Barges on the Hudson River

It is a shame to know that the Coast Guard is considering multiple anchoring zones for barges on the river.  After many years of cleaning up the river and improving the Hudson Valley, it will be a big step back to allow barges to anchor along the river to save some money on fuel.  Besides the detriment to the views, it will also cause boat traffic to have a smaller area to navigate on the river.

This picture would look better without the barge anchored in the middle of the Haverstraw Bay.  Waiting for a one-knot current to change is not a good reason to spoil the river.

Jazz For Sale

After owning her for 10 years, it is time for me to part with Jazz.  She was everything I needed her to be, but the time has come to let her go.  It is a tough decision to make, but my family now has other places to be and Jazz was not being used enough.

I will post some blogs about Jazz and hopefully someone that likes to race will soon own her.  She is a perfect boat for short handed cruising and racing.  She never lost a race in winds over 20 knots.  In 2014, she won three races on a 20+ day in the Sutherland regatta.  She did it with just me on board.  That is short handed sailing at its finest.

She also carried my children for the first 10 years of their life.  Knowing her strength and heavy air breeding, I was confident that my family would be safe with her.  I have many fond memories of sailing around with the kids and not worrying about anything.

My brother's recent purchase of a J-105 has given me a new place to sail on Wednesday nights.  That has made it easier to part with Jazz, but still remain active on the river.

Over the next couple of posts, I will explain how I chose a J-28 sailboat.  I'll talk about the early days learning the boat.  I'll move into the cruising division races we did.  Finally, I will discuss the waning usage over the past few years.

I believe that my path through life is similar to a boat's path through a windy bay.  You have to pull the sails in and go hard.  You need to be ready for any unexpected changes and adjust the boat to the changing conditions.  As you work your way to your next waypoint, you need to be in synergy with the waves around you and not try to bash through everything.

The wind in my life is blowing from a new direction.  I am going to ease off for a while and see where it blows me.  While I do not know the final destination, I do know that my journey is far from over.

Telltales

Telltales Summary

Telltales are an important indicator of sail trim.  When going upwind, the telltales on the jib are helpful in steering properly in relation to the wind.  Knowing how to read these indicators will help improve your boat speed at all angles of sail.

Mainsail Telltales

The telltales on the mainsail (main) are usually located on the back of the sail.  This is called the leech.  The leech telltales will fly nicely when the main is properly trimmed.  They will also fly when the sail is eased a little too far, so the luff at the front of the sail is important to watch as well.  Telltales are most helpful upwind and on reaches.  When sailing deep downwind, the main will be out as far as possible and the telltales will not give much information to the trimmer.

Upwind

When sailing upwind, you will have your main trimmed in tight.  The telltale that gives us the most information is the topmost telltale.  This is the most finicky of the telltales on the main.  In light air, the telltales will be tough to read.  As the air gets up to 4-6 knots, you can start to use the top tell tale to help trim.  In medium air, the telltale is critical to proper trim.  As you get into heavy air, the tales will flow and their informational value will be reduced.

Light Air

In light  air, the top telltale should be flowing about 20-50% of the time.  When the telltale is not flowing at all, you have trimmed the main too tight.  This is an indication that you need to let the mainsheet out a bit.  Be careful with the traveler.  If you are letting the main out, you will probably want to bring the traveler up to keep the main powered up and not allow it to luff.  Play with this a little.  You will likely find that you have to move the traveler above center line to get the mainsheet out far enough so that the top telltale flows occasionally and the main continues to be powered up.  We do this to allow the main to have some twist, yet not be out so far that the boat can not longer point well into the wind.

If the telltale is flowing all the time, you may have the sail out to far to maximize your power from it.  Trim in the main until the top telltale begins to waver and even disappear for a second or two.  Once you get back to a 20-50% level of flow, you are in the ballpark for optimal trim.

Medium Air

As the wind pushes above 10 knots, the main will have lots of flow over it.  Now it is time to get that top telltale to flow 50-80% the time.  If the telltale is not flowing, you have the main trimmed too tight.  You will want to ease the main until the top telltale is flowing more than 50% of the time.  As the wind increases, this will rise to 100% flow on all telltales.  It should not be necessary to have your traveler above center line to keep the main powered up and the telltales flying.  Keeping the traveler center line in this wind is a good base position to work from.

