the problem is that most of the time the wind seem to be always in the opposing direction that you wanna go. Is this a thing from the game to just make hell of your life? because if it is, is a completely garbage move!!!

Else, game could make more QoL regarding navigation just to help players map where the conditions of wind will be. As the game seems not to have any water current so the only impact for sailing is from wind, which changes are unknown but frequently. So there are topography of the game could change wind, regions, time or just like I said game is calculating how to make your life worst.

Adding more oars into boat so in multiplayer will be much faster to navigate with human force.
Also boat could travel faster with perfect winds and full sail, it is too slow.

Other than that...
TIPs:
- always create portals to help your travels. So if you have a mining spot far far away.... build a portal there then build the boat there, load your stuff and make just a single travel. That also will help you to full the boat only with precious that can't pass through portals. The other stuff you use the portal.
- Before the boat breaks in the middle of the ocean try to store all of your stuff in the boat before it breaks, so when you die your stuff won't sink to the bottom of the ocean.
- Once you are swimming open the map and pin your location so you can easily come back to the wreckage and recover everything.
- Always have separated materials for a new boat for a faster recover, you never know.
- Serpents seems only to appear at night and only on ocean biome, so make sure to travel first thing in the morning to avoid it. Or ate night to hunt it!
- Always make use of resting buff. Most of deaths are cause by running out of stamina or not been able to recover it faster enough.
- also you should navigate with full attention, because there are random things that will change the course of the boat even if you are traversing a know route. The include the appearance of "giant turtle"(don't know it's name), changes of wind and storms for sure. Leading you to wreck your boat or just killing you in some coast.

With those tips you not only cut any travelling you might need to make but ensures no loss. Well you will just lose you time.

Originally posted by Zentaki:

the problem is that most of the time the wind seem to be always in the opposing direction that you wanna go. Is this a thing from the game to just make hell of your life? because if it is, is a completely garbage move!!!

That's just not true. I've spent quite a bit of time sailing, and there are very few times that the wind direction was completely opposing my direction of travel such that I had to use oars.

The ships in Valheim allow you to sail around 45 degrees into the wind, which is probably better than real Viking ships could do, and allows you to make reasonable time even if you have to tack straight upwind.

Also, the wind is always blowing in Valheim, so you never have dead seas that you have to wait through.

Originally posted by Misanthropic Paralysis:

Please make the ships sail faster.

Faster sailing is a partial reward with game progression to a certain extent already.

Originally posted by Fat Cat:

Originally posted by Polonius Ulf:

A longship goes at a pretty good clip and can cover some ocean with a good wind. The karve not so much.

You're supposed to say "emphasis mine." ;)

You can still make decent headway with the oar, and the increased time increases your chance to get a sea serpent, which is well worth the patience.

The ocean needs pirates.

Eh, if you're using a Raft, you should be sticking somewhat close to a shore anyway. Encountering a Serpent while on a raft is basically a guaranteed death unless you have a good enough Bow to take it out in a few shots.

The Karve is faster, and offers storage plus some durability, but yeah, ramming it in to rocks will destroy it quickly.

The Longship is pretty fast even when just paddling against the wind.. but if you have the wind at your back, makes great pace and you can outrun everything except maybe Deathsquitos if you get too close to the Plains. It also offers enough durability that running it across some rocks isn't as devastating as with the other ships. It also offers much more storage.

That being said, never leave home without the materials for a Work Bench in your inventory, especially when sailing. That way, if you have to repair your ship mid-voyage you can just shore it somewhere safely (Meadows, preferably), drop a Work Bench, repair the ship, destroy the Work Bench for your materials, and continue sailing.

Also, if you carry the stuff with you to make Portals for quick returns to home, be sure to also always drop a Work Bench on the shore near your boat to keep things from spawning near it. Not so much of an issue once you move out of rendering range, but better to be safe than sorry.

Originally posted by Misanthropic Paralysis:

It was a good hour to before I got to other side.

Wtf.

A word of advice (to everyone really). If something like that happens, don't be a martyr and do it the hard way. I've done this through the whole game, but I gave in at one point. When I stepped through a portal, because the enemy was camping there, I was always killed before it loaded. Couldn't move, run, fight, so I used the console.

What I'm saying is, if your genuinely not going to enjoy something, use fly to get there or whatever.

Ignore anyone who cries cheater. It's not like it's not possible, simply boring. Games are for fun, and as long as your not spoiling anyone else's, have at it.

The only times I have trouble with sailing is when the waters are too narrow or tacking into the wind would take me too close to certain biomes.

Between some of these comments and some of what I've seen on vids, I'm left wondering just how many players actually know how to tack?

PS: also it's worth carrying a hoe and pickaxe when coasting and looking for passages to somewhere; often I find that only a few rocks need to be broken up or a bit of riverbed lowered. Karve is much better for that type of sailing than Longship.

Originally posted by Polonius Ulf:

A longship goes at a pretty good clip and can cover some ocean with a good wind. The karve not so much.

Seldom are my sailing outings long enough in open water to become boring.

I am usually either following coastline to determine the boundaries of islands and hopefully the biomes they contain (so I need to pay attention to the hazards along those coasts) or making a beeline to the next island over ocean (which usually is not an overly long trip) looking for turtle backs and serpents as I go.

So how long are you sailing OP to become bored?

And even the Karve under full sail moves respectably.

Originally posted by Eightball:

Seldom are my sailing outings long enough in open water to become boring.

I am usually either following coastline to determine the boundaries of islands and hopefully the biomes they contain (so I need to pay attention to the hazards along those coasts) or making a beeline to the next island over ocean (which usually is not an overly long trip) looking for turtle backs and serpents as I go.

So how long are you sailing OP to become bored?

And even the Karve under full sail moves respectably.

I was looking for a northern route to the second boss guy around the land I started on and every river through was cut off. It was a good hour to before I got to other side. I was caught up watching a show and looked back at my monitor like heck no! I had beached the karve and some punks killed me lol. I got that stuff back and sailing back I pulled the same crap lol. Just venting my frustration on my stupidity really warning others not to be dumb like me. Still working on the second recovery but my steam for the game ain't the same. I'll get it back though. Game rules.

Sometimes if it seems following coastlines is taking me farther away from my intended target I will just beach my ship, destroy it, pack it up and then run cross country in a straight line towards my target (as straight as possible) and on reaching the next coast rebuild my ship and sail from there.

Just an option.

A longship goes at a pretty good clip and can cover some ocean with a good wind. The karve not so much.

put a portal close to where you crashed should help with travel time aslong as your not transferring metal

What ship are you using?