[quote=DamonLinkous][quote=Headhunter]how does one tune with leach tails? Never had them.[/quote]
I had never had leach tells because the standard Hobie mains don't come with them. So when I upgraded to a Pentex Square-head main I only put the "black beauty" tells along the luff like the Dacron Hobie sails.
This turned out to be a big mistake. I didn't realize how much different the sheeting/traveling would be with the new sail and I was cranking hard on the mainsheet just like I did on the Dacron. That resulted in stalling the main and that is the reason for using leach tell-tales. By making sure that the leach tells are streaming you know that there is attached airflow over the main, which means you are sailing the sails as they were designed and getting full power.
I actually hardly worry about the main luff tell-tails because they are harder to see (have to looks straight up) and aren't exposed to as much apparent wind as the luff.
You'll drive yourself crazy trying to get all the tells streaming at once, but here is a tip I got that I can pass on.
On a day with steady wind, sail close-hauled and use a GPS to monitor your speed. Vary your course up and down wind by a few degrees watching the tell-tails and having the crew read out your speed. You may find that the ideal course for "velocity made good" upwind has some combination of inside and outside tells streaming. Do the same thing sailing downwind at 90 degrees apparent to figure out your tells and traveler settings.[/quote]
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