Telltales

fishingmickey

fishingmickey

Member
I'm brand spanking new to the Laser Forum. I just recently purchased a new sail for my "new" 93 Laser and I was looking for some good solid advice about how to attach telltales to my sail. I've seen the diagrams posted on Dr. Laser's web site so location isn't the issue here. I was wondering what materials to use and how to "fix" them to the sail. I've seen the "store bought" version advertised on the Rooster web site. But I would still like to find out what has worked for other Laser sailors.
Best Regards,
Fishingmickey
#150068
 
Common telltale material are:

yarn (found at arts/crafts stores or sewing/fabric stores)
cassette tape (use one of your parents favorites)
spinnaker cloth (light nylon or polyester cloth)

cassette tape is ok until it gets very humid and then it sticks to the sail - ditto for spinnaker cloth unless you spray it with sailkote

I prefer yarn, and you can make it even more repsonsive by just using one strand of a typical 3 strand yarn

Most people use sail repair tape in the shape/size of a silver dollar to stick the telltale to the sail, you can use any tape you want that sticks well (watch out for duct tape, the adhesive on the edges likes to grab the tellale)
 
My current Laser sail has spinnaker-cloth telltales ca. 4 inches long by 1/2 inch wide, attached with a small circle of sail-repair tape (the tell-tale exits from a cut in the center of the repair-tape). These work OK, except that occasionally the spinnaker-cloth gets bent over when the sail is folded, and the crease takes bit to come out. I've had some problems with the tell-tales not flying nicely in very light air because they've been kinked into some strange configuration.

I generally use yarn for tell-tales, and I've also used cassette tape (the latter mostly on sidestays). I can't say there much difference between all of the above.

One hint: not matter what tell-tale material you use, make sure you cut off any sharp corners from the sail-repair tape (a circle is best). Sharp corners seem to lift off the sail first, and can provide a location for the tell-tale to get stuck.

Cheers,

Geoff S.
 
I have the spinnaker material telltales as well. They seem to work just fine for me. However, I would't reccomoned using yarn as telltales because when they get wet, it will take much longer for them to dry and start functioning properly again. The spinnaker material and not water absorbing ones will dry much quicker. A telltale cannot tell the tale when it is wet...
 
I have to agree on the point about wet tell-tales. FWIW, my spinnaker-cloth ones dry out in about 10 minutes of sailing after getting dunked.

Cheers,

Geoff S.
 
I use ones exactly the same as the rooster ones and they work great. On the leech I have two lengths of ribbon (about 8in) stuck to the sail with spinnaker tape.
 
Thanks so much for the information guys. I went ahead and made some similar to the "rooster" telltales. I utilized the excess pieces from my numbers and cut them into 1 1/2 circles and poked a small hole through them and used a strand of yarn about 6" in length. I went with black for the starboard side and red for the port side. On the leech I used 6" pieces of VHS cassette tape and some more of the excess from the sail numbers. They look good, I'm gonna to test them this weekend at the HOT (heart of texas) regatta this weekend. Hopefully I wont have to worry about how long they have to dry.
Fishing Mickey
150068
 
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