Super-sensitive telltales

[Pete1177]

I've been looking at the telltales recently as supplied as standard on the Jeckells sail. Frankly, they are not very good. One issue is that they take ages to dry out (especially in the Winter months) and they tend to stick to the sail material. Also, they have a tendency to permanently crease - usually when the sail is rolled up, or sometimes when supplied with a new sail.

I've been thinking about how to make more sensitive luff telltales that don't have the problems of the standard ones. This because I want to optimise the close-hauled angle I'm sailing upwind and improve my upwind boat speed. One way of doing this is of course to watch the telltales every few seconds to stay in the 'groove' which is only a few degrees wide - but I'm frustrated by how badly the standard telltales work as they aren't sensitive enough.

I made a set of luff telltales and tried them on my boat today. They are gossamer-like sensitive, dried out quickly, and worked a treat. The leech ones are left 'as is' as they work OK.

I'll let Class members know how you can make these yourself, for a few pennies, when I have time.

Pete
Class Secretary
SN1177

[Pete1177]

The new telltales are on my 'black cloth' sail ready for the Winter Championships (in a nice red colour to match my red trial sail numbers). I'll be testing them out for sure in the Club racing tomorrow.

Pete
SN1177

[Pete1177]

The full article is in the Technical Section - log in to view and download (Class Member access only).

I have now sorted my upwind speed problem by focusing on the sail trim with the new setup.

[Steve1142]

Hi Pete
I have fitted my new Telltales and will be trying them out tonight.
I used our dog brush and found this really good.

Dog Brush.jpg (129.05 KiB) Viewed 13818 times

Steve 514

[Steve1142]

Hi Pete
My tails seemed to be working really well most of the time and I seemed to be pointing better, but the top ones kept getting individual stands court on the stitching of the sail and distorting the flow. Not sure what I can do to stop this?
Steve 514

[Pete1177]

Steve
Yes that can happen. The trick is to align the fibres on the telltales before you launch by running between finger and thumb. If they are too separated they are too sensitive and can catch. This is a trial and error thing.
Pete