Choosing winches
Quite a long time ago (in the days when self-tailing winches were a rare novelty) I spent a few seasons racing ‘around the cans’ and offshore with a group of friends who had ‘grown up’ from dinghies to ‘boats with lids’. Our boat was new, and we thought it was well-equipped.
During one windy Cowes week we collected a few trophies, but we also did some damage:
- broke a boom by using the mainsheet against a cleated-off boom vang to take the twist out of the mainsail on a spinnaker reach
- tore the heavy-duty duralumin genoa sheet winch mounting out of the deck during short-tacking in strong winds
- and, eventually, seized the plain bearing in one expensive genoa winch that had a mix of plain and roller bearings
The winch mounting was easy to repair, with a much heavier-duty load spreading plate under the deck.
The boom was rebuilt with extra stiffening at the point of attachment for the vang.
The winches we replaced with all-roller-bearing ones at about twice the price.
OK, we were racing in heavy weather and deliberately giving our gear a tough time. But think about it a bit. Standard equipment for cruising yachts tends to quite a bit lighter-duty than that necessary for racing to win, but is this sensible?
Cruising yachts won’t be pressed so hard under normal conditions, so the crew won’t destroy the gear. However, Force 9 gales are not uncommon in the English Channel or the Mediterranean, and cruising folk do get caught out in them from time to time. Cruising yachts typically carry fewer experienced and able-bodied crew in proportion to their size, too.
If you are caught by heavy weather in difficult waters with a just-adequate crew, powerful winches will allow them to handle sails effectively without getting exhausted or risking breakages. Even if you’re ‘just cruising’, don’t skimp on winches. One day, you’ll be very glad you didn’t.
Oh, and they’re all self-tailing nowadays. That’s real progress. You young ‘uns don’t know what you have missed…
