Sea Dog, red gate

A "Sea Dog red gate" refers to the red, spring-loaded gate on a Sea-Dog clamcleat, which is used to prevent unintentional rope entry into the cleat. These are specialized, high-performance boat cleats designed to securely hold lines and prevent them from slipping.

The red gate, also known as a "spring gate," is flipped up by hand, keeping the rope out of the alloy cleat and preventing accidental rope entry.