Tell Tale HELP

LaserSailor4

New Member
I need help on where to put the tell tales on my sail. I have a full rig. I have tell tales and i do not have a clue where to put them. If any one knows please tell me in precise meausurements where they are supposed to be and how many I am supposed to use. Thanks Guys.
 
If you're a member of the ILCA, you can access the following page which shows telltale placement from a majority of the 2002 Worlds competitors

drLaser telltale article

Basic placement has them in the 2nd panel up from the bottom (the first panel above the window). Placement anywhere from 6-18" back from the luff. These will help you upwind.

Try to place them so they don't hit any stitching in the seams. You can get by with just one on each side of the sail for steering, if you have a good feel. Otherwise you can use three per side in a layout similar to below

0------ 0------- 0-------
 
i think theyre meant to be at 1/3, 2/3 & just below 3/3 up the sail, & basically, the closer you have them to the luff of the sail, the more sensitive they are, i think you put them at about 30% from the mast, well, thats what it says on the ronstan packs.
& leech tales basically inline with the tell tales, but on the leech of the sail.
 
Trip,
there is a TLF-Thread about telltales called "Tell Tales" from lyclaser 1st date is 12th April 2004 at this area (Lasersailing) of the TLF. Just go some pages back into the past. There you also will find some good answers to your questions (I do not know how to make a link to this thread, sorry)
Bye-bye
LooserLu
 
LooserLu said:
Trip,
there is a TLF-Thread about telltales called "Tell Tales" from lyclaser 1st date is 12th April 2004 at this area (Lasersailing) of the TLF. Just go some pages back into the past. There you also will find some good answers to your questions (I do not know how to make a link to this thread, sorry)
Bye-bye
LooserLu
The thread he is talking about can be found here:
http://www.laserforum.org/showthread.php?t=1202&highlight=tales
 
Most good sets of telltales come with instructions on positioning. But these instructions aren't necessarily suitable for laser sailing. I found that it's good to have the telltales a little lower on a Laser sail, simply so that you aren't always looking up, so you can keep your eye on your wind indicator, the course, and other boats while watching the telltales.
 
After the discussion in the thread that Bradley posted above, I added some tell-tales to my sail. They dramatically improved my upwind steering. Before I'd consistantly be outpointed by most of my local fleet; now I keep up with them pretty well.

The tell-tales I look at most frequently are the pair just forward of the numbers. I pay most attention to the leeward ones. Most of the time they are both streaming back when I'm sailing upwind; if I'm sailing slightly too low the forward one will flap around. If both stall I know I have to do something right away. Often (esp. in lighter wind), both the windward ones will be dangling. Note that the forward pair is only about 4 inches aft of the luff-sock seam.

FWIW, the row of four "Gentry Tufts" below the numbers are almost useless; the yarn is too stiff to fly freely. I'm waiting to see if they will loosen up before I remove them.

Cheers,

Geoff S.
 

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GeoffS said:
FWIW, the row of four "Gentry Tufts" below the numbers are almost useless; the yarn is too stiff to fly freely. I'm waiting to see if they will loosen up before I remove them.

Just a thought, if the yard is the typical knitting yarn from a sewing store, it's usually 3 strand. You can unravel it and go with just one strand, it won't be as heavy or stiff and will fly better in lighter air.
 
49208 said:
Just a thought, if the yard is the typical knitting yarn from a sewing store, it's usually 3 strand. You can unravel it and go with just one strand, it won't be as heavy or stiff and will fly better in lighter air.
I'd thought of that, but not tried it yet (I always seem to be running late when I unroll the sail!). The pair of tell-tales has been so helpful that I haven't felt any need to make the row of tufts work. I'll try and trim them this week and see how they work.

Cheers,

Geoff S.
 

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