Steph Reviews Marine Knots: How to Tie 40 Essential Knots By Patrick Moreau & Illustrations by Jean-Benoit Heron

Publisher: Harper Design
Format Read: Paperback
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: April 3, 2018
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository*  |  Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Waterproof Cover and Detachable Practice Rope

Packed with helpful step-by-step instructions and beautifully detailed illustrations, Marine Knots includes forty different knots every water sportsperson—including sailors, motor boat enthusiasts, waterskiers, paddle boarders, kayakers, canoers, and more need to practice their craft or hobby safely and confidently. With Marine Knots, you’ll learn how to tie a variety of common knots, including:

• Stopper Knots 
• Hitch Knots 
• Lashing Knots 
• Eyes or Closed Loops 
• Bend Knots 
• Longitudinal Tension Knots
• Whipping Knots
• Symbolic Knots

Marine Knots comes with a convenient practice rope to help you perfect each knot and a handy plastic waterproof binding so you can stash it on board without worrying about the weather—or a rogue wave. The spiral binding allows the book to stay open for easy practice whether you’re out on a lake, at sea, or in the backyard or living room.

For everyone who loves spending time on the water, Marine Knots is a reliable, portable, and invaluable guide—and the perfect accessory for popular water activities.

Steph's Thoughts:

We do not usually do non-fiction books but this one caught my eye simply because my son is a Cub Scout and this year we have started learning how to tie knots. I am not very good at it because it was not something that I learned as a child. I thought this book might help me out a little as well as help him.

The guide comes with its own rope. It was fine for me to work with but we needed something a little thicker for Liam to learn to tie the knots. His fine motor skills need a bit of work.

First let me say, start at the beginning. The book is set up to have the introduction and a beginning simple knot. Followed by the more complicated knots. (There are a couple that seemed complicated in the beginning so I skipped those and went back later) LOL, yes I attempted to just open the book and tie one of the complicated knots in the middle. I failed miserably so I went back to the beginning and learned the orientation of the rope in the pictures and the terminology they were using. What do you know... it helped. Hahaha. (LOL. Imagine that. ~ Bea)

Liam and I practiced many of the simple knots. There are some pretty complicated ones in this book that I have not attempted yet. I am trying to master the simple ones and the ones we are trying to master for Scouts. I am proud to say that I can now successfully tie a square knot. Go Mom. :) Liam is still working on them but he is coming along.

The illustrations and directions are fairly easy to follow (if you read the introduction first). It did take several tries for me to make my knot look like the final picture but practice does make perfect. I do think we will be using this book more as we move along in Scouts. The pictures and directions are much better than in the Scout manual. Overall we really liked this book. It was pretty helpful and I can see it sticking around for the next few years.