2015 TI Sail Change?

I've been interested in adding a masthead wind indicator and liked Sun E Sailor's solution. The photos in his thread weren't loading so I PM'd him and he graciously emailed the photos to me. With his permission, one is reproduced here.



Note the circumferential nylon webbing that he uses to attach the Windex base.

On my sail, the webbing is absent.



I'd like to know if this is a deliberate change or if I have a collector's item on my hands. Thanks.


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My guess is that it is a running change, and would not seem to affect the operation of the top of the sail (locking it in to the top of the mast.

I like to believe that the route I took was easier, just involving finding a PVC pipe joiner of a suitable diameter to fit over the mast (whether or not the top of the sail has circumferential velcro) and securing it with a couple of self tapper screws. Rather than using a rigid bracket, I chose to push the bottom of the wind indicator (Windward brand, a lot cheaper than the ubiquitous Windex brand) into a piece of plastic tube, in the hope that the indicator might survive a brush with low hanging foliage (this has been successfully tested several times!)

I stuffed the bottom half of this plastic tube with some dowling, so the securing nuts and bolts had something firm to lock onto.

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Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker

Just wanted to add my $0.02 to this topic. I ended up going with a Davis Spar Fly wind indicator. I had to modify the base plate by drilling another hole. After that I was able to screw the plate right onto the tabs that wrap around the webbing strap at the top of the sail.


With the plate at the top you can still furl without anything getting fouled up. This model's shaft is threaded and it just screws right into the base. Makes for an easy removal and installation.

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2015 Hobie Tandem Island Hibiscus
"Third Normal Form"

• Trampolines
• Hobie cover
• Davis Spar Fly
• Kayakbob's Sprayskirts
• Spine Board Hakas

That's a nice clean mounting solution. What size and type of screws did you use? Do they penetrate through to the other side the plastic tabs?


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It was the 5mm #10 screws that came with the setup. They do go all the way through the tabs but not much farther. I did drill small pilot holes before I put the screws in just in case.

It was just dumb luck that the base plate is almost the exact same diameter as the mast cap.

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2015 Hobie Tandem Island Hibiscus
"Third Normal Form"

• Trampolines
• Hobie cover
• Davis Spar Fly
• Kayakbob's Sprayskirts
• Spine Board Hakas

Thanks for sharing this, i have been wanting to install a wind indicator but really did not have any good ideas, now i have the exact setup on my TI......

Glad I could help Carl M!

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2015 Hobie Tandem Island Hibiscus
"Third Normal Form"

• Trampolines
• Hobie cover
• Davis Spar Fly
• Kayakbob's Sprayskirts
• Spine Board Hakas

I just tied a small piece of string under the strap on top of the sail. This gives me a piece of string with 1" diameter, this stays on. I then just tie a piece of old VHS tape about 2 to 3 feet long to this. Yard sale vhs tape about 50 cents for a very long tape.

Cheap, effective and easy to maintain. I usually leave the tape on when storing the sail.

We find that ribbons in this position tend to get wrapped around the batten and cause serious issues w furling. In big wind you really don't want that.

We attach to the top batten now, and keep them under 3 ft. So far, so good.

Let us know if you experience any problems.

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The Wind Is Your Friend...

Just bear in mind that a ribbon attached to the top batten will not show the real apparent wind, as it will be modified by wind over the top of the sail.

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Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker