Hi Gill
Once on the wire, roughly around 10+mph wind speed (approx 13-14kmph) I find that you can't over sheet the main with my 8:1 mainsheet purchase. However, the wind never appears to be that constant hence I don't cleat. This might have something to do with the sail itself as Stealth Mains have a boom/foot which is at least 9" or 225mm longer than a Blades.
In moderate winds I can usually keep the top inside tell tale flying horizontally 90% of the time but the two middle tell tales are often breaking. I use these two tell tales as a guide primarily for main sheet and downhaul tension and to a lesser extent mast rotation. The bottom tell tale is just a guide for outhaul tension.
If I ignore the top and bottom tell tales and want to work on keeping the inside middle tell tales horizontal then it takes alot of mainsheet tension and a fair amount of downhaul and this is with a main that I have had re-cut to "improve" it's single handing characteristics.
However, constant application of mainsheet tension is probably causing untold damage to my hands as I wrap the sheet around the palm and that is why I ask the question? Is there a better gripping technique.