On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:17:29 -0700, "Capt. JG"
wrote:

We had a windlass die in the BVIs... pretty calm conditions, anchored in
about 15 ft. I'm glad I wasn't the one doing the hauling to get the anchor
up.

It's important to have a contingency plan for dealing with windlass
failure. This is relatively easy on a sailboat, just bend another
piece of line onto your snubber and lead it aft to a primary winch,
using snatch blocks to get a fair lead.

On my trawler I carry a piece of gear called a "come along".

http://www.cvfsupplycompany.com/hanpowpulcom.html

I can rig the come along to a mid-ship cleat and pull about 20 feet of
chain, stop it off, get a new purchase, and pull another 20 feet.
It's slow going but it will work in an emergency. It's useful for
other things also, like hoisting 8D batteries out of inaccessible
locations.