As a dad of two scouts and an active leader for both (Webelos & an Asst. Scoutmaster for the Troop) I’ve come to appreciate knots & hitches. The taught-line hitch & two half-hitches are both required for scouting and I’ve come to learn and use them quite often myself (among many others).

I also have a Nite Ize S-Biner Ahhh….which is great for carrying my keyrings on one end, hooking the other end to a beltloop and always have a convenient way to open a beverage.

I’ve seen quite a few Nite Ize products in stores and always give them a second look because of their quality. Although I used to laugh at the Figure 9’s thinking that I wouldn’t need them since I can tie some useful knots. I was shopping at REI (always bad news for my wallet) and finally gave in recently and picked up a small Figure 9 to try out.

It’s super lightweight (.5 oz) and I thought I’d give it a try on my next campout.
I used it to tie down my tarp guy-out line on my hammock. Now I know I could’ve easily used a taught-line hitch and adjusted tension as necessary, but the Figure 9 did a great job and was dead simple to use.

I used the taught-line hitch on the other side of tarp… both held up quite well over a windy night.

Best part about it? I was able to show the scouts who were out on that trip an easy way to put tension on a line using a hardware solution and compare that to their taut-line hitch. NOW they understand BOTH methods and why the taut-line hitch is useful.

For the record, I saw a large Nite Ize Figure 9 S-Biner at Wally World (aka. Wal-Mart) over the weekend and couldn’t resist picking it up too. Not bad at 1.9 oz. and it can hold much larger diameter cordage. I’m sure I’ll find many uses for this.