Tell tales where to put them on a radial sail?

theRob

New Member
Hi very new to sailing & have just got an old laser,which I was told to buy a radial sail for which I have, just need a pointer on where to place the tell tales?(tried the full rig which came with it not sure I'm heavy enough to sail it in stong winds:eek:) please help :eek: Rob
 
Somewhere around here I have a DrLAser link that deals with this. I'll try to dig it up.

But my personal suggestion would be to concern yourself only with two steering tails (on each side of the sail) within the first third of the sail (back from the luff) and somewhere above the window for height. Exactly where may differ on a radial to a standard rig.

Seeing how you are new to sailing, you could also put one just below the second batten pocket and one just below the first batten pocket, on the leech edge. You do this by using a polyester ribbon, about 4"-5" long and 1/4" wide. Get a circle of stick on cloth, cut a slit in the centre for the ribbon, insert the ribbon into the slot about 3/8" and stick it to one side of the sticky dot, then fold the dot in half over the leech edge.

On old sails the use of tails above the second batten is lost on me. Even when you're by the lee, I think that the leeward steering tail should be reversed, not just the leech one.

These will give yo idea idea of where stalling/overpowering point is and help you to aviod unnecessary capsizing...until you can do it by feel.
 

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