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Wave Rover 2026 - Diary of a Day Sailor

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  • 26 Jun 2026 13:27
    Quote
    Reply # 13646863 on 13627166
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Been having a strange week or two in sailing terms - as Inalready mentioned, we saw a Minke whale about 40m off the boat just near the safe water mark for my home port.  Very unusual in the area.

    Then I was invited to join a racing boat for a couple of races - very interestIng to sail a Bermudan, as I’ve not done that very much, and i learnt a bit from the racers too.  They are very keenly aware of the winds and tides because it affects their race performance.

    Then last night - the hottest day of the year so far here - in light winds we got a request from the coastguard to search 1km off a local beach for swimmers in trouble.  With so little wind we switched on the engine but we were a mile away and even at 5 or 6 knots that’s 10 minutes even before we could start a search, and we were the only boat close.  Fortunately the local lifeboat had just finished a mission so they arrived at the other end of the beach fairly quickly and a tour boat from our port was able to overtake us so we had the beach fairly well covered with 15 minutes of the call.  We then got the message that the swimmers concerned were back on the beach and we could stand down - but it certainly made the man over board theory feel a lot less theoretical.  When I bought wave Rover I had to add a ladder (among other safety  things) to have it certified for the EU.  I guess this is why!

    I continue to find the cambered sail better for my needs than the previous flat sail.  This was very light wind sailing but still managed to tack through not much more than 90 degrees.  The light wind was fluky so I’m not sure I’m correct, but it did feel like I did a noticeable bit better on starboard tack.  Will experiment with that when I get a steadier wind.


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    Last modified: 27 Jun 2026 09:46 | Anonymous member (Administrator)
  • 15 Jun 2026 00:52
    Quote
    Reply # 13642787 on 13641493
    Anonymous member
    Arne wrote:

    Hong Kong parrels  -  again...

    Kevin, I looked up that video clip of Wave Rover with Jami’s sail on it. It looks good  -  only lacking a set of HK parrels to get rid of the last diagonal creases.
    (..I wonder, what is it that makes everyone so skeptical to HK parrels?...)

    I suggest you look up JRA Magazine 93, p.3 and read what Pete Hill tells about fitting them on Kokachin.

    Just a thought.
    Arne


    Malena in 1994  -  HK parrels just visible (.."the invention of the Devil"...)

    I fitted Hong Kong parrels to Arion's cambered junk sail and they tamed the sail and gave no performance or operational problems.  I was convince that HK parrels were the way to go in future, and would revert to them without question if faced with the same situation.  I did not need them on the sail that Paul Thompson designed and built for Blue Moon, which surprised me.  Perhaps it was because Paul builds his sails with multiple layers of leach tabling, giving the leach a stiffness similar to that of a flat-cut sail, or perhaps it had something to do with the yard angle or batten rise.   I don't know.  Monkey see, monkey do, me.  I was happy to have one less set of lines to adjust - as you must - but am still a supporter of HK parrels if needed.  They have no drawbacks as far as I can see, once you have spent time adjusting the tension on them.
    Last modified: 15 Jun 2026 00:53 | Anonymous member
  • 11 Jun 2026 13:50
    Quote
    Reply # 13641787 on 13627166
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Arne

    in the next few weeks I will add HK parrels and report back!  I appreciate the help.  My wife asked me recently about why I found the JRA to be a bit special:  I showed her the forums, and told her that the person who designed my sail and the person who made it were both adding comments to help me get the best out of it:  where else would that happen?

    Mauro - I’ve been trying to “sail to the tell tales” as my racer friends call it and it does seem to help - I don’t race but sometime I want to keep up closer to friends in other boats, or get home in time for dinner, so occasionally performance matters.  By the way, since you mention your masts, did you notice that one of the other topics is about Kingfisher masts?  I loved your story of your cruise with Shui Jen (and the spectacle look) last year so I hope you are going to get to do something similar this year.


