King of the Wilderness

Captain Mike seemed quite pleased to see his daughter taken down a peg, the smile at the corner of his mouth more apparent, but his tone remained stern: "The next lesson, winch operation."

He pointed to the metal wheels on either side of the cockpit, his expression once again becoming extremely serious: "This is the power amplifier on the boat."

"It uses the principles of levers and gears, allowing you to use the force of a single finger to pull a force strong enough to tear the canvas."

"But it’s also a finger crusher; every year, novices get their fingers caught due to improper operation. So, give me two hundred percent concentration!"

He personally demonstrated once, with movements so standard they were like a textbook: "Watch closely! The halyard must be wrapped clockwise on the winch, at least three turns!"

"Any less, and the friction will be insufficient and slip; any more, and after force, it will jam. We call it the damned overlap!"

"Never let your hand near the crux between the rope and the drum wheel! Use your palm for strength, not your fingers!"

He let Lin Yu’an start to practice. Lin Yu’an wrapped the rope, inserted the winch handle, and began turning with force. A huge resistance came through.

"Use your strength! Where’s your strength!" Mike growled in his ear, "Imagine you’re fighting against a level ten storm! This bit of strength isn’t enough even to tickle a woman!"

Lin Yu’an gritted his teeth, the defined muscles in his arms immediately bulging, and began to speed up the rotation steadily and rhythmically. The winch made a "click, click" sound.

[Damn! Those arm muscles! Totally boyfriend material!]

[This is the true Qilin arm! Full of power!]

[Feels like God Lin could do it without a winch, just pulling with his hands...]

"Stop!" Mike suddenly shouted.

Lin Yu’an immediately stopped.

"Now, release it. Remember, never directly unwind the rope from the winch! The immense tension will instantly snap your wrist!"

"The correct method is to slowly, slowly release the rope from the automatic lock, feel the tension with your hand, and release it little by little!"

Lin Yu’an cautiously followed his instructions.

At this moment, Riven chose the most comfortable posture, half-leaning against the cabin wall, stretching out one long, slender, athletic leg completely bathed in the scorching Florida sunlight.

Her honey-colored skin, protected by sunscreen, shone with a healthy and moist glow, as if the light would slowly trickle along the firm lines of her calf muscles.

The other leg was bent, her bare toe gently tapping on the helmsman’s seat. This posture made her thigh and leg curves form a picture full of tension!

A simple white T-shirt was slightly lifted by the sea breeze, fitting snugly against her flat stomach and toned back with not a trace of excess flesh.

She saw Lin Yu’an completely wrestling with the winch using brute force, a smirk curling at her lips.

She slowly removed her sunglasses, her blue eyes as clear as the clearest seawater under the sunlight, with a hint of amusement at the spectacle.

She spoke, her voice not loud but clearly reaching Lin Yu’an’s ears:

"Lin, I see you’re using brute force. The winch has two gears, did you notice?"

Lin Yu’an was taken aback, paused his action, and carefully examined the winch handle’s insertion point and rotating mechanism.

Mike remained silent, watching with interest. This was another content beyond the 101 syllabus.

Lin Yu’an rotated the handle back and forth a few times, immediately sensing the subtle differences when the internal gears switched.

"Clockwise rotation is the high-speed gear, less force but faster speed. Counterclockwise rotation is the low-speed gear, slower but more forceful." He quickly concluded.

"Completely correct!" Riven’s voice carried a tone of approval, "A smart sailor will use different gears to conserve energy."

"Now, try using the low-speed gear, you’ll find the pulling force that made you grit your teeth just now will feel as easy as walking a dog."

Lin Yu’an immediately switched to counterclockwise rotation, and sure enough, the resistance greatly reduced, allowing him to tighten the rope almost effortlessly.

"It’s not over yet," Riven continued her off-field coaching, "Did you hear the ’click’ sound from the winch?"

Lin Yu’an continued rotating while listening intently, connecting the sound with the mechanical structure. "It should be the sound of ratchet and pawl engaging, which allows the winch to only turn in one direction, preventing the rope from reversing under great tension."

"So here’s the question," Riven posed her ultimate question, "If now, your winch overlaps and jams."

"Under immense tension, you can’t release the rope, nor can you continue tightening. And you must immediately loosen the sail to deal with an unexpected strong wind. What should you do?"

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

This was a very advanced emergency situation handling question.

The crew was quiet in the live chat, everyone stumped by the question.

Captain Mike looked at his daughter on the quay in surprise; he hadn’t expected Riven to pose such a tricky scenario. This situation could make even an experienced old sailor’s palms sweat.

Lin Yu’an remained silent, staring at the complex mechanical device, his mind racing.

He connected Riven’s teachings, Mike’s operations, and his observations of the mechanical structure.

A few seconds later, he slowly spoke: "I would use another rope to tie a Prusik hitch or a constrictor knot on the stressed halyard."

"Then lead the other end of this new rope to another idle winch on the boat or a sufficiently strong cleat."