Best Sailing Simulator?

Vern1961 · 20 Jul 2018 at 08:23

Looking for something a bit different, thought I might try my hand at virtual sailing. There appear to be two main contenders on Steam -

Sailaway https://store.steampowered.com/app/552920/Sailaway__The_Sailing_Simulator/?snr=1_7_7_151_150_1

and ESail https://store.steampowered.com/app/794860/eSail_Sailing_Simulator/?snr=1_7_7_151_150_1

Has anyone bought or tried either of these. For a complete novice to yachting but nevertheless wanting something more than an arcade game, which would be recommended most?

Vern1961 · 20 Jul 2018 at 10:37

I take your point, but that's not really the question I asked.

Both of the sims I noted are ocean going as opposed to lagoon based. Another important factor is that I can't swim! Well not enough to survive falling off a boat in deep water. I might just be able to cope with a narrow boat on the Kennett And Avon Canal in real life, but the very point of a sailing simulation is to chill out on the PC after work.

Vern1961 · 20 Jul 2018 at 18:00

Well after a bit of thought I have plumped for Sailaway. Partly because it models the whole world, also ESail is early access and I'm still a bit peeved over the Flight Sim World debacle which crept out of early access then was promptly cancelled.

The first thing I need to work out and something that has always puzzled me, is how you set the sails to travel in the opposite direction to which the wind is blowing!

Vern1961 · 21 Jul 2018 at 08:30

Loaded Sailaway up last night and it is very overwhelming! Game starts you amidst 30ft waves somewhere in the Caribbean. Some brief pop up tutorial notes which left me going, "ugh?"

Thought there would be a free play mode where you can potter around in a sheltered harbor or lagoon to pick up the basics and to go where you want. If there is, I can't see it in the menus. Possibly I need to RTFM but now wondering whether refund and ESail might be the better option.

Vern1961 · 25 Jul 2018 at 01:41

I ended up refunding Sailaway and bought Esail instead - I may repurchase at a later date. Haven't advanced too far into ESail yet, but the tutorials are very good not least because the basics are done with the yacht under diesel power. I made a bit of a hash trying to follow instructions when it came to first time setting sails but at least it's in calm water and I can have another go ad infinitum until I grasp the terminology and procedures.

I was also a bit perturbed on visiting the Sailaway forum on Steam to see quite a bit of antagonism back and forth between users and the devs, not a good sign IMHO.