    Meanwhile I had a wonderful short sail yesterday, ending with a sighting of, I think, a small whale, maybe a Minke, in shallow ish water just near the entrance to my home channel.  If I’m right then this would be very unusual in this area.   Even though there were six other boats nearby, only the two of us on Wave Rover spotted it, so I have been getting some light hearted commentary from the other crews - asking if I had also spotted the Loch Ness Monster, for example.  But I am thrilled - a good evening sailing followed by a new experience!

    Last modified: 11 Jun 2026 22:26 | Anonymous member (Administrator)
  • 10 Jun 2026 18:14
    Quote
    Reply # 13641493 on 13627166
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Hong Kong parrels  -  again...

    Kevin, I looked up that video clip of Wave Rover with Jami’s sail on it. It looks good  -  only lacking a set of HK parrels to get rid of the last diagonal creases.
    (..I wonder, what is it that makes everyone so skeptical to HK parrels?...)

    I suggest you look up JRA Magazine 93, p.3 and read what Pete Hill tells about fitting them on Kokachin.

    Just a thought.
    Arne


    Malena in 1994  -  HK parrels just visible (.."the invention of the Devil"...)
  • 10 Jun 2026 11:02
    Quote
    Reply # 13641325 on 13640749
    Anonymous member
    Anonymous wrote:

    It’s not a fast boat but I am definitely more weatherly and a touch quicker with the cambers panel.  And Arne’s reminder to attach telltails to the leech definitely helps.

    https://youtu.be/HRvSWoojFp4?is=PBsMVD72pGrMr6V5

    Hi Kevin,

    The video is lovely and I am sure that you will find a the right balance between YHP and THP for Wave Rover...you know "there is nothing half so much worth doing as simply fiddling about on a junk-rigged boat" ;)

    I agree with you (and Arne of course) about the telltales. In the last months I've discovered that they can tell much more than a Windex....

    As the hinged mast of Shui Jen was removed I stepped up the one-piece one. The top gear was brought together with the decrepit hinged mast to the mast maker that will make the new mast. The one-piece mast that I've stepped has a yogurt cap attached to the top with sikaflex in order to prevent water coming in. There is no windex and I've sailed the entire winter and spring without a wind indicator just looking at the tell tales. My impression is that I've sailed my boat more effectively and faster than having a windex. Without windex I stopped to force her to windward using the rudder (pointing high) and I sailed her trying to have all telltales flying for most of the time. In this way she sailed a bit off the wind but faster and speed made her underwater foils (two keels and the rudder) work more efficiently. This is one of the ILCA secrets: sailing high starts with flow (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXmvK_iNTag)

    Sailed in this way Shui Jen points well enough to have fun while tacking up the narrow entrance channel where all the other "pointy" boats run their motors...

    Cheers 

    Mauro


    Last modified: 10 Jun 2026 11:04 | Anonymous member
  • 09 Jun 2026 11:53
    Quote
    Reply # 13640749 on 13627166
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Was out over the weekend at my yacht club’s “Rockabill Rally”, about a 20 mile round trip to a local lighthouse and home in company.  We are all a bit worried here by the channel depths, for the mile and a quarter long channel we need to use to get out to sea.  There were two groundings in the past couple of weeks (though not local boats) and we’ve all been wondering about the placement of a new safe water mark, but when one of the boats checked its records, it seems it is in the same place as last year.  But it has been our rule of thumb that the depth in the channel is always about 2m less than the safe water mark, so if you passed the mark at 4 metres you’d have 2m of water at lowest point in the channel.  Now it seems that does not hold anymore and we will have to be a bit more cautious.  And when I went out for the rally (first boat out as 1m draft only) there was quite a swell and breakers near the channel mark.  With a flattish bottom, Wave Rover can slap a little if you try to use the outboard to push through the swell - a little throttle management just before the bigger crests took care of that.  So it feels like the sands have shifted more than usual over the past winter.

