Life & fun · February 24, 2023
Sail a historical full-rigged ship in real global weather
This is a simulator of a frigate from about 1800. It has realistic physics, tuned to match historical performance. The UI is based around commands given in period naval language. Rather than use the current weather, it has a full year's weather data (for 1980 - taken from https://psl.noaa.gov/data/gridded/data.ncep.reanalysis2.html). This allows the weather to change realistically under time acceleration. To learn the basics of handling a square-rigged ship, start the "Harbour" scenario, click on the instructions button at the bottom left, and follow the instructions…
Sail a historical full-rigged ship in real global weather launched on February 24, 2023 with 359 votes, #56 of 3,829 launches that month and more than 99% of that year's launches. The site was still online in September 2026, 3 years on.
In plain words
Sail is a historical frigate simulator set around 1800 with realistic physics and period-accurate naval mechanics. Players issue commands using authentic naval language to maneuver a full-rigged ship across global oceans. The simulator uses archived 1980 weather data that evolves realistically under time acceleration, enabling both short training scenarios in Portsmouth Harbour and long-distance voyages across the world. It's designed for anyone interested in historical sailing and maritime navigation.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
Sailing man-of-war simulator
Command a Napoleonic-era man-of-war. Sail the oceans of the world. Your ship is HMS Alpha, a 38-gun 18-pounder frigate (rather like this one ) of around 1600 tons displacement, with a 150-foot hull and a crew of 300. What is done is the simulation of the ship, the control system, the world, weather, time acceleration and basic combat. There are unlikely to be any major new features added, but see the devlog for plans for the future. The ship handling is tuned as well as I can to match historical data. I'm happy to hear suggestions on how to improve it. After quitting the game through the control menu, an option will appear on the main menu screen to resume from your lastfrom thapen.itch.io
In the maker’s words, at launch
This is a simulator of a frigate from about 1800. It has realistic physics, tuned to match historical performance. The UI is based around commands given in period naval language. Rather than use the current weather, it has a full year's weather data (for 1980 - taken from…
Does a similar job
all alternatives →
Global sailing navigation simulator using real weather/ocean data2020 · 8bitbyte.ca · ▲131- SBSail boat simulation – try to sail into the wind2014 · imakesnowflakes.com · ▲229
- ARA rough simulation of a sail boat (2D Wireframe)2015 · ▲6
Link : http://firstglitch.com/html_projects/sailboat/sail-gl.html This is a very rough simulation of a sail boat (2D wireframe), that you can sail using force of "wind" (modeled as a million particles, animated using webgl) striking on the sails. The position of the wind particles and the forces of the particles striking on the sails is computed in WebGL shaders. The forces are NOT re-calculated at each frame. Which might cause some artifacts. For example, the boat might start moving after the wind has passed, if you continue adjusting the rudder and sail angle. You…
EBNF Specification of the BBC Shipping Forecast2022 · github.com · ▲136EBNF specification of the BBC's shipping forecast. Contribute to jamespwilliams/ebnf-shipping-forecast development by creating an account on GitHub.
More life & fun this month
the category →
A free city-building game in your browser. You are the mayor. You know what the city needs. Now get it past the zoning board, the neighbors, the appeals court and the next election.
Life & fun · 3d ago · permit.petercai.com
- IV
Life & fun · 15d ago · tanzaniaeducationproject.org
Turn a phone, tablet or TV into a sign. Type a message and it fills the screen: welcome signs, timers, Wi-Fi passwords and more. No app, no account, free.
Life & fun · 16d ago · bigwords.page
Play a free virtual guitar online with your keyboard or by touch. Slow songs down and see every chord, string and strum. Acoustic, classic, electric and bass.
Life & fun · 10d ago · guitoro.com
Carrier settings from iPhone, Pixel and Galaxy firmware, decoded and compared: APNs, VoLTE, 5G and Wi-Fi Calling per carrier, and what each build changed.
Life & fun · 14d ago · carrierexplode.com
Life & fun · 24d ago · space.bl2.net
Source: Show HN post ↗ · launch text quoted in part
