Wind indicators nearer to deck level

[OneBoatman]

The two choices are one: buy a tell tale-kit for your shrouds, port and starboard. The kind having a fixed donut as the lower rest, and a teardrop shaped split tab plastic swivel having an ID about 1/16" or so large than the shroud which allowing it to spin freely on the shroud, and second small hole to tie the tale to as the indicator. 20 years ago, these tell tale kits used to cost about $7.00, but you can make the same thing from translucent/white polypropylene plastic used for milk bottles. The kits used Nylon which will crack after a few years in the Sun. Put a small wrap of rigging tape a few inches above and just below the fixed saddle portion. I find placing them about 6-7 feet above your deck works well. Do not omit putting tape above the free spinning tab part of the indicator as it will otherwise tend to climb up to your spreader at times in certain wind conditions and cause you to have to look up. I always replace the tale with a 10-12" length of old fashion audio tape. It is plenty to easy to see and far more sensitive than the yarn or synthetic fabric part of the kit. (This was my old dinghy racing set up tried and true). Your second option is much pricier, typically about 1K, purchase a relative wind indicator, mount a transducer at your masthead and mount the display where you cand see it from the helm. This also requires 12V and draws a few tenths of an amp every hour you are using it.

[thinwater]

I find it interesting how few have tied this sort of approach, even though it is well proven since about 1980.


BTW, shroud ribbons are often behind the helmsman on multihulls. Not at all useful. Notice the cap shrouds are not even in the picture.

[singlespeed]

A youth sailing dinghies, then progressing to beach cats and sailing in numerous worlds, before life realities hit and a large cruising catamaran. The easiest sailing is from the almost unlimited view of a trapeze. First, there is very little "feel" in a large cruising catamaran that does not have daggerboards. Add in hydraulic steering and it is completely dead. Do not rely on a masthead wind indicator alone. At a minimum have a simple wind indicator at your mast head to verify the electronic one is working correctly. If you ever sail into an area with multiple high structures, ie., buildings, bridges, cliffs, you will note the masthead wind indicators may not accurately reflect what is happening on most of your sails. Tell tails on your sail are the best indicators, if you know how to read them and can see both the windward and leeward tell tail. If you are doing a night passage, that electronic tell tale is your best bet. Ruining your night vision by shining a flashlight on your tell tales is a recipe for trouble.

[thinwater]

I should add that I have and use...
* Masthead indicator
* Masthead instrument displayed at the helm. Speed and direction.
* Body and leach telltales on the main and jib, and body telltales on the reacher.
I know how they work and could sail quite well without any of them. Not the point.



I can remember sailing more that a few times when we had inversions in the winter (shallow cold layer of air on the water) when the masthead indicator and the deck level indicator were 180 degrees apart. Weird sailing.

[Kettlewell]

I have always just used various materials tied to the port and starboard shrouds about as high as I can reach and where I can easily see them from the helm position. Right now I am using some sort of very light woven mesh material I purchased at Walmart. It flies in very light wind and lasts about one season. Cheap and provides me with all I need other than my butt feel, which is the most important. On a cruising boat fiddly fancy indicators on the bow pulpit or elsewhere near deck level will last about one day before they are destroyed, and I have never had a masthead indicator last a season before getting destroyed by a bird. Usually they last about a month.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

... On a cruising boat fiddly fancy indicators on the bow pulpit or elsewhere near deck level will last about one day before they are destroyed, and I have never had a masthead indicator last a season before getting destroyed by a bird. Usually they last about a month.

I've used them for 40 years and they always last about 5 years. It is crucail that the locations are chosen carefully (not where sails sweep) and they do require some presence of mind when handling shore lines etc. So does not scraping along the pilings or otherwise crashing. It has not been a problem. Birds are not interested in the low ones.


Yup, I've had an eagle eat my masthead instrument. But they seem to leave the indicator alone. I don't know why. Local tastes? We have a LOT of ospreys too. Mostly, they drop crab and fish skeletons. And bombs.

[Ryan]

I most often use my masthead indicator when I'm worried about gybing or there's less than 3 knots and it's hard to tell direction from the sea surface. My mast rotates which makes it even harder to read or measure electronically.
I may try attaching some yarn to my synthetic shrouds, but since the attachment point wouldn't rotate, it may not work well at all points of sail.
If there were short (1.5') un-breakable rods coming up vertically from the float bows with yarns on top, it might work for multihulls, and not cause a problem with the spinnaker. No perfect materiel for these rods comes to mind. Fiberglass is too stiff and brittle. Flexible plastics may not hold up to UV. Perhaps a stainless antenna spring-base mount with wooden dowell.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Ryan

I most often use my masthead indicator when I'm worried about gybing or there's less than 3 knots and it's hard to tell direction from the sea surface. My mast rotates which makes it even harder to read or measure electronically.
I may try attaching some yarn to my synthetic shrouds, but since the attachment point wouldn't rotate, it may not work well at all points of sail.
If there were short (1.5') un-breakable rods coming up vertically from the float bows with yarns on top, it might work for multihulls, and not cause a problem with the spinnaker. No perfect materiel for these rods comes to mind. Fiberglass is too stiff and brittle. Flexible plastics may not hold up to UV. Perhaps a stainless antenna spring-base mount with wooden dowell.

See the last image in post 1. I used these for ~ 10 years on my PDQ. I used them on my F-24 as well, but I wanted something easier to read.



Fiberglass tent pole with a length of airline tubing as a flexible hinge. I think I replace the tubing once.



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Another problem that I should have mentioned. I guess I've lived with this so long I forgot to mention it.



Depth perception. Two of my crew members (not me) have eye problems that compromise depth perception. They have difficulty discerning the difference between droop and angle with yarn and ribbons. Hence the need for vanes.

[davenrino]

Originally Posted by leecea

There were a couple of broken indicators on the shrouds when we got the boat. Maybe I should try new ones. Not sure they'd be easy to read.

https://defender.com/en_us/davis-ins...wind-tels-1260

We do spend a lot of time looking at the wind instrument and just the occasional glance aloft to the manual windex. I think the wind instrument needs calibrating. Probably something to do with the Osprey that are always around the marina.

Re: Wind indicators nearer to deck level
The skipper of one of the first boats I learned to sail/race on used to put a piece of yard on each cap shroud, as high up as he could reach from the deck. He used them in combination with telltales to good effect, I thought.

I tried it myself and didn't take to it right away, but recently was thinking I should give it a try again. Glad you jogged my memory. For various reasons (including also being tired of looking up all the time) I currently have no masthead instrument(s) or indicator and sail by telltales, feeling the wind, helm, watching the water, etc. It's fun and challenging, which is mainly what I'm out for when sailing these days.



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The windex on my CAL 2-30 isn't visible from under the bimini unless I lean fwd, so I have been using the Davis indicators on the shrouds about 5 feet above the cabin top plus a yarn tied a foot above and below them. I had yarns on my Hobie so I put them on the CAL as soon as I bought it 6 years ago. I am pretty good at judging the wind by feel after over 20 years of windsurfing, but I have other people on the helm more than half the time.

[Bill_Giles]

I race dinghies and find that, as well as the indicators on the sails and masthead, I like them on the shrouds too. So they go on my cruiser as well.

[ChrisJHC]

Why not just look up the wind speed and direction on the internet?


And for the humour-challenged, yes I am joking.

[Kurlie1]

I use an old masthead transducer fixed to a forward stanchion