D
Don Guillette
My time is coming to an end as your Forum host. I've enjoyed the dialog as I love to talk about trimming sails so a mate can get 100% efficiency from their sailboat. Additionally, I hate to see beginners to intermediates go through what I had to in order to learn how to sail a boat efficiently. If you found some of my material helpful, please comment to the powers that be at sailboatowners.com - Bly, Phil and Karisa. Please buy their products and maybe suggest ways you'd like to see sail trim information presented to help you sail your boat more efficiently and get as much from your little beauty that she can give. One way to achieve 100% efficiency is through the use of TELLTALES. Telltales are absolutely the most important sail trim indicator on the boat and probably 50% ( and I'm being kind with that number) of sailors worldwide don't have any attached to their jib or main. I always carry an extra set with me for attachment to any boats I go on for instructional purposes. I can't read the sails without them and frankly I don't know how any sailors without them can read their sails. They have to be better at it then I am. Telltales are the primary system of checks and balance for the mainsail and jib/genny trimmer. I feel the knowledge of telltales is so important that I devote 5 pages to them in my book - The Sail Trim Users Guide. Obviously, space does not permit me to go into all the details of telltales but let's touch on a few. Telltales show "attached flow". What that means is, if the leading edge of the luff of the mainsail or jib are aimed directly into the wind, then the telltales stream aft. When you view your telltales, imagine air flowing past the sail as smoke in a wind tunnel. If you ease the jib or mainsheet too much or your course is too low or high in relation to the direction of the wind, then the leading edge is no longer pointed into the wind and the flow on one side or the other becomes disturbed and the telltales react accordingly. There is a lot more to this telltale stuff, such as placement on the sail plus the controls used to adjust etc but space is limited so lets talk about how to read them. There are 5 settings - FULL SPEED, ACCELERATION, POINT, PINCH, and FOOT. Full speed is when the inside and outside telltales both stream aft. Acceleration is when the outside lifts a bit and the inside streams aft. Point is when the outside streams aft and the inside dips down a bit. Pinch is when the outside streams aft and the inside really dips. To correct that situation either trim in or sail lower. Foot is when the outside lifts and the inside streams aft. To correct that situation either ease out or sail higher. Here is an easy tip to remember - if the OUTSIDE flips then EASE OUT. If the INSIDE flips then TRIM IN. Any questions?