Ready to add six more knots to your basic boating repertoire, greatly expand your capabilities and even impress your friends?

Let's start by reviewing some basic terms. With any knot, the part you manipulate is the working part or running part, the rest of the rope is the standing part. A bight is a bend in the rope that does not cross over the standing part–basically a U shape. If the rope makes a complete circle, crossing the standing part, it is a turn. If the line crosses over the standing part I call it an "overhand turn," if it crosses under it is an "underhand turn."

CLOVE HITCH

This knot that can be quickly and easily dropped onto a piling to hold a boat, though I wouldn't recommend leaving a boat secured with a clove hitch if you can't keep an eye on it without some sort of backup. A clove hitch can loosen up if there is no strain on the standing part (the part that leads to the boat). A few half-hitches on the standing part can serve as backup.

To tie a clove hitch around an object, take a turn around the object. Then cross over the turn and take another turn, this time slipping the running end under the last turn. Pull the running part and the standing part to tighten. You should see two turns around the object with both the running part and the standing part in between.

GENE BJERKE

A quick method if the end of the object is open (such as the top of a piling) is to make an underhand turn (with the running part under the standing part) and drop the loop onto the piling. Then make another underhand turn and drop that on the piling. Pull the ends to finish.

COIL HITCH

One of the best ways to keep a coiled rope secured is a coil hitch. To make it, take the last bit of rope and pass it around the top of the coil and under itself (similar to the beginning of a clove hitch). Pass it around again, this time passing over the first part and under the last turn. Pull up on the running end to tighten.

GENE BJERKE

This will hold the coil secure so you can hang it or carry it. If the running end is long enough, you can hang the coil from a lifeline or other such arrangement with a cow hitch.

COW HITCH

The cow hitch (or lark's head, if you prefer a more elegant name) is a quick and secure way to attach, or hitch, a line to an object. Basically, if you double a line, then pass the doubled bight around the object and pull the rest of the line through it, you have a cow hitch. To make it with just the end of a line, pass the running end around the object from front to back. Then, take the line across the standing part and around the object again from back to front. Tuck the running end through the bight just formed and down alongside the standing part. Pull both parts to tighten.

The cow hitch will hold well, yet it is easy to untie.

MARLINESPIKE HITCH

When wrapping something with small stuff, such as marline or light twine, you often need to pull it tight. However, it can cut into your hand. The solution is to attach your marlinespike or similar object to it with a marlinespike hitch. This gives you a handle that allows you to pull the material as tight as you want, injury-free.

GENE BJERKE

Make an overhand turn in the marline, by crossing the running part over the standing part of the line. Fold this turn up against the standing part. Now push your marlinespike through from one side going over, under, and over the three parts of the marline. Pull on the spike and the knot tightens. When you pull the spike out and tug on the marline, the knot goes away.

CONSTRICTOR KNOT

This is a knot that was invented by Clifford Ashley, author of the bible of knot tying, The Ashley Book of Knots. Unlike most mariner's knots, it is very difficult to untie once it drawn up, so don't use a constrictor knot where you may later want to free the line. A knife may be your only recourse.

As the name implies, the constrictor knot aims to bind something very tightly. It is often used as a temporary substitute for a whipping. It can also be used to hold parts tightly while gluing or even as a substitute for a hose clamp.

GENE BJERKE

The basic construction is an overhand knot with a round turn on top of it. The overhand knot tightens down on whatever it is tied around and the round turn prevents the overhand from loosening. The easiest method is to make a loose clove hitch around the object, then tuck the running end around the first turn to make the overhand knot. Make sure the round turn lies across the overhand knot and pull both ends to tighten. Using this method, the knot can also be tied in the hand and then slipped over the object.

HEAVING LINE KNOT

GENE BJERKEIf you need to toss a line some distance, use a heaving line, or messenger. That's a light line with a monkey's fist on the end to give it weight; this is thrown ashore and used to pull a heavier line over. But if you don't have a handy heaving line, you can make a quick substitute using the line you are going to pass by fitting it with a heaving line knot. This knot adds some weight to the end so that it can be thrown farther.

Give yourself lots of line and make a long, narrow turn, some distance from the end. Now wrap the working part tightly around both parts toward the end. When you run out of line, stick the end through the loop and pull the standing part to close the loop and capture the end.

The result should be something that looks like a hangman's noose -- without the noose. This extra weight will give you extra distance when it comes time to heave the line.