Bowline on a Bight
Two mid-line loops. The bight must encircle both standing parts.
Intermediate · Polyester / Nylon rope / Polypropylene / Natural fibre
Connection card
Bowline on a Bight
For mid-line loop, loop dropped over a post.
This card does not say how strong the knot is. A retention figure comes from a bench, in one material, at one diameter, tied by somebody who ties it all day — and the line in your hand is none of those. What it does tell you is whether the thing you have just tied is the thing the record describes.
What this plate is telling you
Two mid-line loops. The bight must encircle both standing parts.
Save this as a picture and it works with a dead signal and a nearly dead battery, which is when a joint is most often tied badly. The rest of this page — the steps, the seating sequence, the failure modes and the bench — is for the evening before.
Before you start
- ·It is tied in a doubled section of rope, so neither end is needed. The two standing parts leave the knot side by side.
- ·Double enough rope to make both loops plus a length for the bight to pass around the whole knot. The folded end becomes the collar, not a loop.
- ·Plan to put the load through both loops. The knot can slip when only one loop is loaded.
- ·The loops can be set to different sizes, such as a seat and a back loop for a bosun's chair. If the line will also be pulled from both ends, tie an alpine butterfly.
Step 1 of 4. Fold the rope double at the point where you want the loops, so the doubled section is long enough to make both loops and still pass around the whole knot.
No drawing of this exact knot yet. The written steps are the reference.
swipe to step
01
Fold the rope double at the point where you want the loops, so the doubled section is long enough to make both loops and still pass around the whole knot.
Two parallel strands running back to the standing parts, joined at a U-shaped bight, with no twist between the strands.
Starting with a bight that is too short. At step 3 it will not stretch over the two loops, and you end up forcing it or shrinking the loops to make it fit.
Fix: Pull more rope into the bight before going on. Allow for the size of both loops plus enough to pass around them.
Why: The folded end of the bight does not become one of the loops. It becomes the collar that wraps around the standing parts, so it needs its own length on top of the rope used for the loops.
arrow keys work
Tying procedure — Bowline on a Bight
- Diagram in reviewA drawing of the Bowline on a Bight itself is being made. Until then, follow the written steps.
Step 01 / 4
Fold the rope double at the point where you want the loops, so the doubled section is long enough to make both loops and still pass around the whole knot.
You should now see: Two parallel strands running back to the standing parts, joined at a U-shaped bight, with no twist between the strands.
If it goes wrong: Starting with a bight that is too short. At step 3 it will not stretch over the two loops, and you end up forcing it or shrinking the loops to make it fit.
Fix: Pull more rope into the bight before going on. Allow for the size of both loops plus enough to pass around them.
Why: The folded end of the bight does not become one of the loops. It becomes the collar that wraps around the standing parts, so it needs its own length on top of the rope used for the loops.
- Diagram in reviewA drawing of the Bowline on a Bight itself is being made. Until then, follow the written steps.
Step 02 / 4
Make a small eye in the doubled rope by laying the bight side over the standing parts, then push the end of the bight up through that eye from underneath.
You should now see: A small eye with the bight side lying over the standing parts, a long bight standing up out of it, and a double loop hanging below.
If it goes wrong: Drawing only a short tip of the bight through the eye. You find out at the next step, when the bight will not open wide enough to go over the loops.
Fix: Hold the eye so it keeps its shape and draw more of the bight up through it until the bight is longer than the loops hanging below.
Why: This is the eye and tuck of an ordinary bowline, made in doubled rope. If the standing parts lie on top of the bight side, the eye is mirrored; shake it out and make it again before you tuck.
- Diagram in reviewA drawing of the Bowline on a Bight itself is being made. Until then, follow the written steps.
Step 03 / 4
Open the bight wide, bring it down over the double loop hanging below, then up behind the knot until it lies around both standing parts above the eye.
You should now see: The opened bight forms a collar around both standing parts just above the eye, and no part of it is left hanging among the loops.
If it goes wrong: The collar ends up around only one standing part, or stays caught on one of the loops. Look at the collar: both standing parts should pass through it together.
Fix: Slacken the knot, lift the bight back off, and pass it over both loops again so it comes up around both standing parts.
Why: The collar around the standing parts is what locks the eye. Until the bight has gone over the whole knot, it is only tucked through the eye and can pull back out under load.
If wrong: Bight never encircled both standings — One loop collapses or the knot capsizes.
- Diagram in reviewA drawing of the Bowline on a Bight itself is being made. Until then, follow the written steps.
Step 04 / 4
Adjust the two loops to the size you need, then hold the standing parts and pull the loops downward to tighten. Put the load on both loops together.
You should now see: A firm knot with the collar snug around the standing parts, and two loops that keep their size when you pull on them together.
If it goes wrong: Hanging the load from one loop only. The knot can slip when just one loop is loaded, and you may see that loop lengthen while the other shortens.
Fix: Pass the hook, shackle or line through both loops. If the line will be pulled from both ends as well as from the loop, tie an alpine butterfly instead.
