Winches Loading a winch Cranking a winch Easing a winch Jammers, Cleats and Stuff The forces involved in sailing are sometimes more  than a single human can handle. To help we use winches. A winch is a mechanical device which multiplies the  force you can put on a rope. Because of the forces  involved, winches can be dangerous.  You should keep your fingers clear of ropes on  winches if you don’t want to lose them!  Winches usually work in one direction only.  Generally it is clockwise, but not always. The easiest way to check is to put one hand on the winch before  you put the rope on and turn it with your hand. The rope must go on in the same direction as it turns.  To ‘load’ a winch - wind the rope around the winch in the direction it turns, starting from the bottom and  moving up. Each turn must be flat against the surface of the winch and must not ‘ride over’ another turn.  The more ‘turns’ or rope around a winch, the more friction and the more holding power there is. You should  use a minimum of three or maybe four turns (experienced sailors might use less). The winch pictured here is  ‘self-tailing’. It has a set of ‘jaws’ at the top into which the rope may be thrust to secure it. If a winch is not  self-tailing the loose end of the rope must be either held or or  secured  to a  cleat . To supply extra force, you can put a handle on the winch. The handle goes in the top of the winch and it can  then be cranked. Generally you can crank the handle in both directions. The body of the winch will still turn  one way, but the two directions of the handle will supply different speeds and different forces. If you can’t  crank a handle one way, try cranking it the other. Never leave a handle in a winch!  They can be knocked overboard and they are expensive. Always take  them out and put them away so you can find them next time. Usually there is a lever on top of the winch  which you must move or depress to take the handle out of the winch. To  ease  a rope on a winch it is not necessary to take it off the winch. The rope can be eased simply by taking  the loose end of the rope and feeding it into the winch. As the coils of rope become slack, the tension on the  other side of the winch will pull the coils slowly out, allowing you to ease the rope under control. Ropes tend to flop around unless they are  secured  or  made fast. A  jammer  is a mechanical device that secures a rope by clamping it between  two jaws. The jaws are activated by a lever on top of the jammer. To open a  jammer, lift the lever and push it completely forward until it is parallel with  the rope. Halfway is not good enough! To close it, pull it back and down until  parallel with the rope. If the jammer won’t open normally this means the rope is under tension. You  need to take the tension up on a winch before the jammer will open.  Trying to open it under tension could be dangerous. A  cleat  is a metal hook around which a rope is wrapped to secure it.  There is a particular figure eight method that is used on cleats which is  difficult to show here. Ask someone who knows how to use a cleat to  show you. Note that ropes are not tied to a cleat with a knot, they are  simply wrapped around them so they can be unwrapped when needed.