21/12/2013 09:37:04 Colin Atkinson Posts: 5 | Hello all, Tweet |
26/12/2013 07:19:22 Nick Griffin Posts: 10 | Hi, I'm very new to the RS100, so am still finding it hard to get it into the "upwind groove" with any consistency, but I have this general information about tell tales and would also be interested to hear how relevant it is on the RS100 rig. Regards Nick Griffin PS Reposted hopefully with file attached! Tweet |
| 26/12/2013 09:46:41 Andrew Wilson Posts: 25 | I'll have a go here, since no-one else has responded to Nick and Colin's posts: Firstly, downwind: I'd ignore the tell-tales - they aren't your main priority. You need to focus on 1) Keeping the spinnaker so its luff is just curling/lifting 2) Your sailing angle and 3) Choosing your gybe / finding the gusts. If the spinnaker is back-winding your mainsail, then the main is too far out. Make sure you've got the kicker and Cunningham eased right off - but focus on (1) to (3) above. Now upwind: The leech tell-tales are a guide on your mainsail set-up - where you have two primary adjustments of kicker and cunningham. When there's wind, you'll set these based on the need to reduce power (ie to flatten the sail / open the leech). In 5 to 10 knots, I personally tend to go more on what looks a nice sail shape, rather than anything the leech tell-tales indicate. This leaves us with the use of the lower/near luff tell-tales: you should think of these as a sensitive 'wind direction indicator'. They are far better in most conditions than looking at your flag - and they are really useful in ensuring your sail is at the right angle to the wind and so working effectively. BUT they can't do more than this. Knowing whether you can squeeze the boat higher, or ought to be easing the main off and footing faster is something you can only tell by practice and by comparing your speed with other boats. So tell-tales can't get you "in the groove" - but will indicate when you've got a header or lift and need to respond. Regards Andrew Tweet |