Telltales are the best indicators of sail set up. The old adage “trim to the front of the jib and the back of the main is very true”, Particularly on the windward legs!

Correct position of headsail sheeting is to have all the telltales break evenly as you luff (or the lower ones a fraction earlier).
If your top jib telltales break first, your sheeting position needs to be moved forward. Conversely if the bottom ones are first, move the car aft.
Once set up at the optimum, then we can use them.

In light air we want the telltales streaming all the time as we are trying to generate maximum power. On heavier displacement boats maybe even move the car forward a touch and ease the sheet to get a fuller shape without too much twist off. Don’t pinch, just sail the boat fast as you can.

In medium airs we are up to speed and can afford to work a bit on our VMG (Velocity Made Good, distance in a straight line toward the mark, not over the ground).
To this extent we can pinch a little to shed a little power for extra height. If you have plenty of power, sail with the windward telltale lifting 30-45 degrees. The telltales will jump around a lot but try and average it out.

In heavy winds it is all about the angle of heel, the biggest problem is being overpowered. We need to shed enough power to enable us to sail the boat rather than the boat sailing us ( being the pilot, not the passenger). Flatten and twist the sails, let the luff of the jib backwind to feather the boat, particularly in the bigger gusts. Ease the Genoa car aft to twist the sail off and shed power higher. Our biggest issue is sailing around on our ear and sliding sideways and being unbalanced causing rounding up. Not great VMG!

Flat is fast (said that a few thousand times!). The telltales will be jumping all over the place, but that’s ok. Its about balance!

We are fortunate in Geelong that we sail in relatively flat water and this makes the depowering process through steering higher much easier without all those pesky rollers coming at you.

I think the best indicator for the helm is the angle of the forestay on the horizon, keeping that at a nice constant angle of sailing relatively flat yet still with enough power to sail quick (usually about 15-20 degrees).

One more tip, if you cant see your telltales from the helm position. Have a steer sitting to leeward to get a bit of a handle on how they are behaving.

The sign of a helm-person doing a good job is post race. They should have a headache from concentration, a ricked neck from gazing at telltales and questioning “how did we go?”. Fun, ehhh!

Any feedback or future topics, let me know!

Cheers 

Bully