Tacking.

I've noticed the same thing, I know it doesn't seem possible, but its almost as if the game knows where I'm trying to go. I understand this is a survival game and they are adding some realism, but honestly the wind mechanic in this game is just not fun, I have yet to unlock the long boat...so maybe that helps things a bit, but honestly I just hate sailing with this mechanic.

It's mostly a joke post, to be fair, but yeah, the game psychicly knows which direction I want to go and gives me the worst weather. If I'm NW of the starting area and need to head due east along the southern coast of an island, you can bet money that I've either got the wind blowing west or west northwest, every time.

After you kill 4th boss you get ability that will help you with that, although I haven't had any problems getting around on boat.

This is good to know actually, i'm currently hunting the 3rd boss down. Glad to know there is light at the end of the tunnel.

For me it happens when I am doing stuff. If I have nothing in the cargo hold it seems fairly random and I can have a lot of good wind.

As soon as anything is in my cargo hold (particularly ore) and I am sailing towards a bed the wind becomes regularly a head wind.

I had a beautiful cross wind all the way to my swamp portal shack. Loaded up my boat with ore. I should still have a Cross wind just on the other side.. wind shifts right away to a head wind and anytime I try to tack the wind shifts to prevent it. At one point I was sailing backwards so I can get enough space to tack back towards my base with the wind. It would have been faster just to paddle in a straight line and if the wind shifts in favour put the sails down.

it isn't universal but it does seem to happen more when I have ore.

They are not changing the wind based on your boat; you are either unlucky and/or making bad decisions about the direction you are going that day. I try to follow the gods; not turn my back on them.

Originally posted by bumbaclad:

They are not changing the wind based on your boat

Correct - it's random. What you're experiencing is called perception bias. Time spent sailing against the wind *seems* longer than time spent sailing with it because you're not enjoying the experience.

It is random, but yes, the wind is psychic - I've not even got the Karve yet, and the wind somehow manages to go straight against of where I want to go. Triggerett!

I think the map generates with some vector fields to keep a continuous wind direction along the shores. If the wind's bad at the beginning, it could be bad the whole trip, so wait a while. Or sail across the river/ocean and check the other side for a favorable wind.

+1 I hate the boat, it's faster to run.

To elaborate, I mean, kudos, the wind physics seem correctish, but they're not fun. You could give a magical tailwind always and that would be fine, or just mess with us during a storm. But fighting for 20-30 minutes just to cross the lake is not fun.

i take my boat away from my base to get some supplies, the wind is against me the whole time, i get back to my ship after collecting what i need, the wind instantly reverses direction and its against me the entire way back

every. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. time.

Wind is a nice touch but in Valheim it sucks. For those using the raft you may float for minutes and go nowhere, except only to be blown back to the shore you left from. Frustrating. They need to change the wind conditions to make it a bit less real and a bit more fun.

You must be very unlucky I really haven't had any issue with sailing. Sometimes the wind is opposite but I just adapt accordingly.

I sometimes get the feeling that winds will switch to flow out offshore as you get close to mountains, but that's probably all just in my mind.

Originally posted by Ricardo_Pyro:

using the raft you may float for minutes and go nowhere, except only to be blown back to the shore you left from.

You know you can paddle right? First speed setting.

For the raft especially, you'll make much better time paddling than you will tacking.

The next boat is basically a canoe with a sail so it's possible to go very fast (in a straight line) while paddling.

The longboat doesn't paddle well but it's still often a better idea to paddle straight toward your objective than tack into the wind.