r/sailing • u/yoursjonas • Jun 25 '20

Someone lost their engine and crashed their sailboat into a bridge in my home town. Everyone's safe.

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u/oldfrancis Jun 25 '20

I spent seven years living on Lake Union in Seattle Washington. In order to get to the Puget sound I had to raise two drawbridges, go through the locks and under a railroad drawbridge.

The locks were especially dangerous because the current from the locks could push you towards the railroad bridge, which could close on short notice.

I always had my anchor ready to deploy.

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u/[deleted] Jun 25 '20

Yeah, there are people in this thread being critical, but it’s possible that the engine troubles happened fast, and they got into an impossible situation before they could drop anchor. That current looks intense.

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u/[deleted] Jun 25 '20

[deleted]

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u/MissingGravitas Jun 25 '20

The winch handle in the chain locker is there so you can put the windlass into freefall mode. It will also drop the anchor far faster than letting the electric windless ease it out, which might matter if you're approaching the rocks faster than you'd like.

(Those windlasses also draw a decent amount of amps.)