Okay, here’s the deal. I have just taken my National Star Certification Exam. I’m allowed one rewrite of a failed section. I failed both my Map and Compass section (my fault) and my knots. I failed my knots because I tied a left-handed bowline instead of the normal right handed since I am left handed, despite doing a rewoven figure-8, clove hitch, reef knot and a fisherman’s knot perfectly. Should I be failed for this? Please E-Mail/post responses on this thread with your opinion. Your response may determine the future of my Cadet career.
I failed my knots because I tied a left-handed bowline instead of the normal right handed since I am left handed, despite doing a rewoven figure-8, clove hitch, reef knot and a fisherman's knotperfectly. Should I be failed for this?
This is a question that requires greater context. And I have some questions
directly and coincidentally related to your situation.
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What do you mean by “left-handed bowline”? (–by Ashley, it has the tail outside of the eye.)
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Was there any rationale given for the required version vs. another?
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HOW were you expected to tie the Bwl–forming loop and reeving end up around SPart …,
or by the quick-tie method of taking the end over SPart and capsizing a simple knot into
end-through-loop state? --eye facing (or even, say, around) you, or eye facing away? (harder away) -
What do you mean by “fisherman’s knot”? (–by Ashley, it’s rope-2-rope, not rope-to-object.)
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How was the knotting instruction given, in the sense of expectations and general
guidance re knots (e.g., where students encouraged to learn more than this small
set of knots, or rather told that this would be all they needed and better to not use others)? -
This was the entire set required?! (–no stopper knot (Overhand-Fig.8-Stevedore(Fig.10)? --no Sheet Bend?)
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Any restrictions put on the use of the Reef knot? (–such as “Don’t join ropes with it beyond …”.)
There is some merit to doing what is required, and esp. military organizations expect this.
I don’t follow the “since I’m left-handed” rationale for the knot, if it’s tail-on-outside version
–that’s a non sequitur (you might tie a mirror image to what right-handers do, but not just
misplace the end). If in fact “left-handed” is to denote curvature (Z or S) of the knot, then
that’s a curious thing, and I’ve not seen reports of the effect of such in laid rope (and it
shouldn’t matter in braided) for the bowline. One can argue the relative merits of one
version of the Bowline vs. the other, but I don’t think that was likely open to debate.
(In another thread currently active, you can see some various extensions of the Bwl–do!)
–dl*
If the exam required a particular configuration to be tyed, and you were clearly informed as to the requirements of the exam, and then did not produce the knot as specified, then I would expect you to not be awarded a score for that task.