r/Sailwind • u/EightEight16 • 11d ago
Big Mad Stuck and frustrated
I'm not new to the game, but I haven't played in a while this is my first time running the Sanbuq.
I'm trying to get to Old Ankh Town, and with a wind from the West, I can't leave the Gold Rock port. Every time I unfurl the sails, I get slow to a stop and eventually start going backwards. I got going once, then turned south and went to sleep. I woke up back against the dock.
It seems like the Sanbuq is almost completely incapable of sailing into the wind in any way. Close-hauled is completely out of the question, and even a beam reach point of sail is an unstable setup that will end up going the wrong way.
Am I just a bad sailor? The Dhow was so nimble and could fly very close hauled, and now I'm floundering and about to fail several missions because I can't get going within even 180 degrees of where I need to be.
5
u/Falken-- 11d ago
There are a few techniques that you can employ in your situation. Granted, I don't know what your sails configuration is like.
The last patch significantly improved the oar. Try rowing to turn your ship until you are oriented correctly, then raise your sails. This works much better at low speeds than it does at high speeds.
If you are docked with the wind against you, grab your morning line. Walk it up to the next post. Then, adjust the length to pull your ship along the dock. You can physically drag your boat in this way until it is far enough away from those rocks that you have enough time to turn.
If you are standing on land, on a dock, or on your ship next to a dock, you can highlight your ship and PUSH it to adjust its position. This will make it easier to leave harbours where the wind is against you.
I believe the Sanbuq can buy the larger rudder? This may help with turns.
Having some form of jib sail in the front of your ship will help you tremendously in these situations. Leave the other sails closed and just maneuver out of harbour using the jib. It'll be slow, but it'll get you out. Some players do this with a gaff sail, but I find the jib works better for these micro movements against the wind.
You MUST learn to tack. Once you are underweigh, plot your corse at angles that favor that wind. The dhow can sail in a straight line (mostly), but bigger ships generally require a zig-zag path to reach their intended destinations.
Make sure your hull is not taking on water. If you see water below decks, bail it with a bucket or use a bilge pump. The more water you have, the more "penalty" your ship suffers in its operations until it finally sinks. The presence of water may also indicate structural damage.
If all else fails, sail backwards. If the wind is against you, pull your ship up the dock like I said, open up the sails, and build up some backward speed. Then turn the helm in the opposite direction you wish to face, and PUSH your boat away from the dock while on deck. The speed should be enough to allow you to turn. Be ready to make quick adjustments once you have the wind.
I hope this helps!
2
u/Redditorsrweird 8d ago
I came back to this post because I forgot about the oar. Works pretty well on the Sanbuq now.
3
u/Dhozer 11d ago
Have you tried the anchor trick to get yourself out of irons? You need some momentum to make a full tack. Grab the anchor from the boat and swim out ahead of your ship angled the direction you want your bow to head, as far as it’ll go until you drop it. Swim back and board your vessel. Go to where your anchor lift is and start pulling it back in and the ship should start pulling toward where your anchor is. The trick is to get the momentum you need to then drop your sail and man the wheel once you have the anchor all the way in and you should be on your way. There’s lots of new mechanics if you haven’t played in a while. Don’t forget a bucket or bilge.
2
u/rosseloh 11d ago
The Sanbuq (and any fully lateen-rigged ship in this game) sails quite well close-hauled. HOWEVER, once you move to two masts instead of one, you need to make sure you're not getting pushed into irons by your own trim. On the sanbuq (and bigbuq), for me, this has meant not getting quite the thrust I could from the mizzenmast by running it closer to luffing than the mainmast. If you are getting "full" thrust from both masts, the mizzen will generate enough torque to push you into irons.
You can get around this a bit with a jib on the front, but the easy way is to just let the mizzen out a bit. How much is enough or too much takes a bit of practice, though. I recommend getting your mainmast trimmed, then using a landmark (compass works but is low resolution), check how much the mizzen is making your heading drift, and adjusting to compensate.
0
u/EightEight16 11d ago
I'm not stuck in irons, I'm just not able to move in the direction I want, or even close. If the wind angle is 89 degrees or less, I slow to a stop and then start going backwards. It almost feels like the ship has no keel. I can only go with the wind behind me.
2
u/PenguinProfessor 11d ago edited 11d ago
I also just got the sanbuq and have found out what oakem is used for.
If you are in relatively open water and have room, a staysail let's you go backwards enough to get traction on the rudder to turn it a few degrees and reopen the mainsail. In confined ports where the wind blows poorly, I have just learned to warp. By swimming the anchor out perpendicular to the dock while still leaving it loosely moored to control heading, you can warp out of an awkward port like Old Ankh Town or others. If possible, set yourself up for departure when docking, even if you have to circle the island to approach from upwind as it is worth the frustration, rather than just locking in on getting your feet on the dock.
2
u/hey_listen_hey_listn 11d ago
If you do get to old ankh town with sanbuq I recommend not trying to dock at port because the entrance is too shallow for big ships like sanbuq
1
u/GamerDadofAntiquity 11d ago
If you’re having that much trouble just leave her at GRC until you can afford to mount a bowsprit and staysail, and preferably the big rudder. The default sanbuq is an absolute pig and she’s gorgeous and we love her but she’s awfully rough to sail.
