Cowboy bowline so easily pushed back by accident. However, there is no documentation to confirm this claim, and some Dutch knot tyers outright deny it. Another piece of unverified lore is that it is called a winter bowline because the exposed working end on the outside would blow in the wind and prevent it from freezing to the loop on ships in the north Atlantic during winter. (This suggests that the standard bowline would be the summer bowline.) "The Ashley Book of Knots" states that it is "distinctly inferior" to the standard bowline because of its similarity to the left-hand sheet bend.
International Guild of Knot Tyers expressed a wish to be involved from the outset but due to distance were unable to attend the opening meeting. In 2001, archaeological historian Mike Loades attempted a reconstruction of a British Iron Age chariot. He called upon IGKT member Richard Hopkins for his knowledge and experience of how to use the binding and lashing materials available at that time - rawhide, hemp, and flax - and described his contribution to the project as "invaluable". This involves tying six basic knots - reef knot, sheet bend, sheepshank, clove hitch, round turn and two half-hitches and bowline - against the clock.