Tell-tales limit

Radial 171107

Radial 171107

New Member
Does anyone know what the maximum number of telltales you can put on a sail is? From i what ive seen most sail have three or four. However most radials in my area only have one. Is this just a preference thing? Thanks in advance!

Toodle Pip
 
Not limited by rules, only by your imagination!

Seriously, it is a preference thing, some people don't use them (they must be able to sail a lot or find them distracting), others go for 1,2,3 pair for upwind and one or two pair for downwind...
 
I have three sets in a row 1/4 and 1/2 way up, 2 sets in a row 3/4 of the way up the luff, and 1 leech tale each 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 up. The three tale sets in a row allow me to see exactly where the separation bubble on the sail is, and the leech tales show how parallel the leech is. That makes...19 tales total on the sail.
 
you can get by with two sets, but all of my tels give me a more accurate reading of what the flow on the sail is doing, allowing for very exact trim.
 
I thought that too. But have you ever noticed that to get the leach ticklers to flie you have to ease the sheet ( slow) it is different in a laser because the mast bends and there is only one sail.
 
I have three leech tales, and I can usually get the top two tales to fly, 1/2 way and 3/4 way up the sail. The lower one won't fly on that or most any other sail. It's actually easier on the laser, because the sail only comes in so much. On boats with travellers or fully battened sails, it's very easy to overtrim. Overtrim is almost impossible except in light winds in the laser. I usually use them for downwind, to be able to see wether the flow is reversed and how the sail is vertically lining up/etc.
 
I used to stick about ten pairs of "ticklers" on my laser sail. Mostly I was trying to figure stuff out about the air flow and thought I might learn something.

I never managed to figure out anything for sure except that lots of tell tales make peole ask, "Why do you ahve all those tell tales?"
 
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