Mooring on the headsail sheet winch
I often use the headsail sheet winch for coming alongside a dock, lock wall or jetty. The big advantage is that on the average 7m to 15m yacht, these winches are ideally located along an imaginary line between the point at the shore and the mast – the turning point or lateral centre of the boat. The mid cleat is too far away from the cockpit and the aft cleat often doesn’t provide the right angle.
The only disadvantage is that the winch is not built to take a big shock load (and it might not be mounted as strongly as a cleat) so you have to stop the boat
