You’ve had a great day on the water and are ready to drop the hook in a secluded anchorage. You release the anchor pin and toe the windlass-down foot switch, but nothing happens.
The windlass worked fine the last time you ran it. This time, you’re stuck releasing the gypsy manually and adding some braking to the plunging chain. Once the anchor is set, it’s time to do some troubleshooting so you won’t have to pull the rode back in by hand tomorrow morning.
THE BASICS
Back in the early days of sail, a windlass was a rotating wood drum with pawls that would let it turn only in one direction. Later, the windlass (or capstan) was made vertical so men could walk around it, pushing on bars to increase the leverage. On a big ship, this task could require a large portion of the crew.
On bigger ships, the rode diameter became too thick to wind around the capstan. To solve this problem, an endless line was run around the capstan and to a block or roller mounted several yards away. The rode would be temporarily tied to the endless line with several short, small lines called nips.
