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One thing most sailboats larger than a dingy have on board is a winch. As we sailors know, they are used to trim sails, raise halyards, pull outhauls, and many other jobs where a little more strength is needed.

There are two main types of modern winches: self-tailing, and non-self tailing. They also come in one-speed, which gives you a ratio of one to one, and two-speed, which also give you around a 15 to one ratio. The higher ratio gives you even more power at your disposal.

Every winch I have ever seen requires the line to be wrapped around it clockwise. When loading a winch, a good way to make sure you have loaded it correctly is to give the line a little pull before putting the load on.

If the winch spins and you hear a clicking sound, you are good. If the winch does not spin, something is wrong. The more wraps you have around the barrel of the winch, the stronger it becomes. You have to be careful not to get an over-wrap. This is when one wrap on the winch goes on top of another.

This will jam the winch and must be undone. The more wraps you have on the winch, the more likely an over-wrap will occur.

So, other than normal sailing needs, what else can a winch be used for?

Although there are some block and tackle arrangements available to hoist yourself up the mast, winching someone up the stick is the most common way of doing it.

Cranking them up the main halyard with a jib halyard as a safety backup is what I usually do. I have found that many times it pays to rerun the lead of the halyard as it comes out of the mast to the larger primary winches on the boat. The straighter and more direct the lead, the easier it is to winch heavy loads.

When is the last time you were aground with land or some other solid object close to the boat? Even if you are hard aground, you can usually winch yourself off if you can get a line around something sound enough to hold the weight of the boat. In most cases, it is easier, safer, and less dangerous to your boat than having someone tow you off. Just make sure you use a good heavy line that can easily support the weight of the boat.

If you are ever unfortunate to have a man- overboard situation, the winch can play a crucial part in getting the person back on board. If you have a life sling, or can get a line around the overboard person, you can use the winch.

I have heard of people rigging a crane-type apparatus by using the boom and then swinging the person on board. I think that the quickest and probably the most common way is to winch them right up the side of the boat and then haul them in like a load of catfish.

Basically, the winch gives you super-human strength in certain situations. In the days of tall rigs and the great age of sail, it was mainly block and tackle. Today it is winches, although some sport boats are using advanced block and tackle thanks to the new non-stretch lines.

There are countless ways to use the winches on your boat. I am sure that you can probably think of many instances where you have used them for all kinds of different tasks. They come in all different sizes for different strengths and needs.

The needs can be many and they can be put to the task any time a little more "oomph" is needed.

One thing is for sure, a winch can give a normal person super human strength.

• • •

This weekend is the Commodore's Cup in Naples. The Marco Island Yacht club Fall Regatta is coming up Nov. 18-19. Hope to see you there.

Have a great week!

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Billy Harris welcomes ideas, comments and information about sailing. If you would like to inquire about sailing on Marco Island, e-mail him at defcon1bh@earthlink.net.