earlylight wrote:I would be scared to death to have that winch on my boat, having seen a Choey Lee skipper with 3 fingers and a thumb on his left hand as a result of a confrontation with his reel winch. Just my $.02 worth.
I stumbled over a UK thread (or was it Australia?) where the posters talked some slob into replacing his Barlows wire winches... Then, when he announced he was going to, several folks litterally lined up to buy the old ones off him... heh, heh, heh...
I will be frank - I actually really, really like the smooth operation, clean halyard storage and swift drop action I have experienced so far with this winch. My "brake" is a solid band - brass on brass - unlike some tooth engagement I guess existed on earlier ones. I can loosen the band to where I can somewhat manage - at least the initial part of - the fall.
Raising the sail, I lock the winch and ratchet up the sail, ever so smooth - I can stop at any point and the sail will stay put. When its up, I simply take the handle out of the star hole and place it in its holder at the foot of the mast. To lower, I leave the handle in its holder and give the break handle a small turn towards release - the sail drops only enough to release the tension on the halyard and then stays put, until I further release the brake to a point where the sail almost free-falls, except perhaps for the last 5 or so feet, where I have to help it a bit.
Call me ignorant, but a lot of items on a sailboat carry their unique risk. Pulling the break with the handle inserted and unattended is similar to gibing the main or mizzen in a stiff breeze, except with the former you may knock your arm or elbow, while with the latter you might knock your head.
To date, I have stopped the boom from swinging with my head more often than I have caught the winch handle with hand, arm or elbow.
Risk management is not necessarily risk avoidance... But then, I am a stubborn Dutch cheesehead. ;-)