play, and do not let children play with such nooses unsupervised. Store ropes with nooses so that nobody can get caught in them.

Typical mistakes are a wrongly tied bowline that comes undone, a tail that is too short, and a noose that slides off the object when there is no tension. When you pull an object towards you, make sure it does not suddenly spring towards you. Life-safety use of knots only after proper training with certified equipment.

The running bowline has long been known in seamanship, for example to recover objects or lines that went overboard. It shows nicely how a small change turns a known knot into a new one: the fixed bowline becomes an eyelet that the rope's own standing part runs through.

To practise, first tie a few ordinary bowlines until you know it well. Then tie the running bowline around a chair, cinch the noose and open it again. When you see how the small loop stays the same size while the big noose moves, you have understood the principle.