I was in conversation with David Howlett (well known olympic coach) yesterday and we got onto the subject of tell tales. Apparently there is a design of tell tale by Seasure that sit off the jib on a dinghy so they better read the wind when wet. Here is a picture of them.
Wool appears to be the best material for a tell tale and I am trying to work out how to lift them off the surface of the jib. Could the answer be as simple as threading wool straight the Jib. I will keep you posted on findings.
On another note I have tracked the leak on the blue boat. Apart from all the pin holes which were enlarged with a scalpel and filled with Isopon (car filler, there was a 3/4 inch split in the bow which need some 5 min epoxy to board back together. Now the boat when pressure tested under water emits no air from anywhere apart from the sheet leads through the bulkhead. The illusive leak is now fixed so I can get on and respray then fit her out and get her racing and then sold so I can start on Alternative mark 3 next year.
Nigel, interesting thought, might be accomplished by putting a 5-10 mm self adhesive dot in one side of the sail. Thread the wool through a needle size hole and tie knots on each side of the thread hole to “push up” the wool. I’ll try this on an old set of sails and let you know the results.