Partly dismantled to show the differing approaches ûon how to make two-speed winches, here are, from ûleft to right, the Andersen, Antal, Barton, Harken, ûLewmar and Setamar.

Anyone who has been on the bitter end of the sheet when a big genoa starts to fill—whipping and shaking with terrifying violence—knows how important it is to have a winch to convert that flailing energy to forward propulsion.

Winches are to sailboats what the inclined plane was to the Egyptians.

They make the difficult easy, place the impossible within reach. …