Suddenly the windlass went to the top of Bluebonnet‘s list … above the autopilot that was previously on top. I was told that my back showed my age, and I should take care of it with exercise and common sense. A trip to the doctor revealed that I had a sprain. When I bent over to pick up a gallon of paint, it felt as if someone hit me with a baseball bat across my kidneys. We were involved in a household painting project. Once our 30-something-year-old son remarked after breaking loose and raising our 35-pound Delta: “Boy, that was set well, I really had to grunt to get it up.” But such comments sailed over my head until last fall. We had never owned a boat with a windlass and had always raised our anchor by hand (or rather, by back) on previous boats. An anchor windlass was something we had mentioned in passing several times, but it wasn’t even considered when we upgraded her. Thus it was with our Bluebonnet, a 20-year-old Valiant 32. It’s strange how much difficulty we owners of older boats have in finding $500 to $1,000 to replace an old kitchen appliance or to provide new furniture for the den … and how little difficulty we have spending it on new stuff for the boat … especially when priorities change. When your good old back’s not up to it anymore, let a windlass do the donkey work
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