Tell Tale Placement

Mr. Hand

New Member
Greetings all, and thank you in advance for any help you may provide. I had my boat out this weekend for a Regatta. The first day was windy with 18 to 20 knots most of the day. The second day was a light 3 to 8. I have a new sail which I spent a few hours breaking in while reaching in 8 to 12 knots. While I was reaching, I was able to get both the windward and leeward tell tales to stream without difficulty. During the regatta, I was unable to get the windward tell tale to move. It was drooping for most of the day, regardless of where I was pointing. There are many reasons I am not fast, this is definately one of them. I realize that pinching is appropriate at times, but I could not get the windward tale to stream at all.

I am wondering if I need to move them toward the luff or the leech. Does anyone have an opinion on tell tale placement? I see them everywhere on sails, even amongst the top people, there is much variation....
Thanks in advance..
 
All I can say is make sure it's not too long, and not very close to a turbulent part of the sail, e.g. less than 4 inches from the luff.
 
telltales.jpg
A few years ago I placed my main on toip of John MYrdal's main and copied his telltale locations.

Since then I have copied again with each new sail.

here is a photo:

http://schrothfiberglass.com/images/telltales.jpg
 
The old Dr laser site had some interesting articles on different championship fleet placement of telltails. Unfortunately this used some visual basic formatting to display different fleet information so downloaded copies are somewhat dislocated.

Generaly placement depends on what you most want the teltails for (i.e. steering indicator, depth of sail chord information, angle of incidence, twist management etc), personal preference (including height, neck flexibility, hiking style and peripheral vision limits), conditions you are most regularly sailing in and point of sail considerations.

If you sail regularly in light airs (not breeze) and flat water you might want different (higher and further aft) placement, particularly if the the onset of real breeze is particularly rough or harsh.

In sea breeze and waves you might get by with lower or more foreward placement which can be more sensitive provided placement is not still in mast turbulant areas. - but you need to be able to read them as the more critical their placement the greater the potential gains but also the more likely you are to fiddle and not get your head outside the boat.

For running by the lee, proximity to the leech is good - but heights are critical and they need to be sufficiently forward to escape knife edge separation effects, but aft enough to indicate when rollover vortecies are established.

In rougher breezes upwind you can make more sense of the information they provide if they are slightly further back - in cooler and more consistent breeze telltails further forward may be more sensitive.

Materials (length, weight, colour and actual material) present further choice possibilities. Some sailcloth ribbon materials seem to stick to the sail less than wool when wet and slap the sail distinctively so blindmen can sail by ear, wool is cheaper and lighter, but may need some mclube on it or the sail to reduce sticking.

Some colours are easier to see thru the sailcloth (don't use black) - some people even place starboard and port telltails at slightly different heights to make them more distinguishable.

best to make up a series of wool teltails using non-marking sticky back or tape. Put on more than you need and work out which work best for you in the conditions you sail most in - then discard the rest and maybe upgrade the remaining ones with more secure (and probably neater) patches of sail repair tape.

It is good to have some spares in your kit if you travel to a new regatta site with very different conditions to those in which you normaly sail. Just sticking them on can serve as a reminder to trim differently in those conditions.

In many conditions upwind in a Laser, particularly in smooth water, if the windward teltails are streaming smoothly you are sailing way too low or the sail is trimmed too flat.

Hope this not too confusing
 

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