Upper Main Telltales---

[Hardcrab]

I enjoy trimming the sails to get as much speed as I can make on any given heading.
But try as I might, I rarely get the upper telltail to stream aft when on a close to broad reach.
I know that the top of the sail should fall off by using less vang to raise the boom, but I seem to end up with the two lower telltails trimmed out to far.
No amount of playing with the boom vang, main sheet and/or traveler yields good results for me.
Typical conditions are 8-12 knots winds with a stock mainsail.

What am I doing wrong, and how do you get the main trimmed so all tails do good?

[R Rae]

Sorry can't explain too much on tell-tales.......but you did give a right good explanation about their use on another link on wind vanes, thanks.

BTW. Today on my '01 X (inferior vessel, some say ) I decided to experiment with removing the top batten, as I was never too impressed with sail shape up there. Visually the effect was amazing. No, more was there a decided kink up in the sail, but for once I now had a very smooth foil shape. And, both tell-tales seemed to be working overtime.
.....Just wondering if such a change on your 'M' mightn't bear some fruit.


Cheers....R

[Kelly Hanson East]

If you have had that stock main out in heavy air, it is easy to blow it out. It is made from end run polyester and the quality from sail to sail is variable, so you cant judge it from experience of others too easily without comparing shapes in the same wind.

(Full disclosure - we are in the sail making and selling business and offer Doyle and our own sails for the Mac line)

Dont forget to play with main halyard tension and outhaul tension to trim that main.

And, check your bolt rope for shrinkage (although unlikely on a couple of year old sail I think)

[baldbaby2000]

Where are the telltails? Are then on the leech of the sail or actually on the sail near the maximum draft?

[Hardcrab]

My sail has factory installed telltails sewn on the leech around the batten area. It is the upper tail I can't seem to get to fly on most days.
I have installed one more set of tails at approx the max draft point fore and aft, and at the bottom "one-third" line up and down. These also aid in getting the best trim on the main by getting both the windward and leeward tails to "glue" themselves to the sail when trimed best. This will show good, smooth flow over both sides of the sail. With the main eased out to much, the windward tail jumps around and when trimed in to much, the lee tail jumps around.
Thanks for the tip about the upper batten. I'll try it out and remove it, for sure.
No batten up there would cause the sail to twist out some more.