How to Tie the Cowboy Bowline
Usage
The cowboy bowline puts a fixed loop on the end of a line — a mooring line over a ring, or an end loop for sail rigging. It's a bowline with one change: the tail finishes on the outside of the loop instead of tucked inside. That difference is what lets it hold up better when the loop is pulled sideways across a ring or bollard.
For a straight, inline pull it behaves like an ordinary bowline. The payoff shows up only when the loop is tugged crosswise — what riggers call ring loading — where the outside tail gets pinned instead of milked loose.
Why Learn the Cowboy Bowline?
If you already tie the standard bowline knot, the cowboy version is worth knowing for one reason: when the eye can be pulled sideways over a ring or post, the tail-outside finish resists coming undone better. Keep the standard bowline as your everyday loop; the cowboy is the specialist for when the pull comes across the loop rather than straight down the line.
Common Uses
A marine knot at heart, best where an end loop drops over hardware that can pull sideways:
- Mooring lines to a ring, post, or bollard that can load the loop crosswise.
- Sail-rigging loops — the outside tail is easy to throw over a piling or cleat.
- End loops pulled sideways, where the tail-outside form is the better bowline.
One more use comes with a condition: some tree crews use the a "running cowboy bowline" for rigging loops, since it takes sideways pulls well and unties after load — an occupational habit, not a life-support endorsement.
Other Names
Category
Type
|
Notable Features
- Cross-load resistance: stays put when pulled sideways, where a basic bowline works loose.
- Outside tail: sits clear of the loop — easy to check at a glance and to throw over hardware.
- Unties easily: like every bowline, break the collar back over the standing part and it opens by hand, even after heavy load.
🪢 Myth-bust: "The cowboy bowline is just a wrong, inferior knot"
Partly true — but mostly backwards. Clifford Ashley's Book of Knots dismissed the tail-outside form in 1944 as "distinctly inferior," with no data behind it. Pulled straight, the two bowlines are essentially the same strength, so "weaker" is false; sideways across a ring, the outside tail gets pinned, so it resists coming undone better. Where the old verdict holds is cyclic use: like the standard bowline, the cowboy works loose under repeated load-and-slack, and neither is safe for a life without a backup. It isn't a mistake — it's a different tool with a different sweet spot.
Similar Knots
Bowline Knot vs. Cowboy Bowline
The classic bowline loop wins on recognition — the form everyone teaches and partner-checks, tail tucked inside — but that inside tail can be milked loose under a sideways ring pull, exactly the failure the cowboy resists.
Eskimo Bowline vs. Cowboy Bowline
The Eskimo Bowline is a lookalike, not a rival — climbers mix the two up because both leave the tail outside. But they are built differently: in a cowboy bowline the collar wraps the standing part; in an Eskimo the returning loop leg enters from the same side as the outgoing leg. "Tail outside" alone doesn't name the knot.
Security Level
The cowboy bowline holds the way every bowline does — the loop clamps harder as the load comes on — so it shares the family's weak spot: it works loose under repeated load-and-slack, and is not secure on its own for anything life-critical. Its one genuine edge is sideways, or ring, loading, where the outside tail gets pinned by the loop — a bonus, not a safety margin. Slick rope like Dyneema erodes even that. Because it's easy to confuse with the standard and Eskimo bowlines, confirm which you tied, and for anything that matters add a backup or step up to a bowline with a Yosemite finish.
Downsides & When NOT to Use a Cowboy Bowline
- Not for climbing or life-critical loops on its own. Like the standard bowline it can loosen under cyclic loading — for climbing, use a figure-eight follow-through, or a secured bowline with a backup.
- Slick, high-tech rope. On Dyneema it can slip, and its ring-loading advantage disappears too — use a splice or a soft shackle instead.
- When recognition matters. The standard bowline is safer to hand off — the cowboy is easily mistaken for it and the Eskimo.
How to Tie the Cowboy Bowline
Step 1
Form a small loop — the “rabbit hole” — in the standing part, the side of the rope that runs off to the load.
Step 2
Pass the working end up through that loop from underneath: the rabbit comes out of the hole.
Step 3
Wrap the working end around the standing part on the side closer to the loop — this is the reverse of a standard bowline's wrap, and it's what sends the tail to the outside.
Step 4
Bring the working end back down and tuck it through the original loop.
Step 5
Dress and set it with no twists. The tail must finish outside the main loop — if it ends up inside, you've tied a standard bowline instead.
Pro Tip: The tag end outside the loop is the reliable check — inside means a standard bowline; a wrap around the loop rather than the standing part means an Eskimo. Re-check after the first hard pull.
The reversed wrap is the part people get backwards. If it isn't clicking from flat steps, the Knot IQ app has the cowboy bowline in full 3D — spin it and watch where the tail comes out. Our knot tying kit keeps the core loops on hand for practice.
History
Clifford Ashley catalogued the tail-outside bowline in 1944 as the "Left-Hand Bowline," assuming sailors who tied it around a mooring post did so in error. The names "cowboy" and "Dutch" came later — they don't appear in Ashley or the early manuals, and the stories behind them are folklore even their own tellers flag as unverified. What's solid is narrower: an old form of the bowline that spent a long time with a bad review, treated more kindly by modern testing.
Cowboy Bowline FAQ
Is the cowboy bowline weaker than a regular bowline?
No — pulled straight, they're essentially the same strength. The difference is sideways: under ring or crosswise loading the cowboy resists unravelling better. Neither is safe for life-critical use without a backup.
How do I tell a cowboy bowline from a regular bowline?
Look at the tail. The cowboy finishes with the tag end outside the loop; the standard bowline finishes it inside, alongside the returning leg. It can blur under load, so re-check after the first pull.
Is the cowboy bowline safe for climbing?
Not as a plain knot — like the standard bowline it can loosen under cyclic loading. Use a figure-eight follow-through, or a secured bowline with a backup.
Important Notes on Safety
- Not life-safe on its own. Like the standard bowline, a plain cowboy bowline can loosen under cyclic loading — add a backup or use a secured variant for anything critical.
- "Resists ring loading" is not "secure." It resists one failure mode, not all, and slick rope defeats even that.
- Confirm which knot you tied. Check that the collar wraps the standing part and the tail sits outside the loop.
- Careful with a Yosemite finish on thin rope. Dressed wrong it can leave a single strand inside the loop, weakening it — a fuller lock (Scott's locked bowline) is safer for serious use.
