Leech telltales?

John30280

New Member
Most of my sailing experience has been in sloop-rigged boats, almost all of which have leech telltales on both the headsail and mainsail. This is a trailing telltale, attached to the outer edge of the leech, about 3/4 of the way up. As far as I can tell, Sunfish sails don't have this. Can anyone tell me why?
 
Could be due to Sunfish having a bit of a cupped leech. But I don’t know if Laser sailors use them much either and I think those leeches are pretty flat. Top sunfish racers do use plenty of telltales on the sail. You should experiment and see what works for you.
 
Leech telltales are important in a sloop rig to determine proper twist, but in una rigs with freestanding masts they're pretty useless, as twist isn't independently adjustable. I had one on my original Laser sail and never looked at it much. Reaching is the only point of sail on which they'd be of any use, but on a Sunfish even that would apparently be meaningless because of the lack of a vang.

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