lies:

Heh. Pretty, but wrong. If I were there I’d have to redo it.

I’m sorry. I just can’t leave it like that.

First off, you need to have the right geometry. Spring lines keep the boat from surging fore and aft. Breast lines (which are the ones going at a mostly right angle from boat to dock) keep the boat from moving in and out:

That labeling is a little wacky, but whatevs. Onward.

There’s no reason to have a tangled mass of spaghetti at the cleat. Yes, extra hitches add a certain feeling of security, but you don’t need them if you know what you’re doing.

Unlike this person:

No.

No!

Nee! Nooit!

Sigh. Look. You want to start with a straight turn around the back of the cleat, then wrap up around the opposite horn so you have a way to pull up to take the strain while easing out, or to tighten up after you’ve pulled in some slack on the standing part of the line. After that straight turn, you cross over the center of the cleat, around the opposite horn, then twist a loop into the line for the hitch to lock it. But unlike the image above, the exiting free end of the locking hitch should lie parallel to the previous crossover, not across it.

Ooh; so close. The only problem here is that the standing part coming in from the boat should have gone around the far horn first, not the near horn. That gives better control when doing that easing-out-and-taking-in maneuver I described above, and makes it harder for the line to slip off the cleat or jam the turns applied later.

Like this:

Yes.

Ooh, yesss.

Nice.

That’s what I’m talking about.

Mm hmm.

Thank you for your time.

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