Deck-Level Wind Indicators

[thinwater]

I have a Windex at the masthead and wind instruments also. However, I've always liked having one at deck level. I don't use it for trim adjustments, but guests and family members like it when I ask them to "head into the wind" or similar. Saves a lot of looking up.

On my beach cat I had a Telo Cat under the bridle (the sprit protected it from the chute). On my Stiletto 27 a small Windex on the port bow only got tweaked every few years (the bows were ~ 4 feet in front of the bridle, and the chute was always jibed inside). On my PDQ I have a pair of these outside the bow rails; they get smacked a lot by the chute, but I designed them to be unbreakable, and they are so far (5 years--the rubber hose bends).

What other options at deck level? Obviously wind interference matters, ruling out many areas. Also sheets, sails, and pilings.

[s/v Jedi]

I just put a tell tale on a shroud. You really don't need any masthead instruments for cruising. I saw Americas Cuppers have them at the bow pullpit.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

I just put a tell tale on a shroud. You really don't need any masthead instruments for cruising. I saw Americas Cuppers have them at the bow pullpit.

Exactly. On my beach cat I had a Telocat below the bridle (the bowsprit protected it from the chute), and on my Stiletto 27 I use a small Windex on the port bow (the bows were 3 feet forward of the forestay, the and the chute was jibed inside, since the boat sailed well over wind speed). main-only dinghies often mount an indicator on the front side of the mast.

But most boats are quite lacking in deck-level areas that are not subject to ropes or sails, except for areas where the wind is affected by something.

[thinwater]

No one?

Is it because I singlehand, so staring at the masthead is a poor use of time. Or because the helm is to one side and the masthead is blocked by main roach on port tack. It's of limitied use up-wind--the sails are a better indicator. But off the wind and docking/anchoring/hoisting it's handy.

Both of these will clamp to railings, although the primary market is dinghies.

Schaefer makes the Little Hawk MKII.

Davis makes the Black Max.

Yarn on a flexible wand works well. Just about unbreakable, though less visible.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by thinwater

No one?

Lots of folks used to use cassette tape tied to the shrouds back in the day. Maybe you have a few old cassettes still around some place

When racing, I used a black max like in the photo on my Nacra 6.0 and something similar on Hobie 16's mainly for downwind. I had to modify them to work.

Davis makes the Black Max.


I didn't use anything on the Nacra F-17 except the spinnaker luff downwind and telltales on the sails upwind

[Schooner Chandlery]

I put telltales all over the place for my own use. My husband and I both sometimes need that little extra help! If my hair is not flying in my face and winds are light, the telltales do the trick. Telltales are great in all sorts of conditions. https://blog.mahdee.com/2014/02/16/fog/

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Lots of folks used to use cassette tape on the shrouds back in the day. Maybe you have a few old cassettes still around some place

When racing, I used a black max like in the photo on my Nacra 6.0 and something similar on Hobie 16's mainly for downwind.

Davis makes the Black Max.


I didn't use anything on the Nacra f-17 except the spinnaker luff and telltales on the sails

The Davis TeloCat uses the same vane as the BlackMax, but hangs below the bridle, from the turnbuckle. I had one and it is probably what you have.

Ribbons on the shrouds are a possibility, but...

• The genoa tends to rub them off.
• If there is a large enclosure or dodger, they can suffer badly from interference.
• They are less visible in terms of angle than a vane. Because they do not flow straight out, the angle can be hard to judge.

Sail telltales are a no-brainer. You don't need a full set, but a few key locations help. As you say, mainly for down wind. In a blow things are really happening too fast to be looking up, and the headsail tells are hidden behind the main.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by thinwater

The Davis TeloCat uses the same vane as the BlackMax, but hangs below the bridle, from the turnbuckle. I had one and it is probably what you have.

Ribbons on the shrouds are a possibility, but...

• The genoa tends to rub them off.
• If there is a large enclosure or dodger, they can suffer badly from interference.
• They are less visible in terms of angle than a vane. Because they do not flow straight out, the angle can be hard to judge.