Why: Both loops come from the same doubled rope, so they can be set to different sizes before tightening, such as a seat loop and a back loop for a bosun's chair. Once loaded it does not bind and is reasonably easy to untie.
If wrong: Unequal undressed loops — One eye walks; the other takes all the load.
If wrong: Used for three-way mid-line load — Structure was not built to take load on both standings plus the loops that way.
Watch the tie
Learn How To Tie A Bowline On A BightWhyKnot · Opens on YouTubeExternal video from a creator we follow — not produced by us. Nothing on this page loads from YouTube until you follow the link.
Seating sequence — where failures are born
The step list compresses the finish. Run these phases in order, one at a time.
01 Form
Build the structure loose enough to see every turn.
None. Shape first.
02 Dress
Nest every turn. Crossed parts will walk or jam.
Light — hold the shape.
03 Set
Load the standing part so the intended turns take the strain.
Working load, not a snatch.
04 Check
Confirm the lock still breaks or inspects as the job requires.
None extra.
05 Commit
Only load it after the structure reads correct. Wrong means remake.
Working load, not a snatch.
Finished structure — what correct looks like
No drawing of this exact knot yet. The written steps are the reference.
- ·Two mid-line loops; opened bight passed around the whole knot so it sits around both standing parts
- ·Dress both loops after the wrap-around; you cannot finish later under load
- ·Bight end encircles both standings — no leftover tail pretending to lock one side
- ·Two dressed loops of intended size, not one collapsed and one open
Verify before you load it
Every line is pass or fail. One fail means retie — do not load a knot you argued with.
- 01Two mid-line loops; opened bight passed around the whole knot so it sits around both standing parts
- 02Dress both loops after the wrap-around; you cannot finish later under load
- 03Bight end encircles both standings — no leftover tail pretending to lock one side
- 04Two dressed loops of intended size, not one collapsed and one open
- 05Bight sitting on one standing part is unfinished and will capsize
- 06Two open loops, bight around both standings, body square
Field notes — dark, cold, gloves
- ·Dress is the lock. A pretty knot that is not dressed is not finished.
- ·HMPE usually wants a splice, not a hitch you learned in polyester.
- ·If you cannot break or inspect it under the load you expect, it is the wrong job.
When this family fails, it fails as these. The recovered end still outranks the name.
Fixed eye whose lock is a collar seated on the standing part.
- !Open collar — the eye capsizes under cyclic load
- !Cowboy / wrong-direction loop
- !Tail too short to backup, or a Yosemite finish on an unfinished bowline
- !Only one loop is loaded. The knot can slip, and that loop lengthens while the other shortens.
- !The bight is tucked through the eye but not passed over the whole knot, so it can pull back out under load.
- !The collar sits around only one standing part or stays caught on a loop, so it does not lock the eye.
Bight never encircled both standings
One loop collapses or the knot capsizes
The opened bight must pass around the whole knot · step 03
Unequal undressed loops
One eye walks; the other takes all the load
Both loops must be dressed after the wrap-around · step 04
Used for three-way mid-line load
Structure was not built to take load on both standings plus the loops that way
Three-way load is an Alpine Butterfly job · step 04
One loop collapses or the knot capsizes
Check
- ?Bight around both standing parts
- ?Two open loops
Then
- →Retie and finish the wrap-around
- →Use Alpine Butterfly for three-way load
Bight never encircled both standings
Check
- ?One loop collapses or the knot capsizes
- ?Inspect step 03
Then
- →Retie. Do not dress a defective structure and call it seated.
Unequal undressed loops
Check
- ?One eye walks; the other takes all the load
- ?Inspect step 04
Then
- →Retie. Do not dress a defective structure and call it seated.
Used for three-way mid-line load
Check
- ?Structure was not built to take load on both standings plus the loops that way
- ?Inspect step 04
Then
- →Retie. Do not dress a defective structure and call it seated.
Same failure class, different geometry. Open the plates — Diagnose still starts from the symptom.
Get it right with everything in your favour0/5 clean
Good light, dry hands, a table. Until the sequence is automatic here there is nothing for the harder rungs to test — you would only be learning that difficult conditions are difficult, which you already knew.
How · Tie it, check it against the list, log it. Five clean and the ladder opens.
Nothing marked. Log it clean, or mark what happened first.
Not ideal for
- ×A single end-loop (use a bowline)
- ×A mid-line loop that must take three-way load (use Alpine Butterfly)
Strength, and where the number comes from
Not established
Absent from the rope-knot literature review as a distinct knot, and the '60–70%' the catalogue attributed to Animated Knots does not appear on that page or anywhere else on that site.
Percentages come from published tests on their own line, their own knot-tyer and their own pull rate. Yours is a different system. Treat a figure as a reason to test, not as a result you already have.
- Animated Knots — Bowline on a Bight
- WhyKnot — Learn How To Tie A Bowline On A Bight
Cited tying video already attached to this record.
Record reviewed 2026-08-14
Vetted references
- Animated Knots — Bowline on a Bight
Animated Knots by Grog
- Learn How To Tie A Bowline On A Bight
WhyKnot
Related knots
Check the finished knot against what correct looks like before you load it.