Power winch accident

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daveyw

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Anybody read the item in this months YM about an accident involving a power winch. The wife was hauling husband up the mast using a power winch when her hand got caught. The end result was 1 severed hand a crushed other hand and a rescuer losing 7 fingers. The husband looked on helplessly up the mast. I can't imagine how this accident progressed from 1 hand injury to 3 hands. I thought these winches were button operated and I assumed if you released the button the winch stopped.
 
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Having done many miles of rope work as a caver and climber I have always maintained that powered winches are a bad idea for hoisting people up masts.
 
savageseadog said:
Having done many miles of rope work as a caver and climber I have always maintained that powered winches are a bad idea for hoisting people up masts.
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I always use the anchor windlass when I can, with one tailing and one on the button, there's no need to get fingers or hands anywhere near the drum. Perhaps the victim was trying to tail and operate at the same time.
 
GrahamM376 said:
I always use the anchor windlass when I can, with one tailing and one on the button, there's no need to get fingers or hands anywhere near the drum. Perhaps the victim was trying to tail and operate at the same time.
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There should be no especial risk with tailing and operating an electric winch at the same time. A bit easier if there is someone else to tail, but still perfectly routine if there isn't and hands can be kept well away from the drum. I don't use the self-tailer but that is mainly because it is showing its age and isn't too useful.

I haven't read the article, but I can't really imagine how so much injury was caused to two people. Perhaps there was some sort of switch failure so the winch wouldn't stop.
 
I haul my crew mate up the mast on the stay sail halyard which is 2:1 purchase. By swigging and some else tailing makes easy work of it.

No need for dangerous stuff......
 
I met a guy once who had lost a thumb and two fingers in a lathe...

A little piece of loose thread on his jumper had snagged and dragged his hand in and although the release of the power stopped it driving unfortunately the lack of a brake meant that it continued long enough to drag his hand in and amputate half of it.

Without all the details it is impossible to know what happened but I doubt that the person in question is completely at fault?
 
SHUG said:
I recall that there have been previous accidents with powered halyard winches....beware!!
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Horrible accident. We have all had occasion to think about the result of one we have had.

In my case, my thoughts always centre round the amount of time saved by using a "short-cut" and the time wasted recovering from it.

My worse case was a ten minutes saved by heaving a full drum of diesel over the guard rail instead of rigging a winch, and three weeks in bed.

IMO using a power winch to haul a person up a mast is a candidate for a world record time difference.
 
I'm far from being part of the health and safety brigade but accidents like this are a reminder that things can go wrong in the most unexpected way. It seems unlikely that I shall sail at all this season due to breaking both my heel bones when a ladder collapsed under me. I was only 3 - 4 ft off the ground at the time. So always take care!
 
I read elsewhere online that the winch stuck on. We had this happen with the anchor windlass last Spring. I usually drop the anchor off the clutch in deep water but I was using the windlass to drop the anchor a few metres first, so that we could target a nice sandy patch.

The relay stuck on, and almost all of 70m of chain poured onto the seabed. We stopped it just in time, with only half a metre of chain left to go.

Of course we could have done a whole lot better. But at first I thought the “down” button had stuck on, so fiddled with that, and the “up” button. Then I disconnected the windlass remote. When that failed I rushed below to the Windlass power breaker switch. I am ashamed to say that although I knew where it was, I had never tried to operate it. I pushed the big red button underneath, with no effect. It took a moment to realise it is a pull button not a push.

All this while not having properly been able to communicate the problem with my partner on the helm, who thought I had knocked the clutch off and failed to stop it (mainly because of a man on a neighbouring boat who kept yelling that to us.)

I did not want to use the battery isolator switch as the engine was running and I was afraid of knackering the alternator.

I can’t imagine the horror of something like this happening while someone is stuck in the winch. It might be easy afterwards to think of everything that could have been done, but at the time it all happens so fast.

We now have a hand signal for “operate the Windlass power breaker !”.
 
A sobering tale

I read the article with horror. What a terrible experience for that couple.

I must admit we have used the anchor windlass, more than once, to get me up the mast when there has only been 2 of us on board. My wife isnt strong enough to winch me up on the manual sheet winch and the anchor windlass has worked well for us in the past.

That said, this accident has made me have second thoughts, so what do other people do to get up the mast when short handed ? Is rock climbing gear usable/safer ?
 
affinite said:
I read the article with horror. What a terrible experience for that couple.

I must admit we have used the anchor windlass, more than once, to get me up the mast when there has only been 2 of us on board. My wife isnt strong enough to winch me up on the manual sheet winch and the anchor windlass has worked well for us in the past.

That said, this accident has made me have second thoughts, so what do other people do to get up the mast when short handed ? Is rock climbing gear usable/safer ?
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I agree, a terrible accident but many sports have their dangers, I lost count of the funerals I went to through gliding accidents but, so far, none with sailing friends. I have however met a couple of well experienced people who have broken or lost fingers in manual winches/windlass/chain accidents.

Perhaps the moral of this story is to make sure whoever is tailing is experienced and briefed properly - knows to keep well clear of the drum, tie off and then trip the circuit breaker if the controller jams.
 
affinite said:
That said, this accident has made me have second thoughts, so what do other people do to get up the mast when short handed ? Is rock climbing gear usable/safer ?
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This is what we use. It's called a Mastclimb and has not been made for some years, although I have read that a new version of it is now being produced. A very simple thing to make, I have seen versions using plywood as the main structure.

April042.jpg


April044.jpg


All the work is done by the climber (me) while the crew (Jill) only needs to take in the top line, then lower me when the job is done.

The padding is not original, added to protect my anodising.
 
GrahamM376 said:
I lost count of the funerals I went to through gliding accidents but, so far, none with sailing friends.
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Ditto. For me it was four in gliding (three in one accident - if you fly/flew in the UK then you will probably know about this one). After that I stopped flying and took up sailing. Not lost anyone that I know and hope I never do.

My heart goes out to the victims of this powered winch accident. I can only hope that microsurgery and very good surgeons come to the aid of those injured. It must have been very traumatic for everyone involved.
 
Send the wife up?

Horrible accident, and useful responses. I send the wife up the mast (partly because I don't like heights). We use both the main sail halyard to haul the bosun's chair, and the spinnaker halyard tied so that there are a couple of loops for her to put her feet in. Then she can stand on the loops, making it easier to haul up the seat, and then pull up the loops, always locking off the alternate halyards on cleats. A two way radio helps too to be able to communicate without shouting. It is still hard work but works for us.
Brian & Rose
 
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