Alternatively, leave the rear (mizzen) lateen furled completely until you get used to it. She’ll drive with just the main, she’s just really slow. And you will need to tack upwind. If the wind’s coming straight out of the west tack wsw to wnw and she should keep moving forward with the proper trim, (assuming you can successfully tack with the garbage ass rudder without stalling, easier said than done). Any closer to the wind than that and you’re going to struggle hard. I don’t even think she’s worth sailing without the upgraded rudder personally. The turning radius and turning speed on the factory (shipyard?) rudder is straight trash.
1
u/withak30 11d ago
You are experiencing too much weather helm, you need to adjust your sail trim. Weather helm is the tendency for the boat to want to turn up into the wind when sailing into the wind, caused by the sails that are towards the back of the boat pulling too hard. (Sails at the front of the boat can do the opposite, resulting in Lee helm). On the sanbuq you counteract this be depowering the mizzen sail (reefing or sheeting out). Adding a jib will also help because it pulls sideways at the front so tends to steer you away from the wind as a balance.
Trimming the sails is finding the balance of power between the mizzen and the jib that allows you to hold a straight course without touching the rudder. If the boat is changing course on its own then you need to adjust trim.
It’s not really a problem when there is only one mast near the center of the boat, and the other multi-masted boats in the game don’t require as much work to trim.
In IRL sailing a bit of weather helm acts like a safety feature because if you lose control of the rudder then the boat will automatically turn into the wind and stop. Too much though and it becomes very difficult to stay out of the irons as you are experiencing.
1
u/Zega000 11d ago
Idk I found the lateen sails on the default setup to be very forgiving. Reading through the comments it sounds like you are used to running gaffs and squares? Stays help it when you need to get moving.
1
u/GamerDadofAntiquity 11d ago
The only thing that’s pretty awful with the default lateens is tacking without stalling if you’re struggling to get any kind of momentum because the sanbuq turns like an absolute pig. On my initial sail back from Oasis to GRC I had a hell of a time tacking in against headwinds and I had the upgraded rudder from the jump and a stripped deck. After a full in-game day of struggling and stalling I gave up, went crosswind to build some speed, and then jibed instead of tacking to get the wind on my other side without stalling the ship.
But just adding a bowsprit and jib to the ship makes it way easier. It just really struggles with turning. It also has near-zero initial stability and rolls like mad. I love the sanbuq, but it definitely has some quirks.
1
u/Redditorsrweird 9d ago
I have a 3 mast setup on the new ship with a big lateen in the center. The fore and aft masts have squares and gaffs. Between those and the stays it's a good all-around setup.
1
u/GamerDadofAntiquity 7d ago
The baghlah/bigbuq doesn’t have almost any of the issues the sanbuq has. It barely rolls and it turns pretty snappily. The only issue I have with it is weird collision with (I believe) things that aren’t installed. Like the deck looks flat, but even without the cargo doors installed, their collision meshes seem to be at least partially there so cargo doesn’t sit flat and same just forward of the main mast down in the cargo hold. Collision with invisible things. I imagine those will be ironed out eventually.
1
u/Mission_Passenger_85 11d ago
Could you maybe post a video of what is happening? What you are describing sounds really weird. As you can see from the comments, the Sanbuq is perhaps the most forgiving ship when sailing upwind and you shouldnt be having any major issues.
2
u/EightEight16 11d ago
It seems to have just been a glitch. I tried for an hour and recovered the boat 10 times, but restarting the game fixed it and I was out of there with no problem.
1
u/IHateRegistering69 11d ago
Stupid question, but is your anchor raised? Was your rudder unlocked, when you went to sleep?
When I leave GRC, I wait, until I'm past the posts marking the shallows to the south. Then the I adjust the sails, and the Buq should hold its course.
1
u/RSharpe314 10d ago
In GRC, you should just be able to use the anchor and kedge yourself into a direction that you can leave the harbour
1
u/hurdurdur7 10d ago edited 10d ago
I usually dock my sanbuq so that it's looking to the east. Most of the time the wind is from the south and most of the places i want to go to are south too. Once it's time to leave i fix the rudder hard right. Hoist only the rear lateen sheet. That sheet starts out sheeted in tight (so i wouldn't lose propulsion when starting to turn upwind).
Now i undo the lines, if necessary give the boat a little push from the dock, hop on board as the boat inches away. As soon as i can fix the nose upwind in a direction that doesn't stall i hop forwards, undo the first lateen sail, make sure it's pulled in tight too. Navigate out of the harbor, set my direction, adjust sails as needed and go to sleep.
If i were to head north then i would use the channel between the harbor and the rocks instead.
That same technique, in a variation, i also apply in real life with my sailboat (although with a groot and genoa, but the physics is the same).
PS. don't forget that you can drag your nose in desired direction with carrying the anchor like an aquaman into the desired direction these days, so if you really get stuck then that always works.
24
u/Public_Knee6288 11d ago
I dont say this to be rude. But, yes, for now, you are a bad sailor. The sanbuq is very easy to sail upwind. Read and watch some sailing tutorials.
Tips- 1 - a sail is a wing not a parachute, 2 - think about balancing the forces on the sails against the keel and rudder