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-)
