tons! You can see why in reach them. Unfortunately many using this equipment, care boatbuilders locate breakers or and safety is important. disconnect switches in hard to Looking at the Antigua accifind or reach places such as the dent, it can be seen that some engine compartment. If this is the basic lessons can be learned. case on your boat, you might It is not fully clear exactly want to consider relocating the what happened in Antigua switches or installing a panicthat day, but it is clear some type stop switch that would basic safety recommendations remove power. Most installations were not followed. Most use a switch operating a relay to winch manufactures advise control power. An emergency you against lifting any person switch should disconnect all using a power winch. In this power, not just operate a relay. case it might have been better This will override the relay had the husband hoisted the should it hang in the on position. wife, since she could not operNo matter what you are ate the hand winch. Even using the winch for, you should Winch switch with safety cover up. doing that, it is always better never use the self-tailing feature to have a third person for tailwhen operating in a power mode. ing and keeping slack out of a safety halyard. It was reportIt can be hard to tell the load or “feel” on a winch when in ed the couple had been planning to use a safety halyard but power operation. Therefore it is important to be able to had not yet connected it. I personally believe the best way to quickly release the load or let the winch slip to control the go aloft is the use of rope climbing equipment that is comload. Using the self-tailing feature can make this difficult if monly used by mountain and rock climbers. The harnesses, not impossible. It was reported the halyard used was a ascenders and descenders they use are designed specificalsmaller diameter than would normally be used for this ly for this type of work. Using this equipment, the person winch. Had this been the case, it is likely the line could that remains on deck can focus on keeping the slack out of become jammed in the self-tailing jaws, making it difficult the safety line and does not have to be concerned with liftor impossible to free the line once a load was applied. ing, as the person going up is climbing the rope under his or Make sure the tail end of the line is hanging free and her own power. away from the winch as well. It was reported by one witness Always test power winches prior to applying a load. that the line had been left coiled around the base of the With the line slack, or better yet not around the winch drum, winch. This could have led to the line wrapping tighter activate the winch momentarily to verify it is operating coraround the winch as it turned, making it impossible to free rectly. In the Antigua accident the couple had just returned the line without having to cut it from the winch. Proper tailto the boat after having been home in Venezuela for a while. ing in power mode is key to controlling the load. Also make It is likely the winch had not been used in several weeks. sure all lines lead into the winch from the correct angle to Had the wife tested the operation prior to attempting to lift prevent overlapping and binding. her husband, they would have found the problem before it When doing any sort of lifting operation, it is important became a safety issue. Operators should also be aware of the to have a means to cleat off or stop the line before it feeds location of power disconnect switches. Ideally, these should into the winch. In the case of the Venezuelan couple, had be located in the cockpit where an operator can quickly this been done, the line feeding into the winch could have
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