I was sailing all last week and learning a lot about how fun this boat can be. One problem continues to stump me though. When sailing on a reach or higher I often found it impossible to get the lowest telltales on the windward side of my main to stream properly - especially as the wind picked up and a hull started to fly. All the other telltales would look great and I would be going like heck, but those lower telltales on the windward side would either stall or actually flow backwards (towards the mast). I travelled in and out, I sheeted in and out, yet the same thing kept happening. I think my downhaul was very tight, and on one occassion I had my mast raked so far back I could not put my stepping pin back in and could barely steer the boat.

Does anyone have any opinions as to why this particular newbie is having this problem?

Dave