Sail telltales are a no-brainer. You don't need a full set, but a few key locations help. As you say, mainly for down wind. In a blow things are really happening too fast to be looking up, and the headsail tells are hidden behind the main.

I had something similar to the Telocat on the Hobie 16's but on the Nacra 6.0 I had a modified Telocat attached to the vertical center section of the bridle foil

With the shroud tell tapes I mainly used those early on with 100% jibs so they worked pretty well

I don't have anything on the Bristol ......

[Hydra]

I have telltales on the shrouds, approximately 2 meters above the deck (hopefully out of interference from the hull). This is what I have been using since I began to sail in the 1970s. IMO, this is the best setup: the windward telltale shows the airflow impacting the sails, it isn't much disturbed by yacht motions (as a masthead vane would be), it is in my field of view without having to look up, I can see it at night (I use black or dark blue ribbon).

For precise sail trimming, I also use telltales higher on the sails: close to the luff on headsails and on the leech on the main. They are useful but not perfect: difficult to see at night and useless if the sail is wet.

Alain

[Schooner Chandlery]

Originally Posted by Hydra

I can see it at night (I use black or dark blue ribbon).

Hi there, how is it that you can see those dark ribbons at night? We have yellow ribbon and find that when it gets dirty grey it's not so visible at night. Always figured the dark colors would be impossible to see at all. We keep a spool of the ribbon available to attach a clean bit to a shroud as needed.

[Hydra]

In fact, dark colours contrast well against the sky or the sea at night. The remark comes from a book by Bernard Moitessier (I don't remember which one).

Alain

[buzzstar]

I learned something useful from this thread, even though I have used tell tales created from different materials and at various location on many boats for a very long time. I was not familiar with the term "beach cat." See, reading posts that you expect to provide no information can be useful, and I had even seen the term in the most recent mono vs. cat' exchanges in another thread, but there it did not register. Thanks all of you beach cat folks.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by buzzstar

I learned something useful from this thread, even though I have used tell tales created from different materials and at various location on many boats for a very long time. I was not familiar with the term "beach cat." See, reading posts that you expect to provide no information can be useful, and I had even seen the term in the most recent mono vs. cat' exchanges in another thread, but there it did not register. Thanks all of you beach cat folks.

Bear in mind that the designation "beach cat" does not always imply that the boat would be sailed off a beach. It is often used to include all small catamarans that can be trailered without disassembly, that use crew as ballast, and have trampolines. Generally everything from a 12-foot poly beach toy to a Tornado (tilt to trailer).

[Schooner Chandlery]

Originally Posted by Hydra

In fact, dark colours contrast well against the sky or the sea at night. The remark comes from a book by Bernard Moitessier (I don't remember which one).

Alain

hum... a shadow is made stronger by the dark color, yes, in theory I can see that but in reality it doesn't work for me. I have tried black yarns and it didn't work for me the one time I needed it to. In my limited experience aboard my own boat, bright white or light yellow work best for me to be able to see them at night. I have a glow in the dark hobby paint that I've considered dipping some string in for the same reason.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by thinwater

Bear in mind that the designation "beach cat" does not always imply that the boat would be sailed off a beach. It is often used to include all small catamarans that can be trailered without disassembly, that use crew as ballast, and have trampolines. Generally everything from a 12-foot poly beach toy to a Tornado (tilt to trailer).

Yeah, it still has two hulls and the cross beams on the trailer but the later models still took and hour to an hour and a half to assemble once at the beach especially after we started using spinnakers

And by the way, we usually backed off the beach sitting on the front of the hull drinking a prerace beer with our feet in the water, sails up, jib loose, main centered and sheeted in, boards and rudders up..........especially if it was a heavy offshore wind

But of course that was only when buoy racing in the afternoon not before the start of a 100 mile race at 7 am

Late model beach cat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pehYM0RfyyU

Older model but the most popular:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO0LkUDALNk