That is one of the differences between sailors and rock climbers. The "base" knot for sailors is generally the bowline and for climbers the figure 8. I think it has to do with priorities.
In rock climbing your loads are pretty defined. So the ropes are sized appropriately and the knots are the weakness. You care about the strength of a knot, the stronger the knot the thinner the line you can carry.
On a boat, that isn't really the priority. I have lines from 1/32" up to 2.5" on my boat. I don't really know the exact loads on anything and they are always changing. So all of the lines have a huge factor of safety, like 3-5x more than it needs. The strength of the knot matters little.
But what does matter is speed. I can tie a bowline in under 2 seconds and figure 8 in under 2 seconds easily, if i'm using both hands. But if I'm using one hand, well it takes me a hell of a lot longer with the figure 8 than the bowline. There are a lot of situations where that might happen. For me it usually arises in emergencies. Am I laying on the deck reaching to tie a knot with one hand while holding on with the other? Or am I tieing a knot around a towing post while the line is starting to get taught? Am I holding onto a sail while trying to tie it off because a shackle broke?
Those are the times that the ease of tieing and the speed of getting it done out weigh the benefits of the figure 8. They both have their place but doing both sports I think culturally thats why people know what knots they know.
In rock climbing your loads are pretty defined. So the ropes are sized appropriately and the knots are the weakness. You care about the strength of a knot, the stronger the knot the thinner the line you can carry.
On a boat, that isn't really the priority. I have lines from 1/32" up to 2.5" on my boat. I don't really know the exact loads on anything and they are always changing. So all of the lines have a huge factor of safety, like 3-5x more than it needs. The strength of the knot matters little.
But what does matter is speed. I can tie a bowline in under 2 seconds and figure 8 in under 2 seconds easily, if i'm using both hands. But if I'm using one hand, well it takes me a hell of a lot longer with the figure 8 than the bowline. There are a lot of situations where that might happen. For me it usually arises in emergencies. Am I laying on the deck reaching to tie a knot with one hand while holding on with the other? Or am I tieing a knot around a towing post while the line is starting to get taught? Am I holding onto a sail while trying to tie it off because a shackle broke?
Those are the times that the ease of tieing and the speed of getting it done out weigh the benefits of the figure 8. They both have their place but doing both sports I think culturally thats why people know what knots they know.