Gotta love those red floating winch handles. About 10 years ago, one that came with my boat took a dive while I was putting in a reef up on the coachroof. "Oh well that's the last I see of that, better buy a new one".
A bit over a year later, the PO phones me to say it had been washed up on Beaumaris beach and the finder had phoned the PO's mobile number engraved on it. Very gratefully I collected it from the finder, emptied the sand out of its gizzards and put it back into use.
About three years ago the same handle again goes plop into PPB, this time with my mobile number on the side. "Oh well that's the last I see of that, better buy a new one". But not so fast - eighteen months later I get a call from an old salt in Williamstown who found it on Willy beach.
So now, should I frame it and mount it on the bulkhead, or chuck it overboard again just to see how lucky it really is?
