What about
the rest of us?

I have a few comments to make relative to the ideas expressed on my work about the aerodynamics of sails and the use of telltales (I reference the material by Mikko Brummer and Shevy Gunter on the drLaser web site, and also Brummer's WB-Sails site).

On the subject of telltales and tufts; to each his own. However, when you get advice from experts such as Mikko Brummer of WB-Sails, keep in mind where they are coming from. The "experts" have spent thousands of hours sailing. They practice for uncounted hours in two boat testing. These "experts" can sail their boats with their eyes closed. No wonder that they can say that "it wasn't until some 3 hours of sailing I realized we had forgotten to put tell tales on the jib altogether." And about Mikko's statement that "The Gentry tufts are fine, but are they necessary? - in 1996 Savannah Olympics, for instance, no sailor or boat I could observe was using anything but simple 2-3 pairs of steering telltales (plus the leech tails)." Sure, these people are so good that they don't need the telltales or tufts! But what about the rest of us, the average club racer?

When I first started racing in Southern California I realized that I was racing against the professionals of the California sailing industry (sailmakers, boat designers and builders). I realized that to compete I had to try to make up for the thousands of hours and hundreds of races that the experts had over me. Being an engineer I read everything that I could get my hands on and practiced as much as I had time for. Next I turned to my aerodynamics knowledge. That produced a correct understanding of how sails worked and my idea of using the luff separation bubble as an aid in steering and trimming the genoa. I never became good enough to be classified as an "expert" but after 3 years of sailing I was able to place 7th in the Cal 20 nationals against 60 other boats.

To test out the luff separation bubble and tufts idea, I conducted some simple experiments. I took several people sailing who had never steered a boat before. I described the idea behind my tuft system and gave them an hour of guidance in using it. I found that these people could then do quite an adequate job of sailing to windward.

Recently I was describing my system of short telltales (tufts) for a new genoa to my sailmaker when one of the best Seattle sailors, Scott Rohrer, came in and overheard part of the conversation. Scott said that he had recently been driving a big boat that had a telltale near the luff of the genoa. He felt that the boat was going to windward great, fast and pointing high, even though the telltale on the leeward side was frequently twirling. The owner of the boat argued that the telltale indicated that the sail was stalled and that he should be pointing higher.

As I described the leading edge separation bubble idea and my tuft system, Scott quickly saw that this was the information he needed to settle the argument with the boat owner. I had a copy of The Best of Sail Trim with me, and Scott immediately made a copy of the article so that he could use it to describe the idea to the boat owner.