Eskimo bowline

Eskimo bowline
Names	Eskimo bowline, Sitka loop, anti-bowline, Cossack knot, Kalmyk loop
Category	Loop
Origin	Ancient
Related	bowline, sheet bend, double bowline, water bowline, spanish bowline, triple bowline, bowline on a bight, running bowline, poldo tackle, cowboy bowline
Releasing	Non-jamming
Typical use	Placing a loop which will be stretched wide open under load in the end of a rope

The Eskimo bowline, reverse bowline, or 'anti-bowline' is in a class of knots known as 'eye knots' (some prefer to use the term 'loop knots'). The eye is formed in the end of the rope to permit attachments/connections. The simple (ABoK #1010) bowline is also an 'eye knot'. In the simple bowline, the collar component forms around the 'standing part'. In contrast, the collar component of an anti-bowline forms around the outgoing eye-leg.

Eskimo bowline based on the method described by Geoffrey Budworth in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Knots. The tightened knot on the right takes on a trefoil crown shape.

The Eskimo bowline is best used in applications in which the loop will be stretched wide. In applications where the two legs of the loop are nearly parallel, a bowline is superior.

The structure of the knot was not identified by Clifford Ashley (in 1944). All of the maneuvers to tie this knot are generally in the opposite (or 'anti' direction) relative to the bowline.

Dan Lehman regards the general, bowline-like structure as an 'anti-bowline' in the sense of "anti-clockwise": in that with regard to the main nipping loop, the tail on returning from forming the eye is brought through this loop in the opposite direction relative to what is done for a bowline. When this knot is ring-loaded – and the knot effectively becomes an end-to-end knot – it is effectively a sheet bend. (The image above with red rope would result in an ends-opposite (and inferior) sheet bend; the version shown on the right side would give a same-side sheet bend (ABoK #1431). The common bowline when ring-loaded becomes effectively an inferior version of the Lapp bend, and so can slip and untie; the wrongly demeaned "left-handed"/"cowboy" bowline becomes the proper Lapp bend, and should hold.)

Sheet bend

A Cossack knot is another name for the same knot. A slipped version of the Cossack knot is called Kalmyk loop.

See also

• Eskimo yo-yo