First of all, let me notice what has been said at a previous post :
Well, if you need a knot on a bight, you can sit there and complain, or you can man up and do the best you can with what you know!
...clearly I'm talking about knots on a bight.
It is impossible to tie the Pile hitch variation shown at (1) in the bight, I am afraid... and the same is true for the slipped or the Buntline-based versions of it. On the contrary, all the knots that I have suggested are
"clearly" TIB knots, with the exception of the non-slipped single-hitch-a-la-Gleipnir - but the slipped version of it becomes a TIB knot, as I have mentioned at (2):
even if the non-slipped version of a 2-wrap hitch is not a TIB knot, its slipped version might become TIB.
Does any of the knots suggested at (2) really take much more time to be tied than un equivalent - re. the number of its wraps - Pile hitch ? No, not at all.
1. The time the Andalusian hitch needs, is shown at the video :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShFA4CMyhNA&list=UUILfSVV5Dr_qk5i2snM6uJw&index=1&feature=plcp Less than 10 seconds, and I guess that, with a little practice, one can tie it in 6 seconds. So, even if the Pile hitch needs 1 second (!), the difference would be 5 seconds...
In sailing, one is often confronted with sudden changes of the weather, the course of the wind or the boat, with impeding collisions with rocks, docks, logs, boats, etc... but I had never felt the need to do something in such a rapid pace, in less than 6 seconds ! On the contrary, if one does something in a hurry, and makes a mistake, the time that would be needed to correct it would be
awfully longer... If we tie a mediocre or a so-so hitch, and then we see that it does not hold as it should ( because the load has suddenly increased, there came some water on the surface of pole, the direction of the standing end has changed, etc. ), we would need
many times the time we had "saved" at the first place, to untie it and then tie a tighter one in its place ...
2. The time the Tom Foul s hitch needs, is described at ABoK#2534. It is a knot that has been popular to the magicians since the original Dark Ages, precisely because it can be tied in the bight so fast ! What else can I say ? I am sure that Alan Lee can tie it in much less than 6 seconds, probably in 3 seconds ! So, the difference with the hypothetical miraculously-tied-in-just-one-second Pile hitch would also be 5 seconds.
3. The time the slipped locked Cow hitch needs, depends upon the time one needs to tie a single Cow hitch ! Then he should just pass the slipped bight underneath the standing end. I guess that it will also need less than 10 seconds - and if we compare the hand movements needed to form a Pile hitch with those needed to form a Cow hitch, we will not find much difference.
4. The time the slipped single-hitch-a-la-Gleipnir needs is probably more than 10 seconds, because it takes some time to dress the knot correctly, and tighten it so the two coils stand perpendicularily on the surface of the pole. So, this is the only knot of the 4 I had suggested, that will need 10, or even 20 seconds more than a Pile hitch. If time is sooo precious, and 10 or 20 seconds cost sooo much, then one should not tie this hitch.
It is amusing that we are talking about seconds, even minutes, when we are comparing knots...Very few practical purposes need a knot that would be able to be tied very quickly, and in even fewer the need of speed would force the knot tyer to make compromises to security.
I have something else to add : To me, to tie a knot, the best possible knot, in the best possible way, is a satisfaction by itself. I do not wish to lose the joy to watch the proper knot properly tied, just to gain a few seconds, or even minutes. If I have to save time, I would rather eat fast, second quality food, than tie fast, second quality knots...
1.
http://igkt.net/sm/index.php?topic=4139.msg25030#msg250302.
http://igkt.net/sm/index.php?topic=4139.msg25008#msg25008