Freak Accident in Antigua

[SvenG]

Windlasses are probably another one of the amputators.

The worst ones are still dock and deck cleats because anyone can handle a line, even if they can't be trusted to tie it off ... yet they can maim the unwary in no time at all.



-Sven

[roverhi]

Love my Top Climber. Don't need any help climbing the mast and certainly no need for an electric winch

[SaucySailoress]

Eyeuk. I don't care how old I get - I will never get electric windlasses. That is a truly terrifying account. And a very good reason why everyone should know where the battery switch is, and how to kill the electrics. Although the others on board weren't from the vessel. It looks like noone onboard was thinking straight.

[bigpuff]

have allways taken the main halyard back to the angker winch from a good turning block at the base of the mast;from the bow i have a good veiw of the mast and whats going on,3 turns is the best iv found.Easer with adeck switsh but can be done with a hand held one.I did it once with a wire halyard on a 80fter,worked very well.

[goboatingnow]

I never go aloft without another safety line , very dodgy relying on one line. Specifically if it's gets tangled you've no backup.

[mintyspilot]

Unfortunately people have been having limbs and fingers snipped off since the start of the industrial revolution. I know one chap who lectures people about correct handling of 4.5mm steel cable and who lost his forefinger one day by incorrectly handling 4.5mm steel cable...... now he illustrates his lectures rather graphically.

[Therapy]

What did I miss??

I did not see that it was wire and I did not see that it was electric.

Where is that?

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Therapy

What did I miss??
I did not see that it was wire and I did not see that it was electric.
Where is that?

Excerpted from Post #1:
“... The woman was hoisting her husband up the mast using an electric winch ...”

[thinwater]

Anchor windlasses are a known hazard, people get hurt, but we know about them and respect them. I wonder if an "electrified"sheet winch is more likely to receive casual handling?

[smurphny]

Even competent people who work every day with machinery get hurt. A second of inattention or forgetting some small and annoying safety step often results in injury. Commercial fishermen are maimed and killed on a regular basis, wound up in net winches, hauled overboard by gear, etc. It is a wonder that more recreational sailors, especially people on board who have no familiarity with machinery, are not severely injured because the kind of gear they are dealing with is inherently very dangerous. Perhaps there should be more emphasis on teaching just how dangerous these things can be.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Excerpted from Post #1:
“... The woman was hoisting her husband up the mast using an electric winch ...”

Thanks Gord.

Not sure how I missed that but I did.

Now where is the wire halyard thing?

I should probably just unsubscribe.

[Capt Phil]

smurphny has it right! Having gone to sea on commercial fishing boats and towboats from a very young age, I can't count the number of shipmates who were missing fingers, thumbs, hands and feet because of inattention, carelessness or downright stupidity. Several lost their lives as well. Nothing focussed my attention more than an older, more experienced fisherman or towboat operator showing a missing digit or more and admonishing me to keep my hands clear of spinning power gurdies, power blocks on seine boats and cable winches on towboats. I personally witnessed a guy standing in the bight of a towline as we hardened up on a log boom and he lost his foot as the cable straightened out and crossed the deck. The weekend sailor who has power assists on winches and windlasses has to be extra careful because one seemingly innocent move can be disasterous... please be careful out there... Capt Phil

[osirissail]

I would disagree with the thread title - "Freak Accident . . . " Not it was not a "Freak accident" - it was an accident waiting to happen because the people involved did not grasp the seriousness of the fact that most any and everything you do on a sailing/power vessel is extra dangerous.
- - Heck, even walking down a deck can result in a broken toe or cut foot. As others have mentioned, not paying detailed attention to what you are doing and/or forgetting for an instant that these vessel we are on are dangerous can bite you - and remove body parts. Savvy sailors know that its takes longer to do anything onboard a sailing/power vessel because you must "engage the brain before engaging the machinery."
- - While I was learning to be a sailing instructor the senior instructor spent a lot of time slapping our hands every time we worked with winches and lines. How you hold the line and operate the winch is very important or you may loose fingers, etc. he would scream at us. And as future instructors safety is the number one thing to teach new sailors.

[GordMay]

On 5 March 2011, an accident occured aboard a 2006 Amel 54 in Jolly Harbour Marina, Antigua while carrying out the lifting operation of a crew member using a self-tailing winch. Currently, an investigation is underway.

Safety is of paramount importance to Lewmar and, in advance of the outcome of the investigation and as part of our ongoing commitment to operational safety, we would like to remind owners of Lewmar manual and electrically-operated winches of the following key points from the Lewmar Electric 40-77 & Hydraulic 46-111 Winches Manual, Sections 2.1 and 6.1:

Under no circumstances should any self tailing winch be used in self tailing mode for any lifting operation; rather suitable and adequate manual tailing should be arranged with proper means of manually cleating or stopping the hoist.
Isolate the winch using circuit breaker/isolator when not in use.
Only persons who are completely familiar with the controls and those who have been fully made aware of the correct use of the winch should be allowed to use it.
It is the unavoidable responsibility of the owner or master or other responsible party to assess the risk of any operation on the vessel.

All safety notices are available in the relevant Lewmar Technical Manuals on Lewmar.com. Click on Support, then Product Literature, and filter by product. If you have any questions about the safe operation of a Lewmar product, please email press@lewmar.com.

LEWMAR SAFETY NOTICE ➥ Lewmar

[pteron]

Originally Posted by cabo_sailor

It's why I always carry a knife. An assisted opening knife that opens quickly and easily with one hand.

Completely agree. I think it was Tom Cunliffe who said "If you want to call yourself a sailor, you should have a knife and a bit of cord in your pocket otherwise, what are you doing on a boat?"