If your top telltale is flying consistently, try to sneak in the mainsheet until the telltale starts to flutter a little.  Don't go too far.  You want the top telltale flying, but a little flutter here and there will help you keep from having the mainsheet out too far and losing the power in the main.

Keep in mind that the leech telltales will fly when the main is out too far.  If you are notice a luff in the main that is not a normal luff due to the jib back wind, you need to trim the main in or move the traveler further to windward.

Heavy Air

In heavy air, the telltales on the main will be flowing all the time.  If not, you have the sail trimmed in too far and the boat is probably on its side.  Over 20 knots, you will have the traveler down and be sheeting the main in and out to keep the heel at an optimal angle.  In this wind, the main will be out to keep the boat from heeling too far.  When the main is out, the leech telltales flow.  The are no longer very helpful to trim the main.

Reaching

When reaching, it is best to have all the telltales flowing off the leech of the main.  If the top telltale is not flowing, the main needs to be let out.  This is common in our races.  People tend to have their main choked in too tight on reaches.  Make sure you check your vang too.  The vang will remove twist from the main and it can be eased out to get some twist in the main and allow the leech telltales to flow.  In general, you want to increase vang tension as the wind approaches 15 knots and then start to ease the vang again as the boat gets overpowered in heavier air.  In heavy air, you will have the main luffing to keep the boat heeling over too far, so the top telltale will not be useful.  

When reaching all the telltales can help.  When no telltales are flowing, you ease the sheet or vang, the telltales will begin to flow from bottom to top.  If the top telltale is flowing, but the middle or bottom ones are not flowing well, it could indicate that the jib is in too tight.  On a reach, the jib lead is too far inboard and aft.  This causes the sail to be trimmed too tight on the bottom and too loose on the top.  Some boats use an outboard lead or move the lead forward to help this issue.  If you are not moving the jib lead, ease the jib so that the lower two thirds of the sail are trimmed properly and the top is out too far.  If the jib is trimmed properly, your main telltales will flow with the top telltale being the indicator of mainsail trim.

Jib Telltales

The telltales on the jib will serve two functions.  Upwind, the jib is not trimmed much, so the telltales will help the helmsman know if the boat is heading in the proper direction relative to the wind.  When reaching, the telltales will help the trimmer know how the wind is flowing over the bottom, middle, and top of the sail.  In this article, we will only talk about three sets of telltales on the luff (front) of the jib.  We'll call the sets bottom, middle, and top.  We will also refer to the telltales on the inside (windward) of the jib and the outside (leeward) of the jib.  Most boats have green telltales on the starboard side and red ones on the port side to allow the helmsman to differentiate between the inside and outside telltales.  Depending on the tack of the boat, green or red can be inside or outside.

Upwind

When sailing upwind, the trimmer will use the sets of telltales on the bottom, middle and top of the jib to position the lead properly and trim the sheet for maximum upwind efficiency.  The helmsman will reference the bottom set of telltales to steer the boat at the best angle relative to the wind.

Light Air

Let's start with enough wind to get the telltales moving.  That happens around 2 knots on race boats and 4 for the cruisers.  In light air, the trimmer will be most active relative to higher wind speeds.  The trimmer will need to work with the helmsman to keep proper flow over the jib.  In general, you will have the sheet out a little bit to get some flow and the fuller shape to generate speed. You want all three sets of telltales to break (waver) at the same time.  I would just talk about flow, but in lighter air the telltales are going to break and that is a moment rather than a continuous action.  If the inside-top telltales are breaking first, the top of the sail may be out too far and the lead should be moved forward.  If the inside-bottom telltales are breaking first, you will want to sheet in a little and drop the lead back.  This is common as the wind increases to a medium speed.  If the inside-middle telltales are breaking before the top and bottom, you may have too deep a draft.  This may be the result of headstay sag.  You can try to tighten the backstay or even the halyard if it seems loose.  Do not over tighten.  You want some wrinkles on the luff of the sail under 10 knots.

