I think you are missing the point.
It's not that the knot will fail.
It's the damage to the rope that the knot will cause.
The tests have shown that a rope that has a bowline tied in it is more
likely to fail at that point that the bowline was tied in previously.
In other words,
Tie a bowline in a rope, Put a strain on the rope and knot.
Untie the knot.
Put a strain on the rope without any knots therein.
Now the rope is more likely to fail at the spot that the bowline was
previously tied.
The increase likelihood in rope failure is just a small percentage;
but it was there.
And the experiments were repeatable..
It has to do with the curving and lay of the twisted rope.
In tests,
a figure 8 was better than the bowline
a bowline is better than knot A
knot A was better than knot B
etc.
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Back up my hard drive? I can't find the reverse switch!
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W9OL, Bill H. in Chicagoland
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