How to Tie the Bowline with a Bight
Usage
The Bowline with a Bight gives you a bowline anywhere along a rope when both ends are out of reach, tied off a fold of the standing line instead of a tail. It is not the same knot as the Bowline on a Bight, despite the names sitting one word apart: that knot finishes as two matching parallel loops, the rescue-seat form, while this one finishes as one working eye plus a smaller auxiliary tail loop.
Once set it grips like any bowline, a nipping loop clamping the collar, except the collar here is a doubled fold of rope. It is used for mid-line anchors, mid-line pulling, and as the fixed loop of a mid-line tensioning system. It also takes a pull from either standing part without the collar distorting, which is rare in a bowline.
Common Uses
Tree Work and Rigging
- A mid-line tree anchor when the rope ends are out of reach.
- A quick fixed loop in the middle of a long line.
Trades and Utility
- Snag-free mid-line pulls, where a compact profile matters.
- Capturing the working side of a long line to build a mid-line trucker's hitch.
- Shortening a rope without cutting, two tied in series — fine for stowed gear and guylines, not load-critical work.
Sailing
- A tackle-pendant eye: a doubled loop a hook seats in with a double bearing. Keep the loops equal or they wear unevenly.
Climbing
- A mid-rope tie-in for a rope team on glacier travel, no carabiners needed — specialist technique rather than standard-taught, and one that wants a locking finish.
Other Names
Category
|
Notable Features
- Tied in the bight: no rope ends required.
- Loadable from either side: one of few bowlines that stays stable under a pull through the bight.
- Compact: low bulk, little to snag.
- Doubles as a shortener: two in series take up slack without a cut.
Similar Knots
Bowline on a Bight vs. Bowline with a Bight
Nearly every search for one name returns the other. The two-parallel-loop rescue form is a different structure with different load limits.
- Advantage: Two loops at once, for an improvised seat.
- Disadvantage: Bulkier, and its collar distorts if load comes through the loops.
Alpine Butterfly vs. Bowline with a Bight
The Alpine Butterfly is the mainstream mid-line loop and the honest default for life-critical work.
- Advantage: Everyone recognises it, so a partner can check it.
- Disadvantage: Harder to open after a brutal load.
Security Level
Secure when dressed and set properly, and no further. It is still a bowline, so it shakes loose when load cycles on and off with slack in the line, and on thin or slick cord it is more likely to slip than to break. Loading direction changes its real margin considerably. Where a fall is possible, add a locking finish — the Yosemite finish is the standard one.
Downsides
- Fiddlier than a plain bowline: six steps and a fold of rope to manage.
- Loosens under cyclic loading: the bowline family's oldest weakness.
- Hard to identify: experienced practitioners often cannot name it on sight.
- Margin depends on load direction: much stronger pulled one way than the other.
History
Clifford Ashley recorded it in The Ashley Book of Knots (1944) as a tackle-pendant eye — a rigging detail rather than a general-purpose knot, and none of the popular ropework primers of that era named it. He treats the technique as traditional rather than anyone's invention. Its modern life comes from structural analysis by Mark Gommers at the Professional Association of Climbing Instructors; its steady working use has been in the tree and electrical trades.
How to Tie the Bowline with a Bight
Step 1
Take a section of rope mid-line and fold it back on itself to form a bight. That fold is your working end.
Step 2
Throw a turn in the standing line just below the bight — the small loop bowline tyers call the rabbit hole.
Step 3
Pass the tip of the bight up through that loop from underneath.
Step 4
Take the bight around behind the standing part — the side that carries the load.
Step 5
Feed the tip back down through that same loop, tucking it alongside itself.
Step 6
Set and dress it by pulling the working bight and the standing parts in opposite directions until it seats firmly.
Bowlines are worth drilling until the shape comes without thinking. The Knot IQ app is built for that practice, and our Knot IQ companion kits pair the cards with cord to work through.
FAQ
How is a bowline with a bight not just a bowline on a bight?
Two knots wearing almost the same name. A bowline on a bight finishes as two matching parallel loops, the rescue-seat form; a bowline with a bight finishes as one working eye plus a smaller tail loop. Two same-size loops means on, one eye and a spare means with.
Should the third (tail) loop be loaded, or left slack?
Leave it slack as your default. Trade tutorials treat that auxiliary loop as optional, and the arborist forums put the traditional case sharply: in a bowline you never load the tail, because it only tightens the knot and makes it harder to untie. Against that, working arborists have photographed a version that equalises all three loops and clips them.
Why use this instead of an Alpine Butterfly for a mid-line loop?
One reason, repeated by practitioner after practitioner: it comes undone after a brutal load, where the butterfly can fight you. The costs are real — the butterfly ties one-handed, adjusts on the fly, and is the knot everyone else recognises.
Can you use a bowline with a bight as a trucker's hitch?
Yes, and on a long line it is arguably the best loop for the job. Pass the rope around your lower pivot point, cross the working side over and under the standing line, then pull a bight at the crossing and tie the knot there. That captures the working side and gives you the fixed loop of a mid-line trucker's hitch, with no rope to feed.
Important Notes on Safety
The trade sources that document this knot restrict it to material handling, wire pulling and equipment securement, and say plainly never to use these knots for life safety, fall protection or overhead lifting. Climbing specialists do use it mid-rope with a locking finish, but that is advocacy rather than a standard, and one objection has never been settled: it may induce awkward torque on a two-point harness. No certifying body endorses it for life loading.
