The Wyk'd Dave Wyk'd Fast Bowline

There are 4 single column ties that we regularly teach at the IFA and one that has been a favorite of mine since I learned it is the Wyk'd Dave Wyk'd Fast Bowline. Wyk'd Dave is an incredible rigger and rope artist from England. If you haven't checked out his websites- http://rope-topia.com/  and http://wykd.com/ you owe it to yourself to. It is a wealth of information and some amazing images of spectacular rope. He devised this single column tie to be a quick way to start a takate kote (aka box tie, or gote, or tk, etc) but of course it can be used in any application that a single column tie would be used. 

I really like the speed and simplicity of this tie. It goes on fast and is incredibly secure  yet it is easy to remove when you are at that point. It is without question my favorite way to start gotes. 

There is a bit of a downside with it though but that is easily overcome when you understand it. The Wyk'd Fast Bowline is very directional. This means that the standing end of the line (the part toward the tails) needs to make a 180 degree turn. The illustration  to the left shows this. With a shorter rope of 10 or 15 feet this is not a big deal but when dealing with a much longer rope of 25 or 30 feet it becomes much more problematic. To avoid having to fold a longer rope back over itself start with the working end (the bight) going behind the column being tied. If you do that then the standing end of the line will be draped in front of you and can be folded up into the tie easily.

Start by wrapping your column twice with your rope. Leave about a hand's length of the bight to complete the knot.

Fold the standing end of the rope back over itself 180 degrees. 

Pass the working end of the rope over the wraps and the bight formed by the standing line.
Note that I am holding the standing line bight open with my finger. 

Pass the working end bight underneath all the wraps.

At this point the tie will look like this. I took this picture to show the open bight on the Standing end of the rope. 

  

Pass the working end bight through the standing end bight as shown. Pull fairly tight. 

Pull on the standing end of the rope to tighten up the knot. Dress it to make sure it is set properly. 

When completed the Wyk'd Dave Wyk'd Fast Bowline look like this. It should be fairly "square" in appearance.
Note: I have a very short bight on this which is fine for the start of a box tie but if this were to be used
for suspension applications it would be wise to have a longer bight of 3-4" in order to "lock" it off for safety. 

The completed Wyk'd Dave Wyk'd Fast Bowline from the side.