Charleston man tied to Georgetown Wooden Boat Show

Dan “the Knot Man” Machowski’s life has been all knotted up for a long time, not that he minds it at all.

The Charleston-based sailing coach and retired fisheries biologist from the S.C. Department of Natural Resources enjoys his ties to the Georgetown’s annual Wooden Boat Show, where again he will demonstrate knot tying for visitors. The show spans two days on Front Street: 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, and admission is free.

This 26th annual edition, a benefit for the S.C. Maritime Museum –based at 729 Front St., and open 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays, also for free – marks the first show since the death of Len Anderson in August. A Marine Corps officer who served during the Korean War, he was instrumental in the establishment of the Wooden Boat Show and the maritime museum.

Machowski, a member of the Spirit Knot Tyers, and a former – also the first from the United States – president of the International Guild of Knot Tyers (www.igkt.net) – also saluted Anderson for a continuous, open invitation years ago to take part in the Wooden Boat Show, a tradition by a large “Georgetown family” he treats as an honor to help continue for new generations.

Question | How did the ties for your entertaining and educating at Wooden Boat Shows result from your connection with Len Anderson?

Answer | The first show they did in Georgetown was in 1993. ... The following year in 1994, I was in a show in Charleston. ... Len kept coming up to me for couple of years, saying “we want you at the show,” but I couldn’t get away. ... So, in 1996, when they had the first boat building challenge, ... Len came to me, saying, “Dan, I have something to ask you,” and I said, “No, I have something to tell you,” and ... I agreed to do the show. If he hadn’t persisted, I probably never would have ended up at the show.

Q. | With the 2015 show dedicated in Mr. Anderson’s memory, what extra spirit will be alight in everyone taking part and coordinating so many things to do and see?

A. | What should hit home, especially in light of our 26th year, is the teamwork that it took for Len and the rest of the group, with Susan Sanders, Sally Swineford and the amount of people too numerous to mention from the entire Georgetown community, to put out their heart and soul in putting the show together.

Q. | How did knot-tying become more than a mere everyday task, an art you’ve embraced and extended?

A. | My father was a Navy officer, so I grew up in the 1960s with the Navy. ... I remember growing up just noticing all the knots. My father was an engineering officer. ... I got into really liking boating because of the Navy, but my father, being a Navy officer, he required us to know all the knots, or we didn’t even go out on the boat. OK, I was required to do the everyday stuff, but I got to see the decorative end of it. I like to say I got babysat by a bunch of boatswains when I was young.

Q. | Who taught you, or where did you first learn how to tie your shoes?

A. | That was my father; he was the one who taught me and required me to know how to tie knots. ... When it comes to fishing knots, I attribute that to my grandfather. ... If I wasn’t on Charleston harbor, I was on Lake Murray.

Q. | What are the basic knots that abound, that we all use, but might not realize, in everyday life?

A. | Overhand knots are the first knot you make when you tie your shoes. There are probably a half-dozen common knots that people end up tying ... and basically, those knots consist of overhand knots. ...

The way the human mind works, if you cannot tie a good knot, you just tie a lot. ...

I think people are taught an overhand knot, and a square knot, which is just two overhand knots. Things are built around those. There’s also figure 8 knots, ... and with someone who knows how to tie a bowline knot, it’s usually someone who’s had some scouting or training. And you use slipknots to tie a bundle of papers as you would to wrap a bundle of sticks.

Q. | Has anyone ever documented just how many knots exist?

A. | With members of the International Guild of Knot Tyers, that has been a question that has been asked. ... There’s a ... general consensus on knots, and if you find a different way to tie it, or a different usage for a knot, then you can rename it. For example, there are a lot of knots that sailors use, and people associate them with sailing, but they’re also used in leather crafts with horseback riding. ... Some knots are variations on everything; I’m not sure you would ever come up with that number.

Q. | Mr. Anderson was known for always concluding his email with “Fair winds and following seas,” so how did your own signature, “Smooth turns,” arise?

A. | Many people do “Fair winds,” but Len was always so complete, so he made it, “Fair winds and following seas.” ... Mine came about for two reasons: I am a sailor, and I coach sailing. When you’re talking about doing turns in the sailboat, you want to take things smoothly. .. Then with knot tying, and in sailing, ... with your lines, you always want to have have a fair lead going through or tying around something. ... I thought about the concept of making turns, and making sure they’re nice and smooth, ... and I started thinking: Sailing and knot tying have that in common.

This story was originally published October 11, 2015 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Charleston man tied to Georgetown Wooden Boat Show."