So this past weekend at a match, the wind was high. I don’t the actual speed but I believe it ranged 15-25 mph. I came the the realization the wind tails I’m using were too light for that condition. I use plastic 1” ribbon with a 1” clothes pin on the end. So my tails, in the heavy wind, were at a 15-25 deg angle except it went upwards. So I’ve concluded I need a different set of tails for these conditions. With that said, what does everyone use or suggest? If it’s not obvious, this is fort short range Benchrest.
Heavy / Weighted Wind Flag Tails
- Thread starter Hays25
- Start date
Dusty Stevens
Shiner
When the wind blows like that you just gotta go with it or get a wind probe to set out to see the intensity changes. Heres one if you cant find a beggs to buy used. Tom orlando is a great guy and makes great flags.
jackieschmidt
Gold $$ Contributor
I go with what Dusty said.
The white tails on my flags are nothing more than 1.5 inch wide acetate ribbon from Hobby Lobby. Works great.
The white tails on my flags are nothing more than 1.5 inch wide acetate ribbon from Hobby Lobby. Works great.
Contrary to the opinion of the majority of SR BR competitors - I like sail tails. Snuffy Smith made 2 weights- I usually use the lightweights. On a sad note, I believe I got the last ones made as he passed a few days after I received them.
Like Jackie, white is my preference as you can see in his pic they really stand out over colors- even fluorescent ones.
Like Jackie, white is my preference as you can see in his pic they really stand out over colors- even fluorescent ones.
Haven't heard from Dave in quite a while now but hope he's well. There seems to be a need at this time for someone to make sail tails, as they seem to be hard to find.
Here is where I got my material to make my own after talking to Dave some time ago. I bought the 1.5 oz.material as instructed by Dave.
www.sailrite.com
Sailcloth Fabric: Dacron, Ripstop, Insignia
Make your own sails and much more with high-performance sailcloth sold by the yard from Sailrite’s excellent selection.
The cost of shipping sailtails makes the selling of the tails prohibitive. I was making them for a while and selling them at matches I attended but by the time you get PVC pipe with caps to contain them, it just wasn’t worth it for the buyer. I was cutting the material with a heated X-Acto knife so the material wouldn’t fray. I ended up make a number of various length to suit my needs and they worked fine for us.
The problem with flags and tails is that you want them to be responsive, they need to remain balanced, and want them to be visible. So your most frequented range will require different color schemes than other ranges and so you either make different flags and tails or you find some happy medium. Where a green scheme works well in the desert, it’s not so in more verdant settings.
The problem with flags and tails is that you want them to be responsive, they need to remain balanced, and want them to be visible. So your most frequented range will require different color schemes than other ranges and so you either make different flags and tails or you find some happy medium. Where a green scheme works well in the desert, it’s not so in more verdant settings.
Yeah I have a wind probe and it works well when the wind is mostly a cross wind but I don’t see that it works well when the wind was a 10 - 1 like this weekend. And I’d like a measure at each flag location.
Dusty Stevens
Shiner
The round cups on them still catch the wind. Theres not much use for a 90deg only wind probe
Dusty Stevens
Shiner
I cant tell you how long its been since ive seen a sail tail at a benchrest match. Everybody i know uses surveyors tape. It usually looks like this
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Surveyor tape is better than nothing but strictly from the perspective of best to worst...it'd be near the bottom of a short list of options, unfortunately. It's cheap and convenient. That's about where it ends in terms of what it does well at.
A friend who is also an aeronautical engineer helped with the design of my flags and tails were a subject that we discussed a bit. Most people don't care to hear the physics as to why, but the ideal tail has a lot of area for its weight and is rigid. There's more to it than is obvious. Use whatever you like best but good flags are a difference maker. The very best flag can only tell you what has already happened. Some are closer to real time than others, by a lot.. and there's a good reason for that. Doing something simply because it's popular is a piss poor reason for doing much of anything.
Frankly, I hate messing with sail tails vs surveyor tape. I don't make them and I only sell them as what I consider to be a necessary evil. I've sent people elsewhere for ages now to get them though...my competitors that were making them.
I could use my truck on a pole for a windflag...and I could see it well.. but I don't think many would consider that the best option.
A friend who is also an aeronautical engineer helped with the design of my flags and tails were a subject that we discussed a bit. Most people don't care to hear the physics as to why, but the ideal tail has a lot of area for its weight and is rigid. There's more to it than is obvious. Use whatever you like best but good flags are a difference maker. The very best flag can only tell you what has already happened. Some are closer to real time than others, by a lot.. and there's a good reason for that. Doing something simply because it's popular is a piss poor reason for doing much of anything.
Frankly, I hate messing with sail tails vs surveyor tape. I don't make them and I only sell them as what I consider to be a necessary evil. I've sent people elsewhere for ages now to get them though...my competitors that were making them.
I could use my truck on a pole for a windflag...and I could see it well.. but I don't think many would consider that the best option.
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Shooter13
Gold $$ Contributor
Question for a flag maker! Won't adding weight to the rear of the flag upset the balance and response of said flags?
The center of pressure must stay behind the center of gravity. That's why sail tails work well in that regard. They have a lot of area for their weight and that they stay linear, gives a more linear drag at the rear. Drag affects dynamic balance. IOW, the actual balance point moves with wind speed. That's why you sometimes see flags beat back and forth in bigger winds. The center of pressure has moved forward and the flag is unstable...like a cargo plane improperly loaded.
The fix is to make it slightly tail heavy, in a static condition.
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