Some observations (not actual tests) below with a standard bowline and "Scott's Locking Bowline" (Mark Gommers' terminology from his document on the PACI site):
- When I held the nipping loop open, so it was possible to slide the loop, it was quite easy to lengthen and shorten the eye of the bowline
Whoa! What's this? It's not the nipping loop but
the collar (or nothing at all, but ring-loading) that's
at issue here. Holding the core component of any
BWL loose is sure to wreck havoc.
- If I don't hold the nipping loop open,
the standard bowline tightens and the eye can't be expanded or contracted.
Well, it SHOULD be the case that at least in some
circumstances / materials you WILL see slippage
on ring-loading (expanding the eye w/o tension
on the SPart of the eye knot),
as the loading there in a way does the "hold the
nipping loop open" work preventing a sure nip
of the tail.
I had a question about the "Yosemite Bowline", ...
NB : if you tie the YoBowl in the usual way,
take the tail wrap *wide* --i.e., to the opposite
side of the SPart from where it should be if one
has flexible enough rope for that (otherwise, the
"wide" position will be more natural, bending less
on the wrap)--
and then instead of tucking it out through the collar,
turn it back and out through the nipping loop. In this
way, the wide wrap and tuck back through ...
will have the tail lightly *binding* the SPart,
preventing it from (easy) loosening. (One still
needs to take some care in dressing of the parts
inside the nipping loop.)
Alan Lee has shown this sort of tail binding, I believe.
---dl*
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