The raft is a good platform for building bridges between two islands.

Probably everything was addressed already but here my short list of suggestions:

1. Don't go into deep ocean with raft.
2. If you really have to, go there during the day and clear weather (sea serpent only appears at night and/or during the rain)
3. Remove the sails when wind is "grey" (blowing towards you), that way you go faster... well, little bit...
4. Try to do short crosses between land masses and sail along the shores.
5. Do have stamina food ready in case you feel like raft will go down. If you're close to the shore, you should be able to swim to land... and pray it's not a swamp or plains :D

The raft only exists to cross Fjords, not to actually sail open ocean.

There's no reason you should have known this. Your gear is probably a lost cause. Serpents aren't that tough, by the time you're in Bronze gear, you really want to find Serpents because they make the best Health food until the Mistlands stuff.

Whichever dev designed the raft should spend eternity in one trying to get anywhere, dying frequently and rethinking his poor life choices. /s kind of

Raft is only useful when stranded in emergencies. I used one once for a corpse run from one side of a plains island to another (after logging in to a separate map to kill some boars.) Naturally a sea serpent decided it looked tasty, luckily after I was within swimming distance of my destination. Anyway, they are a newb trap, but possibly useful if desperate.

Don´t use the raft, it´s a deathtrap out in the open ocean.

Originally posted by jonnin:

Almost every one of us has died in a raft doing exactly what you did. Its part of the learning curve.

Totally true.. its a learning curve.. I was on this half Ars'd hunt for Haldor,, scouting coastlines in my raft avoiding open seas.. all going perfectly until I saw these strange vertical pillars really high.. ..then death sqitos got me and raft took about a hundred game days to retrieve that (now outdated set of gear..
At least in sailing its only wind against or for you.. (yes and the odd sea creature) suppose they added currents and tides... It would be a night mare!!

Well, die and learn would be this game be...i dont know if you have found the Black Forest, but first of all, BEFORE setting ashore i would suggest that you try to get everyhing you can on BF...if you still wanna go and explore without knowing where to, the raft is not an option.

I had exactly the same start in this game. I went through hell to get my stuff back, but I did it. and then it got worse. lost 2 sets of gear and weapons in a swamp just trying to get to the second boss. I was sharpening the blade to commit hari kiri and then I decided to start over with some dearly bought knowledge. steep learning curve for this game but it's rewarding if you tough it out.

Have you tried progressing to the kit you get from the black forest area? Specifically the little boat after the raft. It's what I've used to cross the ocean when have had to, and seems to be okay at avoiding the sea sneks.

If possible, avoid using the raft. It's terrible. Get bronze. Make bronze nails. Make a karve.

Also, the wind sucks. Period.

I was able to catch using an old save from an hour ago. Thank god!

Never built a raft personally. But if I did, it would be to hop to an island just a bit further than i could swim. Open ocean would not be a smart move on a raft as in real life.
As for the wind... just like actual sailing, you may have to paddle and/or tack the wind when the breeze is unfavorable.

The raft has 3 or 4 uses.
- troll the shore to explore, usually naked in case you die.
- cross visible shore to visible shore, short distances. usually naked, in case you die.
- explore the ocean far out, always naked, in case you die.
- recovering your stuff, after you died.

speed 1 is paddle, when the wind is unfriendly. It sucks on the raft, but its quite good on the karve (next boat class).
sailing like IRL works, where you go the wrong way left for a while then the wrong way right for a while to make a straight line using the edges of the wind. The game made the sails catch wind at a very generous angle so this is not difficult.

serpents are easily killed with a bow and a bit of skill. But they are too much for a meadows geared guy in a raft. Go get a karve from the forest, and upgrade your bow, and all these problems become non-problems. You went too far out to sea with too little equipment and a weak boat.

You can undo your death by restoring the .old character file. You will appear at the last place you were (probably at home or on shore) when you saved and with all your stuff restored. Or you can man up and fight your way back to your stuff. Your stuff does not float, but your body does, so you get it back. If you just toss it in the water, it will sink of course.

Good luck! Almost every one of us has died in a raft doing exactly what you did. Its part of the learning curve.

Rule #1: The wind hates you and will always blow the opposite direction you want to go. That won't ever change. You can paddle into the wind at a reasonable clip in a real boat, the raft is just terrible no matter what. And yes, you can zig-zag slightly into the wind to make progress, its called "tacking", but just paddling is just as fast.

Sea serpents - they spawn in the ocean, mostly at night I believe. Don't go into the actual "ocean" biome, you can get fairly far just hugging the shores and shallows, depending on your seed.

Have backup gear, and some food ready to go near your bed. You're going to die a lot, it's much easier to be ready for it.