LESSON D: WINCHES

Imagine you have agreed to walk your friend's dog in the park. Your friend has the largest dog you have ever seen and you have this dog at the end of a very long leash. Suddenly, a squirrel scampers by and the dog takes off in pursuit. You try to hold Fido (that's the dog's name) back, but you find yourself being pulled along in the chase, and the last thing you want to do is let go of the leash. What do you do?

Luckily, there are lampposts in the park. With all your remaining strength, you swerve toward a lamppost and wrap your end of the leash half way around it. Fido stops. You have gained the upper hand. The lamppost is helping you hold back a force that was too powerful for you to hold by yourself.

A winch is like that lamppost. The sails are like the dog. The sheet or the halyard - the line attached to the sail - is like the leash. If you are holding the jib sheet and the sail is pulling too hard, wrap the sheet around the winch and the winch will help you hold it.

The winch is a machine designed exactly for this purpose, so it does a little more than the lamppost. The winch will turn (in one direction). So if you have the line wrapped around the winch in the right direction (clockwise, in most cases) you can pull on your end of the sheet and it will pull in (trim) the jib. You will hear a ratchet wheel inside the winch clicking as it turns. Teeth built into the winch ratchet will lock when you try to turn it counter clockwise. Because of the ratchet, it is easier for you to pull the jib in than for the jib to pull you out. Just be sure you wrap the line around the winch clockwise!

But even with the winch and the ratchet, there will be many times when the force on the sail is so great, you will need more help to trim it. When this happens call in a fellow crewmember and get a winch handle. The winch handle is inserted into the top of the winch (or, in some cases, the bottom). It is a crank. You or your helper crank the winch to make it turn. Whoever is not cranking must keep a tension on the sheet and pull it in as the winch turns. With teamwork, you and your fellow crewmember can trim the sail-even in a strong breeze. You have the winch to help you out.

Very small boats don't need winches because the sails are small. As boats get larger they will probably have a winch or two to help out with the jib sheets. Still larger boats (such as the Easy Wind) have winches on the mast to help raise the sails and even larger boats have winches on the boom to help with reefing the sails. In general, the larger the boat, the more jobs require the help of a winch. Most ships have a capstan (also called a windlass), which is a large winch on the bow of the boat capable of raising a heavy anchor and chain.

Scenes from old-time sailing films, such as Treasure Island, show the deck hands marching around the windlass, each pushing on his own winch handle ( and singing "yo-ho heave ho" to raise the ship's anchor.



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