A reportedly experienced Venezuelan cruiser visiting Antiqua in early March and a fellow sailor who came to her aid were seriously injured in a freak accident involving an electric winch. The woman was hoisting her husband up the mast using the electric winch instead of manually because of a recent shoulder surgery. When the electric winch wouldn’t shut off, she called for help. Somehow the woman became entangled in the halyard lines and got her left arm trapped in the winch. In an attempt to free her left hand, the woman’s right hand also became trapped. The first man to come to her aid could not help and called for further assistance. The second man on the scene, a Swiss sailor, got his fingers entangled in the winch in his efforts to aid the woman.
The winch eventually stopped on its own, and the woman’s husband was lowered to the deck without injury. The woman’s left hand was completely severed at the wrist, while her right hand was crushed, resulting in several broken bones. The good Samaritan who also became entangled severed eight of his fingers.
The two were rushed to Mount St. John’s Medical Center, where doctors attempted to reattach the severed hand and fingers. The woman was eventually transferred to a hospital in Miami, while the gentleman spent five days at the local hospital.
Thank you to a fellow cruiser on the scene who forwarded this tragic accident in an effort to spread the word that cruisers need to be vigilant even when doing routine tasks and everyone should be sure to review their MedEvac insurance in case they are far from good care.
Additional information sourced from the Antigua Observer.
Does anyone know the brand of the power winch?
it would be interesting. to. know. the. brand model and. wiring. set up on this. winch. if 12v power to the winch is shut off, does the winch. drum freefall in reverse or stay inixed position. it would be useful to know how to react if one is faced with this. emergency .
Something like this happend in the Atlantic. The switch was an air pressure switch. I recommend to all who have electric winches to have an emergency kill switch next to the winch. What kind of switch was attached to this winch?
Carey- A properly designed winch won’t free-fall. The line should stay just where it is if the winch loses power, since the pawls should hold the drum in position. No modern line winch that is properly maintained will ever freefall AFAIK, and I think you’re confusing it with the old reel winches that were used on wire halyards, which would freewheel and were often a danger to people if the handle was still attached when it did so.
Of course, if the woman’s husband was using a secondary safety line, as should have been the case, the woman could have easily saved her hand and prevented further injury by cutting the line. I don’t understand why anyone aboard a sailboat doesn’t carry a rigging knife with them at all times.
I would be curious as to know the make/model of the electric winch and what the maintenance record of the winch was like. Winches rarely fail if they are properly maintained.
A safer option for powering winches is to use the Winchrite electric winch handle. In an emergency this can be swiftly and safely removed from the winch without any possibility of this kind of accident happening.