Some jokers once showed me the worlds fastest way to tie a bowline. They used both hands and their arms. They through a loop into the rope while holding the rope at each end of the knot. Then fliped it a couple of times and drew the ends tight. Bingo! A dragon bowline. "Dragon?" I said.

They would respond, "Yeah, draggin'. Cause all it is good for is dragging on the ground behind you."

The point of the joke was that this method of tying the bowline was only good for a loop on the end of a line (to be dragged behind). Because this style of tying the knot could not be implimented if you were actually tying, attaching the rope to something.

I tie a bowline differently than about 95% of everyone else. I start with a slip knot (slippery half hitch) with the standing part of the line as the slipping loop. This slippery half hitch is kept loose and is not cinched. Then the bitter end of the line is passed through the sliding loop. Then the bitter end is bent through the middle of the slippery half hitch by tightening up the slippery half hitch and thus inverting the knot.

The loop in what used to be the slipery half hitch is drawn through the loop, pulling the folded bitter end with it.

Maybe I'll shoot a mpeg of this.

GARY