Top tip from my friends boss...

[ronsurf]

..... don't hold the anchor chain when you are using an electric winch...

His finger has been sewn and pinned back on OK, though he did insist on sailing from Cawsand back to Weir Quay (about 2 hours) so his wife could drive him to hospital...

 

[BlueSkyNick]

I know a lady with only 4 toes on one foot who would agree with your friend's boss's tip, for much the same reasons.

 

[ex-Gladys]

There was one of those on Seaside Rescue a couple of years ago...

 

[BlueSkyNick]

the very same. It was in PBO as well.

 

[Stoaty]

Been there, done that got the scar to prove it. In my case I stood on the foot switch whilst handling the chain. I always tell guests not to go near the winch.

 

[jonathankent]

I've seen a professional skipper do eaxctly the same... holding the remote in his hand working it at the same time as pulling on the chain to make it move.... just a matter of time really before he has an accident if it carries on.

 

[bumblefish]

18 months ago, or thereabouts, we had a base laid for a 'log cabin' in the garden. The concrete was mix on site? Big machine, it jammed so the young chap climbed and hit it with a hammer, from the inside, it started up again! tip, do not do that that unless you want to spend 3 months in hospital recovering from leg wounds! top tip!

 

[Leighb]

Interestingly this seems a common error!
A friend here has lost the top of a finger recently while on holiday on a charter yacht in Greece.

He was handling the chain and his wife accidentally pressed the switch on the remote!

I shall be very careful with mine, obviously very important to keep well clear with fingers or anything else while operating the electric windlass.

 

[Fire99]

yikes!!! nasty!! bet its easily done.. especially if one person is at the bow with the Anchor and another at the controls in the cockpit..
I have enough communication issues with my mates when we are all in the cockpit together.. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[ShipsWoofy]

It is one of the ways to spot a fisherman or bod brought up with boats, they, I , always tuck my thumb in when handling rope or chain. Never hold rope in a grip as a broken thumb will smart.

Your thumb should stay on the same side as your fingers and always above the rope, so if it slams down onto the deck it will just throw you off. No doubt had your mate held the chain this way he may be bruised but not stirred now.

EDIT>> that makes me sound like a right git, it is only because it was literally beaten into me on family trawlers from a young age, I have to hold back from telling people off when I see them holding tight lines as though they are washing line.

 

[Amphitrite]

[ QUOTE ]
that makes me sound like a right git, it is only because it was literally beaten into me on family trawlers from a young age, I have to hold back from telling people off when I see them holding tight lines as though they are washing line.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not sounding like a git - you are so right, and so few know about it. I had it beaten in when sailing old schooners.

 

[Superstrath]

It wasn't finger-tips trawlermen tended to lose, it was entire limbs, ouch.

Wrapping a rope round the hand to gain purchase gets me going, although I must admit to occasionally doing it with the clew outhaul on our boat. I feel hellishly guilty if I do it, though. If a rope is not too small, then you should be able to grip it without taking a turn round your hand, and the consequences of your hand going into a winch, a mast-slot, or even an organiser are usually painful at the very least.