Eight-track audio tape makes for perfect telltales.
Issue 132: May/June 2020
The case may be well-worn, but the 8-track tape inside is the source of terrific telltales. Fastening them to alligator clips makes it easy for Allen to attach or remove them.
When I first began sailing my own boats, I tied yarn to the shrouds to use as telltales. This common, quick-and-easy method makes it simple to see the apparent wind direction and provides a clear visual to help keep sails well-trimmed. Then somewhere along the line, after we’d started sailing our MacGregor 26D, I switched to using audio cassette tape, specifically tape from a dead cassette of Simon and Garfunkel’s fifth and final studio album, “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” The tape flew a bit more true than the yarn, which sometimes had a tendency to stick to itself and was little help when damp.
Some years later I read someplace that 8-track audio tape, being a larger format, made even better telltales than cassette tape. At the same time, a friend offered that he possessed a broken 8-track tape of the album that had served me so well, “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” He gladly gave it to me.
Allen’s wife, Ruth Penticoff, and new sailor Rick Josephson enjoy a chilly sail aboard the Chrysler Mutineer 13 Ha Ha with the 8-track telltales flying.
The orange cartridge has occupied our toolbox ever since, a near-unlimited supply of the best telltale material I’ve yet to find. On our MacGregor, I tie about a foot of tape to each shroud with a clove hitch. I remove it each time we prepare to trailer her someplace, because highway speeds are too much for Simon and Garfunkel. Otherwise, each 12-inch length provides days of enlightened sailing. On our American 14-6, I use the same telltale material, but I attach the tape to alligator clips for quick set-up and removal.
On both boats, the tape may occasionally slide up or down the shroud and wrap around it, but fixing it is easy and worth the bother, given that these telltales provide excellent reports on wind state, accurately indicating the slightest movement of air. In strong winds, they stand straight out, indicating direction to the degree.
To make the alligator clip version for the American, I simply buy a pack of small clips at the home center, cut the tape to length with scissors, insert the tape through the wire clamp barrel, and bend the tape over it. Then I use a piece of adhesive tape to hold it in place. Alternatively, I could tie the 8-track tape to the clip. Tied directly to the shroud, the tape tends to stretch over time and eventually breaks at the knot.
But there is always more to be had. This single cartridge is enough for a lifetime’s worth of sailing, so long as I always remember to tape the bitter end to the outside of the cartridge. I don’t know what I’d do if it disappeared inside; my waters would then be troubled indeed.
Allen Penticoff, a Good Old Boat contributing editor, is a freelance writer, sailor, and longtime aviator. He has trailer-sailed on every Great Lake and on many inland waters and has had keelboat adventures on fresh and saltwater. He owns an American 14.5, a MacGregor 26D, and a 1955 Beister 42-foot steel cutter that he stores as a “someday project.”
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
