When you craft the sail and place it on your boat in Windbound, things start to pick up, and you can travel much more quickly across the sea. The trouble with the sail is how much it relies on the wind, and angling it correctly increases how fast you move across the ocean. You can’t merely raise your sail and except to cross the sea. There are a few mechanics you need to use to maneuver with it.
There are four controls you need master when using your sail: raising, lowering, tightening, and loosening. Raising and lowering the sail is pretty straightforward. Your sail gains more traction from the wind and projects forward by raising it, increasing your speed if you have the wind. Lowering the sail prevents any wind from pulling your boat, decreasing your speed, and slowing you down. It’s best to have your sail fully up when you’re leaving an island, or you’re in the middle of open water. When you want to slow down or avoid hitting anything in the water, lower the sail to gain more precise control over your vessel.
The more complicated part is learning when to tighten and loosen it. By loosening it, your sail moves around based on the wind’s direction, likely pulling your boat in a direction you probably didn’t plan for it to go. The tighter you make it, the closer it goes to the back of your boat. Now, having it completely tight doesn’t always pull you in the direction you want to go. Sometimes, it’s better to vary between a loose and tight angle. Your sail all depends on the wind, and the direction you want to go.
If the direction you want to go is not the same as the wind, try loosening it to see what direction your sail goes. You may even want to direct your boat into the wind, even if it doesn’t take you directly where you want to go. Try to fiddle around with the controls and watch the wind as it blows past you. The quicker you work with the wind rather than against it, the faster you can reach your destination.
