In article ,
says...


On Thu, 20 Jul 2006 06:06:49 +0000 (UTC), wrote:

I used to say that I didn't need an electric windlass.
Then I bought a boat that has one. I LOVE this machine!
I will never not have one.

I agree.

Likewise. My back is eternally grateful. Don't know where Rosalie
anchors but we have had to reset several times in the same evening. With
the elecxtric windlass it's a breeze. With no windlass it doesn't get
done and with a manual it might get done once.

Gogarty wrote:
In article ,
says...

On Thu, 20 Jul 2006 06:06:49 +0000 (UTC), wrote:

I used to say that I didn't need an electric windlass.
Then I bought a boat that has one. I LOVE this machine!
I will never not have one.

I agree.

Likewise. My back is eternally grateful. Don't know where Rosalie
anchors but we have had to reset several times in the same evening. With
the elecxtric windlass it's a breeze. With no windlass it doesn't get
done and with a manual it might get done once.

We anchor in the Chesapeake, the ICW and Bahamas. These are mostly
mud or sand with occasional rocky or scoured bottoms which we try to
avoid by going to a marina. Usually the anchorages are shallow,
unlike I understand that it is in New England, England or the NW US.

I would wonder (not to be mean, but...) about your anchoring technique
or your ability to pick a place to anchor if you have to reset several
times in one evening.

The only time I really remember that we had to reset the anchor was
once in a scoured rock bottom in Florida Bay where we stopped for
lunch and discovered a crab pot buoy blowing past us.

We might have had to reset (but did not because the wind was not
blowing hard) when we anchored where there was a lot of rock north of
Rodriguez Key. I think we had to reset on initial anchoring in St.
Augustine once, and in the Keys a couple of times in one day near
Little Palm Island. In the latter instance, we tried a couple of
places until finally a guy rowed over and told us where good holding
was.

In no instance were we pushed for time. We didn't have to rush. And
if we were re-anchoring, Bob didn't have to actually pick the anchor
up and stow it - he leaves it on a short chain. He doesn't have back
problems just working the handle back and forth. It's hard for me to
do that because I'm not as fit and my arms aren't as strong, but it's
not a problem for my back either, and I DO have back problems.

Usually Bob does the anchoring part and I do the steering part.

I've had an electric windlass on my 38 footer the last five years and
it's been trouble free. Couldn't imagine cruising without one. Another
advantage is that I use it to go aloft . . . especially since my wife
no longer has the strength to winch me up. (no wisecracks!)

"Redsky" wrote:

I've had an electric windlass on my 38 footer the last five years and
it's been trouble free. Couldn't imagine cruising without one. Another
advantage is that I use it to go aloft . . . especially since my wife
no longer has the strength to winch me up. (no wisecracks!)

That is true for me too (not just now, but has been since we bought
the boat), so Bob uses ascenders (climbing gear). We use the jib
winches to which someone up who has gone overboard.

On Thu, 20 Jul 2006 10:37:47 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On 20 Jul 2006 02:27:02 -0500, Vallie wrote:

poor, poor pitiful me,

Yes.

She or he has a point. People who use all the "stuff" never really
become sailors. They may think they're sailors, but they would
probably die or head for land if their engines, windlasses, chart
plotters and other gadgets were taken away. They would choose another
hobby because they are not really interested in sailing. They want to
play, not work. Perfectly understandable. The art of maneuvering and
anchoring must be reduced to the push of a button.

It takes little or no skill to 'even circumnavigate' with that stuff.
Not a flame, just a fact. And if someone who loves the ancient
vanishing art is disgusted by the laziness of slovenly cruisers who
like to discuss how best to anchor in coral and must have air
conditioning and windscreen televisions, well, I can understand the
feeling.

I can also understand the response. It stings to be told that you're
not a sailor. The response is almost always "F-you". They imagine
themselves to be Caption Cook, when really they are more like
Gilligan.

On 20 Jul 2006 18:22:01 -0500, Ruskie wrote:

I can also understand the response. It stings to be told that you're
not a sailor. The response is almost always "F-you". They imagine
themselves to be Caption Cook, when really they are more like
Gilligan.

Make that "Captain" Cook.

