Are people running telltales on their spinnakers? If so, where are you placing them?

For my forebeam spinnaker turning blocks should I use aluminum or stainless pop rivets? It is a 200 sq ft spin with ratchets with a 15:1 holding power.

Thank you for your help,

Matt

I hate tell tales on the spinnaker..."Sail the cloth" <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> (but seriously). IMHO, tell tales don't give you enough information when flying a spinnaker and are a distraction. Keep that luff curling ever 5 to 10 seconds, learn to anticipate the puffs and lulls, and everything is good. Na na na na na na .... Na na na na na na....

Definitely stainless (or monel) rivets to attach the blocks to the beam.

15:1!?!? Them some bigass ratchets.

Since a few weeks I'm sailing with the latest Ullman Zuccoli sails (heard they're going to be the 2007 Standard Hobie Tiger sails). The spinaker has tell tales in the upperpart of the spinaker around 20 cm from the luff. Must say I rely on the curling luff as Jake does. I love the sound of the luff flapping every few sec's.......

Thanks for the replies. The reason I asked was that Ulman told me they put them on their spinnaker. They said the sails are so flat they are helpful.

Another question…

I have read wouter say that he would rather capsize than blow the spinnaker many times. Why is this? We got in a debate on the water about it and ended up testing it by flying a hull pretty high and releasing the sheet. The boat calmed down.

Must admit the Ulman spinaker is quite flat. Wadya mean with blowing the spinaker ?

releasing the spinaker sheet. Ohh, maybe he meant the mainsheet?

Eileen and I do use a telltail on the spinnaker. It is about 6 to 8 feet from the foot and about 8 to 10 inches back from the luff of the spinnaker. Seems to me that with the new cuts getting flatter you will be sailing a bit higher. The sails are becoming more of a code 0 type of situation than a traditional downwind chute. I think that we will soon be talking of "old school style" of flying spinnakers on catamarans. "Old school" will be folding the luff.

Later,
Dan

I think Wouter was talking about the mainsheet - not the spinnaker sheet.

The latest Landenburger spinnakers are pretty flat and really fly well at all sorts of angles - I think it's made the sail easier to fly without collapsing but made it more difficult to find and maintain perfect trim. That's probably what the tell tale trend is about. Someone crewing for me recently told me "geesh this thing is easy to fly without folding" and I got concerned about proper trim. Without seeing the leading edge of the kite though, it felt like it was drawing just fine...I may have to try some tales to see...

We definately put telltales on our spi. We find it easier to read than watching the luff and waiting for the luff.

That is correct. Blowing the mainsheet risks the mast on my boat. Blowing the spi sheet is not an issue although on my boat I need the pressure in the spi to bear away quickly. But this is all boat specific stuff.

Wouter