Well, maybe someday we'll have a shiny steel arch, with solar panels and a couple of barbeque
grills (winking
at CD here) and davits. Until then the
dinghy lives on the foredeck during passages, but you won't find us cranking it up at the mast. How to use the
windlass:
(1) Tie a snatch block to the end of a spare fwd halyard (we use the spin. halyard)
(2) Bring
dinghy alongside. Tie a
line from the
dinghy in the water, up through the snatch block, and down to the
windlass.
(3) Take on the halyard until the block is suspended about 8 feet above the foredeck, and
cleat off.
(4) Step on (or press) the "up" button on your
windlass. Because the block is suspended over the center of the deck, the
dinghy will align neatly in place when you lower it.
(5) Smile graciously because other people in the anchorage will be watching you - just like we watched the older couple in the anchorage in Maine (thanx, whoever you were) from whom we copied this trick.