Walk down any pier at a marina and check out the cleat hitches on boat and dock cleats. You'll be surprised at the number of ways you see this sailing rope knot tied. And many of those methods are unsafe and insecure!

Put safety first when you or your crew or sailing partner work a line, sheet, or halyard along with a cleat. Teach your crew the correct technique to work with a line under load. Do this before you teach them how to tie the cleat hitch.

Use This Four-Part Structure for Sailing Safety

Work any line--halyard, sheet, anchor rode, docking line, or towing line--and you will form a four-part structure that should look like this: LOAD--LINE--CLEAT--CREW. Look over the descriptions below...

LOAD

Think of load as a pulling force or weight on the far side of a line, sheet, or halyard. A sail pulls on a sheet, so the sail becomes the load. An anchor pulls on the anchor line and has weight so the anchor becomes the load. Your boat pulls back and forth on her docking lines and has weight so your boat becomes the load.

LINE

Sheets, halyards, docking lines, anchor lines (or chain), tow lines, and roller furling lines are just a few examples of "loaded lines" aboard your boat. As described above, if you have a load attached (i.e. sail, anchor, boat), you can bet that line will be under a lot of tension.

CLEAT

Let the cleat do the work for you or your sailing crew. Emphasize to your crew that they should take a turn at the cleat (see below) with the line, sheet or halyard as soon as possible.

If you use a winch, wrap the line three or more times in a clockwise direction around the winch drum to hold the loaded line. Cleat off the line when done grinding. This applies to self-tailing winches as well. Lines can slip out of the clam plates on top of a self-tailing winch. Use a cleat for peace-of-mind.

Under no circumstance should a loaded line be held in place with hands and arms. That's asking for serious injury. Take the line to a winch, cleat, bitt, bollard, or other piece of sailing gear designed to accept a line under high load.

CREW

Keep your crew on the far side of this four-part structure--or "out of the bight"--of the line. You enter the bight of a line when enter into any part of the four-part structure.

For example, what would the four-part structure look like if one of your crew stepped between the Genoa sheet and the cleat (or winch)?

Now the four-part structure changes to: LOAD--LINE--CREW--CLEAT. As you can see, if that sheet snapped or the cleat failed, serious injury could result.

If you must enter the bight of a line for any reason, keep it brief. Get in and out fast and back to the safety of LOAD--LINE--CLEAT--CREW.

Follow along with the illustration to learn how to tie one of the most common and important marine knots in all of sailing and boating--the cleat hitch.

1. Pull the line over to the cleat leg farthest from the load, back around the cleat, and touch the back of the opposite cleat let.

2. Wrap one full figure eight from horn to horn.

3. Make the final hitch so that it lies parallel to the first hitch. Do not make this final half hitch (also called a "weather-hitch") when tacking, docked in areas with extreme tides, or any circumstance where the cleat could remain under heavy load.

The line could freeze onto the horns and base of the cleat and become impossible to remove. In these cases, make an additional figure eight turn around the horns and end the knot with a full turn around the base of the cleat. This will keep the knot secure, allow instant adjustment, and avoid problems.

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Tie the cleat hitch sailing knot with confidence with these easy sailing tips. Keep your sailing crew safe when working lines, sheets, and halyards to stay injury free all sailing season long--wherever in the world you choose to cruise!

"Written so clearly that navigation and seamanship will be comprehensible to anyone."
-- Dave and Jaja Martin, circumnavigators, authors,
and stars of the documentary "Ice Blink"

"It should be read by anyone contemplating
coastal cruising or blue water voyages."
-- Ted Brewer, world famous yacht designer

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