On the minus side, I cannot see why people keep assuming there is some design behind random occurrences.

On the plus side, Ater, et al, are much more Viking than I am.

If (Player.Movement=left & Player.MinutesOnWater>5) { Wind.blow(right) }

Originally posted by warrenchmobile:

On the minus side, I cannot see why people keep assuming there is some design behind random occurrences.

On the plus side, Ater, et al, are much more Viking than I am.

No such thing as a random occurrences in a PC game bro

Originally posted by knighttemplar1960:

The fair winds section of your sail is 75%. That means the wind is only against you 25% of the time. When its against you, you use a technique called tacking. Sail as close to the wind as you can get for a nice leg and then turn 90 degrees and catch the wind on the other side. You zig zag back and forth. Even when you calculate sides and the hypotenuse its always faster than paddling in the longboat, faster than paddling at wind speed greater than 1 in the raft, and faster than paddling in the karve at wind speed 3 or greater.

There is an algorithm in the human mind called "confirmation bias." Once we form a guess about what is going on in a situation we tend to notice the data that confirms our guess and fail to notice data that is contrary to our guess.

Our mental biases are shaped by the need to make good guesses and to be quick about it. If, in a short space of time, you notice several things that support some guess, there is a pretty good chance it is correct.

Wind direction while sailing is a problem that gives us time apply a more accurate kind of reasoning, for which, see above.

As Sokaku pointed out it is important when the wind is against you to fully retract sail and row (1 single arrow pointing forward). Rowing speed is the best for navigating streams, where there are rocks or sandbars, or visibility is zero. When maxxed out at rowing speed one's vessel is extremely maneuverable.

Originally posted by Suzaku:

The wind is one of the worst bosses in this game.

This! lol

I've been hogging the moder ability as much as I could, but when you have to go from west to east, and there's a gigantic (and I mean truly gigantic one) mistlands continent in your way, you can only go either straight towards your goal with frontal wind, or turn around. I would've just killed the boat, and teleported it home, but it was loaded with about 6tons of metal.

At this point, I'm tempted to just base somewhere near the edge of the map, where winds always blow outward the center, and have perfect conditions to sail 100% of the time. Doing a giant circumnavigation will still be faster than trying my luck across the middle sections.

Wind angle and intensity is completely random. There is no logic to it unless you are at the edge of the world.

It imitates sailing in real life, thus the key is tacking. Journeying to ones destination demands charting, or plotting a course, and consists of a series of zig-zag maneuvers. Optimum angle is 45 degrees when sailing into the wind, but Valheim is very forgiving and 20 degrees will suffice. Once this is understood sailing becomes a breeze ...

there are a number of tactics you can use beyond those above.
for long trips, going slightly in the wrong direction to catch just the tip of the wind and correcting the heading later when it shifts works wonders; its like tacking only across the longer haul and a bit more lazy.
for short trips, moder power.
as often as not, actually more often, just paddling the karve straight line is not too shabby assuming the wind will change eventually.
you can also explore... head whatever direction the wind sends you and head back home the long way.

The other tip when navigating things like rivers or final parking maneuvers is that if the wind is blowing directly against the direction you want to move, retract the sail fully so there is just the 1 up arrow above the wheel which puts you in rowing mode, which will be many factors faster than trying to "sail" directly into the wind.

Tacking courses to zig zag against the wind necessary in Valheim as it is in real life sailing. It's considerably more forgiving in Valheim so don't complain. :) You just need to angle so the wind direction is outside of the 20 degree "dead zone" in the indicator. Then cut back the other direction. Keep an eye on the wind direction as it does change frequently and can often mean you can shorten the tack to save some time.

You literally can sail anywhere. But of course you have to work with the wind, which is blowing the wrong way half the time.

(Edit - but yes, I will agree 100% that sometimes it does feel like you say.)

If you defeated "Moder", the fourth boss enemy, you can activate it's ability to get wind from behind, which is nice at times. It is the advanced solution to the problem.

However, if you are facing wind from ahead, there are basically only to ways to work around it: Lower sails and row the boat at the lowest speed setting, or zigzag sail ("to beat about" seems to be the term) - both may be achieving similar results, and it also is important to aim for using the long boat, everything else is even slower.

Personally I have encountered shorter stretches where wind was quite unfavourable, but I cannot say that it is doing that all the time, every time. Note however that sailing is only the second fastest traveling option, and is beaten using portals all the time unless you want to transport some basic metal ingots or ore.

The wind is one of the worst bosses in this game.

The fair winds section of your sail is 75%. That means the wind is only against you 25% of the time. When its against you, you use a technique called tacking. Sail as close to the wind as you can get for a nice leg and then turn 90 degrees and catch the wind on the other side. You zig zag back and forth. Even when you calculate sides and the hypotenuse its always faster than paddling in the longboat, faster than paddling at wind speed greater than 1 in the raft, and faster than paddling in the karve at wind speed 3 or greater.

Originally posted by Suzaku:

The wind is one of the worst bosses in this game.

Yes, right behind the killer trees ;)