KeithD
New Member
So after spending a lovely morning on the hook in Garbage cove yesterday, we had to pull anchor and head in for a friend's pool party. So, since we are trying to teach our 9-year old son the ropes of boating, my wife headed up front to show him how the windlass operates and we pull up the anchor.
Normally I'm at the helm, and my wife operates the windlass, sitting to the left side of it and using her left hand on the foot pedals. Yesterday she sat on the right side of the windlass, and was guiding my son on how the controls work. As the part of the rode where it changes from line to chain came through, it started slipping. This happens occasionally. So there's the "thumb" thing on the left side of the windlass; if you press it against the rode, it will help the chain pass through and into the anchor locker.
So my wife reaches ACROSS the windlass with her left hand to push the lever in, and she either slips, the boat rocks, or whatever, and her index and middle finger get pulled into the windlass.
She immediately screams - loud - and my son lets up on the switch. I can see she is caught in the windlass, screaming, and I look down at the helm switch for the windlass. I completely blank on which way is up or down - and rather than guessing (because a wrong guess will be disastrous) - I race up front. As I'm coming up, my wife tells my son to hit the DOWN button, which he does, releasing her fingers from the windlass.
I get up there and she is cradling her hand in the other, there is no blood, so I have her show me - the fingers are angry and red and black - but they are attached, not bleeding.
Happy end to the story; she has some very, very sore fingers today. My son did an excellent job under pressure. And we all learned only one person operates the windlass at a time. I think she was a second away from losing fingers.
So I just wanted to post this to remind everyone to be careful, and not let your attention span drop for a moment when we're operating certain equipment on the boat...
Thanks,
Keith
Normally I'm at the helm, and my wife operates the windlass, sitting to the left side of it and using her left hand on the foot pedals. Yesterday she sat on the right side of the windlass, and was guiding my son on how the controls work. As the part of the rode where it changes from line to chain came through, it started slipping. This happens occasionally. So there's the "thumb" thing on the left side of the windlass; if you press it against the rode, it will help the chain pass through and into the anchor locker.
So my wife reaches ACROSS the windlass with her left hand to push the lever in, and she either slips, the boat rocks, or whatever, and her index and middle finger get pulled into the windlass.
She immediately screams - loud - and my son lets up on the switch. I can see she is caught in the windlass, screaming, and I look down at the helm switch for the windlass. I completely blank on which way is up or down - and rather than guessing (because a wrong guess will be disastrous) - I race up front. As I'm coming up, my wife tells my son to hit the DOWN button, which he does, releasing her fingers from the windlass.
I get up there and she is cradling her hand in the other, there is no blood, so I have her show me - the fingers are angry and red and black - but they are attached, not bleeding.
Happy end to the story; she has some very, very sore fingers today. My son did an excellent job under pressure. And we all learned only one person operates the windlass at a time. I think she was a second away from losing fingers.
So I just wanted to post this to remind everyone to be careful, and not let your attention span drop for a moment when we're operating certain equipment on the boat...
Thanks,
Keith