On 20 Jul 2006 18:22:01 -0500, Ruskie wrote:

The art of maneuvering and
anchoring must be reduced to the push of a button.

It takes little or no skill to 'even circumnavigate' with that stuff.

With all due respect, that is utter BS. Any time you want to test
your skills by pulling up my 120 lb anchor with 3/8 chain and a big
glob of mud on it, be my guest.

Do you have a row boat with a 12 lb Danforth and light nylon rode?

On Thu, 20 Jul 2006 20:36:19 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On 20 Jul 2006 18:22:01 -0500, Ruskie wrote:

The art of maneuvering and
anchoring must be reduced to the push of a button.

It takes little or no skill to 'even circumnavigate' with that stuff.

With all due respect, that is utter BS. Any time you want to test
your skills by pulling up my 120 lb anchor with 3/8 chain and a big
glob of mud on it, be my guest.

Do you have a row boat with a 12 lb Danforth and light nylon rode?

An unskilled cruising couple considers the electric windlass to be
safety gear. And to them, it most certainly is.

My elderly parents use an electric windlass. They need it. As does the
person with no anchoring skills, who will also carry different types
of anchors with massive amounts of heavy chain so that he/she may drop
it anywhere at anytime. This allows him/her to let loose right on top
of pristine coral heads without worrying about chafe. Or on top of the
few remaining kelp forests, as another poster in this group proudly
proclaimed just a few strings up.

As a diver, I can tell you that anchor damage is an unmitigated
disaster. But more to the point, the use of an electric windlass is
one of the major contributing factors to the dumbing-down of cruising
sailors world-wide Followed by the "autopilot".

Still, if I had a bad back I would get an electric windlass, and I do
have GPS. So I'm no purist.

The point that Ruskie makes is that most cruising sailors are totally
unskilled. And that is a FACT.

Hi Gary. Let's say you had 500' out, how long would it take
to wind that in?


--
Scott Vernon
Plowville Pa _/)__/)_/)_


"Gary" wrote in message
news:I2Dvg.212879$Mn5.171196@pd7tw3no...
I have a 33 foot boat with a 35 lb CQR and 300 feet of
chain. I have no
problems with my manual windlass. I was also the captain
of a 102 foot
ketch with a 180 lb danforth and 600 feet of chain and we
had a manual
windlass (with lots of crew). It worked fine also.

Gary

Ruskie wrote:
I'm trading up to a 42' cruising sailboat, and I have
narrowed the
search down to a used Pacific Seacraft, Shannon, or
Valiant.

Numerous salespeople have lectured that, despite being
big and strong,
I won't be able to, or want to, use a manual windlass
with this size
of boat.

Acutally, I do want to use a manual windlass, if
possible.

Any opinions?

Ruskie wrote:
On Thu, 20 Jul 2006 10:37:47 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On 20 Jul 2006 02:27:02 -0500, Vallie wrote:

poor, poor pitiful me,
Yes.

She or he has a point.

Not much of one.

People who use all the "stuff" never really
become sailors.

But people who have sailed without the conveniences for 30 years have
certainly earned the right to use them. I'm a bit offended by people
who use a chartplotter but don't know how to read a chart. On the
other hand, it seems like the number of groundings I see in the harbor
has gone down a lot since GPS.

They may think they're sailors, but they would
probably die or head for land if their engines, windlasses, chart
plotters and other gadgets were taken away. They would choose another
hobby because they are not really interested in sailing. They want to
play, not work. Perfectly understandable. The art of maneuvering and
anchoring must be reduced to the push of a button.

So they're not sailors if they don't live up to your standards?


It takes little or no skill to 'even circumnavigate' with that stuff.

If you think that, then you're certainly not a sailor!

Not a flame, just a fact.

The fact is, its a flame.

And if someone who loves the ancient
vanishing art is disgusted by the laziness of slovenly cruisers who
like to discuss how best to anchor in coral and must have air
conditioning and windscreen televisions, well, I can understand the
feeling.

I can sort of agree, but unless you sail a wooden boat with flaxen
sails, hemp lines, and a rock killick you really can't criticize which
conveniences somebody picks. I'm certainly old enough to remember
when lots of people claimed that real sailor would never sail a
fiberglass boat.