telltales

[Cmp1110]

this last weekend i installed all new telltales to my main sail adding a set near the luff. as i was sailing i was not able to get the bottom set to stream no matter waht i did trim wise. the mid tells were streaming nicely and the upper most were pinned to the sail. I was reading my sail trim guide as I was going but was unable to get any reaction from the lower most set.
I am am guessing that i was not getting any power from the lower section of the main which makes sense since I always feel like we are too tender for the conditions. I have a b&r rig so easing the main puts the sail on the spreaders pretty quickly so I think my angle of attack can only get soo wide if that makes any sense. any advice would be great

 

[Don Guillette]

CMP1110: You probably weren't getting any power from the top 1/3 of the sail either as it was probably twisted off way to much. That's what the top telltale was telling you. We're you using all your mainsail trim controls? How much draft depth did you induce using your outhaul. Did you purchase the SAIL TRIM CHART? If you did a QUICK REFERENCE is included free, which tells you which controls to push or pull to get the desired shape you're seeking.

The more you move the boom outward while sailing closehauled using the traveler, the slower you go. The traveler only controls the angle of attck and has nothing to do with sail shape. Think of your screen door with a pin in the corner that rides in a grove in the floor. When you open and close your screen door does the shape of the screen door change? Obviiously it doesn't and the same with the traveler.

 

[Cmp1110]

I do have the trim guide and I was attempting everything I thought
Conditions were about 10 knots sailing about the bottom of a beam reach outhaul was at moderate tension about 2 inches left to move back I tried different vang settings traveler position and main sheet tension and halyard tension could not get all streaming only thing I did not try was flattening some with a Cunningham it looked like the lower third seemed baggy this is the first time I have had a full set of tells on the main and it did show things very differently


Thanks Michael

 

[s sauer]

Are you saying the tell tales are nearer the luff and not on the leach?
I'd start tart with tell tales on the leach.

 

[s sauer]

Are you saying the tell tales are nearer the luff and not on the leach?
I'd start with tell tales on the leach.

 

[Cmp1110]

Two sets one on the luff one on the leech

 

[Ray T]

Mine are on the leech. I dont worry about the luff.

 

[Don Guillette]

The mainsail telltale placement issue is easy -- skip the luff telltales. The mast is blocking the flow of air. In fact, take them off as they will just confuse the situation. I have a set about in the middle of the mainsail and some say they're not effective because of the mast but I can get them to flow nicely. You can skip that set also. Maybe add them later.

It's very difficult to determine exactly the cause of the problem after reading two paragraphs. I wish I could but I can't. Joe from San Diego, RichH, Stu j and Alan are much better at it then I am plus that B&R rig is a mystery to me BUT you're 1/3 of the way home -- you've got the middle of the sail set correctly I assume you're closehauled. The next step is to get the top 1/3 set correctly. Start with the traveler. Crank it in so the boom is almost centered. Now crank the outhaul 3/4 (or more) aft. Next crank on the boom vang to close the top 1/3 of the sail. You want to eliminate as much twist as you can. I think if you get the top 2/3 set correctly the bottom will fall in line.

 

[Joe]

Two sets one on the luff one on the leech

You read the instructions incorrectly.

The minimum tell tales would be three pair on the headsail luff and three singles attached to the mainsail leech batten pockets. You can add more.... but luff tells on a mainsail with and overlapping headsail won't be very helpful....

http://www.wb-sails.fi/news/95_11_Tellingtales/Tellingtales.html

The Arvel Gentry site gets more technical.... you might find it interesting.... but you need the basics no matter what.

 

[Don Guillette]

Joe: You're right, which I didn't think of, he read the instructions incorrectly.

CMP1110: Remove those luff telltales before your dock neighbors see them!!!

 

[RichH]

What Joe and Don said.
If you want 'luff' tell tales on a mainsail, put them just in front of the place where the sail has its 'maximum camber' / the point where the 'maximum draft' occurs ..... this will make it MUCH easier in setting up the correct amount of sail draft (outhaul adjustment) for each days conditions.

;-)

 

[Cmp1110]

I set them about 16 20 inches from the luff so I think that is the right spot. I believe that fact that they were working is why I was having trim issues I for the first time could see what was happening along the whole main sail

 

[cwkemp]

CMP1110
I think the experts could help a little more if you clarified what point of sail you were having trouble with. I find that with the apparent wind further aft the main's leech tells mean less.