    Anyway, I went out with a couple of adjustments in the rigging - Arne’s point that it’s no great harm to let the front foot of the sail a little forward prompted me to loose the parrel that holds the boom back and I sailed with the THP a bit looser, and I got no weather helm at all.  But a little creasing in the sails, so I have to find the balance there.  Winds were mostly force 3 or lighter (that swell was left over from the previous night and early morning).  It’s not a fast boat but I am definitely more weatherly and a touch quicker with the cambers panel.  And Arne’s reminder to attach telltails to the leech definitely helps.

    https://youtu.be/HRvSWoojFp4?is=PBsMVD72pGrMr6V5
  • 09 May 2026 12:42
    Quote
    Reply # 13629807 on 13629794
    Anonymous member (Administrator)
    Anonymous wroteWhat are your plans for the orginal sail? 
    Hi Andrew - am fairly sure I’m going to stick to the yellow sail for wave rover so original sail and battens are available to a good home - let me know if interested.  
    Last modified: 10 May 2026 22:20 | Anonymous member (Administrator)
  • 09 May 2026 08:43
    Quote
    Reply # 13629794 on 13627166
    Anonymous member
    Anonymous wrote:

    1 May seemed like a good day for a shake out sail on Wave Rover.  Previous owner Alan Mulholland had called it Wave Rover 2, because he had a previous boat of the same name.  But I decided that boat is somewhere in the Pacific, and I am not going to burden myself with the “2” for every call and form filling I have to do for years to come, so it’s simply “Wave Rover” from now on.  Made official by a nice new stick on vinyl name decal.

    Whats new this year is a “new” sail.  Years ago I had bought Jami Jokinen’s self made sail from his Galion 22.  I intended it for my Newbridge Venturer but did not mount it on that in the end.  When Alan Mulholland was finishing off Wave Rover’s build, I offered it to him, but he was already far along on his sail planning.  I never imagined I would use it myself on Wave Rover.

    Jami’s sail was almost exactly right in terms of batten length.  But the wooden battens from the original rig were too thick for the sleeves built into the ‘new’ sail so I had some aluminium tubes cut to size.  The new sail was also about 130cm too long, but since Jami had made each panel separate, I was able to take out a panel, which reduced the height by 1 metre, which was just about enough to allow the sail to fit the mast.   Jami had reported some windward helm and I got a bit of that, but not much more than in other boats.  The Wave Rover yard was a bit too short at the head of the sail, perhaps 20CM, but attaching a small wooden batten extension fixes that.  I lashed it on temporarily but will need something more permanent.

    So now it’s six panels

    Sheeting to Boom and four battens (3 and 2)

    Standing line to hold boom back - was not needed with the previous sail, essential with this one.

    Standard Yard parrel and Throat parrel from fore end of yard around mast, to a block on batten 1 and down to deck.  The throat parrel takes out most of the diagonal creases but without it, those creases are large.  I plan to sail as is for a short while and add rigging as seems appropriate- a way to adjust the sail balance to reduce windward helm, maybe HK parrels. A FUP, since I had a nice fan up on my first gybe with the new sail.

    Anyway, one short outing does not tell all, and I will tryto get more data in future sessions. But the signs were definitely good, and the sail looks well

    https://youtu.be/k3xNfgHavU4?si=-EV8nFL-t8lflt45

    What are your plans for the orginal sail? 
  • 08 May 2026 08:51
    Quote
    Reply # 13629498 on 13629375
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    From Kevin:

    Many thanks, Arne, for this advice - I will start adjusting the rig tomorrow.  The only thing I think may be a problem is moving the halyard on the yard as this will also move the sail down and I have very little space to play with. Appreciate your help.


    Kevin.
    You may well push the lower end of the sail a little further forward than the top end, say 10-20cm (..or what do I know...).
    By canting the sail a little aft like that, there will be less chance for the sheetlets to get caught by the batten ends.

    And while I am at it; I suggest you add telltales at the leech of each batten panel to avoid over-sheeting the sail. Simple woolen yarn will work well enough...

    Anyway, it is good to see the tacking angles...

    Arne

    Last modified: 08 May 2026 08:52 | Anonymous member (Administrator)
  • 08 May 2026 03:03
    Quote
    Reply # 13629463 on 13627166
    Anonymous member

    Oh my, 

    how lovely and somewhat humbling to see my modest work in use in a totally different part of the world.

    I hope you solve the rigging issues with Arne’s wisdom and have a combination that sails well.

    Also, the extra panel will be a good spare in case something happens. Fair winds!
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