Wind Vanes and Tell Tails

Wind Vanes and Tell Tails 

Knowing what direction the wind is coming from when sailing can make a big difference when you are sailing. That seems like an obvious statement but it can be more difficult than most people think. There are a few inexpensive helpers you can add to your sailboat that can make sailing a lot more fun and efficient. These are Tell Tails and Wind Vanes.

We sail our little day sailor on a river and the wind on the river is all over the place. Trees, houses and buildings, open fields along the bank cause wind direction changes as you try to sail up and down and across the river. If you can sail on a river, open water sailing is easy.

Some sailors (like my wife) can almost always tell where the wind is coming from. I am not gifted like that. If the wind is very light I need a visual clue and Tell Tails or a Wind Vane can give me that information. With the help of these I can usually set a nice sailing trim and look like I know what I am doing. *-)

It is nice to understand the concepts of true wind and apparent wind, but when I am sailing I do not think in terms like that. I see the sails are filling or not, and what can I do to get them to fill.

A tell tail is just a string or piece of plastic or cloth attached to something that can blow in the wind. I like a colorful piece of yarn or strip of plastic tied or taped to the shrouds of the boat. You can cut a thin colorful strip of plastic from a plastic bag you brought home from a store and tape it to the shrouds. It is cheap, the light plastic flutters even in a minimal breeze. By having them on both sides of the boat, and on the back stay you can almost always see at least one.

A wind vane is also helpful, and a vane can be mounted on the top of the mast or on the shrouds. You can make your own or buy one readymade. I made the one we have on our little schooner we built, but ready-made ones are not that expensive. I like the wind vanes that have tacking tabs built in. They can give you an easy reference that puts you right in the pocket for a good tack. Some of these have tabs that are adjustable so you can set the angle to match the angle your boat can tack.

A wind vane with tacking tabs has as a center vane that points to the wind. The tacking tabs are tabs that form an angle of about 45 degrees to each side the center vane that gives you your close hauled tacking angle to the wind. You just line the bow of your boat up so it is close to the tab angle to get a good tack angle.

   

Once you are on that angle you can fine tune your tack angle by looking at the tell tales that are on your main sail if it has them. Tell tails on the main sail are yarn lines on the sail that let you see how the wind is moving around the sail. When they are flowing straight back that shows you that your sail fill is correct.    

With tell tails and a wind vane I can sail better. You can go hi-tech with a sailing compass like the Tacktick  T060 Micro compass. The Micro Compass's tactical scale gives you clear stable figures corresponding on port and starboard tack. The readings whilst tacking are always the same, meaning you never have to remember numbers. The compass gives you your actual heading and the best tacking angle on a digital display. 

I like easy to use, no brainer sailing aids like this. I want to have fun sailing and not have to think too hard when I go out, but still look like a seasoned waterman. 8-)