For the helmsman in light air, you are only going to watch the bottom set of telltales for steering.  You want both the inside and outside telltales streaming back for optimal efficiency.  If the inside telltales are wavering, you are steering too high and need to head down a little.  If the outside ones are wavering you are either steering too low or you need to ask the trimmer for a little ease on the sheet if you want more boat speed.  Do not just "press" the sail in light air and allow the outside telltales to flutter.  Ease the jib if you are looking to sail a little lower or you need to get some additional speed.

Medium Air

In medium air, the jib trimmer may not be as active as in light air.  It is still important to use the telltales for lead position.  If the top inside telltales are breaking before the others, the lead should go forward.  If the bottom telltales are breaking first, the lead should be brought aft and the sheet tighten a bit.  Keep playing with the lead until all three inside telltales are in sync.  We don't talk about the outside telltales here since they should all be flowing.  Once the lead is set, the trimmer may head to the high side to reduce the heel.

The helmsman will be looking to keep the outside telltales always flowing in 8-14 knots of breeze.  If they are breaking, the boat needs to head higher.  If you need more speed, the jib will need to be eased.  Do not head down for speed without the jib being eased out at the same time.  You will get more speed, but stalling out the front of the jib will hurt any acceleration achieved at the lower angle to the wind.  

The helmsman will get his most valuable input from the inside telltales.  In medium air, you want these telltales to be flowing most, but not all, of the time.  You want them on the edge of breaking with an occasional break every couple of seconds.  This means they will be flowing back with an occasional flip up.  This is OK.  Do not head down when the inside telltales first break, but if they do not immediately head back into a nice flow, you may need to head down a touch until they all flow again.  As you get to 14-16 knots, the telltales on the inside will spend more time flowing up than back.  This is OK.  The boat will be able to maintain a higher angle.  Do not allow the jib to luff until you are overpowered by the wind.

Heavy Air

As the breeze gets to 16 knots and above, heeling may be an issue.  Some of this can be helped by easing the main.  Telltales will be less of a help for the trimmer.  The trimmer should drop the lead back to allow the top of the jib to depower.  This will lower the center of effort.  The inside top telltale should not flow at all.  

The helmsman will now have the inside bottom telltales flowing up or totally not flowing.  Most boats will be overpowered and even a little luff at the front of the jib will be correct.  If speed is an issue due to waves, the helmsman may head the boat a little lower and get the bottom telltales to flow again.  Heel and boat speed will be the best indicators for proper trim and heading in these conditions.  Do not allow the outside telltales to stall.  If you do, you are heading too low and the boat is either heeling too much or making too much leeway.

Reaching

On a reach, the helmsman should be steering to a fixed point.  This will depend on many other items, but telltales are not part of the helmsman's input.  This means it is up tot he trimmer alone to keep the jib in proper trim.  In light to medium conditions, the trimmer will want to move the lead forward and outboard if possible.  We do this on Jazz by adding another sheet to the jib that is led to the rail.  We ease the tension on the normal jib sheet and trim it using the new outboard jib sheet.  Without doing this, you will find the inside top telltales unable to fly unless you sheet the jib in so much that the bottom of the sail stalls.  When this happens, the outside bottom telltales will break or droop.  If you cannot rig an outboard lead, all the top inside telltales to break, but try to get the middle and bottom telltales to fly as evenly as possible.  If you have to choose, stall the bottom a little to keep the middle of the sail flowing.  

As the wind goes above 16 knots, the outboard lead becomes less necessary.  This is because the boat will become overpowered and having the top of the sail out too far may be beneficial.  Over 20 knots, drop the lead back further on a reach and only trim to the bottom telltales.  If you are overpowered, it will be fine for the middle inside telltales to be fluttering.  Over 25 knots, it may even be necessary to ease the jib to luffing to keep the boat from heeling too much.

Conclusion

Telltales are just one of many inputs to consider when sailing,  In light and medium air, they are important tools to understand the trim of the sails,  In all wind, the telltales will help you steer the boat at the proper angle upwind.  While very important, the telltales are just indicators.  Consider them as fine tuning adjustments.  Once you have the general principles of sailing down, a clear understanding of what the telltales indicate will help you improve your trim and steering efficiency.  Over the course of a race this can add to a minute or two advantage to those who ignore this important input.

Resources

For more information about installing telltales and other info, click here.

You can buy some at your local store or online by clicking here.