David Morris asked ... > how did they wind horse-drawn boats.
Same way as winding a butty - pull, push and shove! There's no one specific 'right' technique. Whatever combination of pulling on ropes, pushing off the bank (or other boats!) and shoving with the long shaft does the trick *is* the trick (although it's a lot easier to bring either the bow or the stern around if t'other end is either jammed into the mud or nailed to a ring or bollard) The long shaft, an unregarded and oft forgotten (if not, indeed, altogether absent) implement was a vital item of equipment in the days before the infernal combustion engine. Not only for winding but for moving the boat around over short distances - on and off wharves for example. Quanting on the Broads and punting on the Cam and Thames are widely known and (in the case of punting at any rate) surviving examples of fundamental basic boating techniques that were once widespread. > is it winding (as in North wind) or winding (as in > what you do with a clock)?". For whatever reason, it's wind as in how the wind blows. Bru
