The Sailing Engine
She sails on the wind — smoothly
Rocinante's “glide” engine works out every move from real sailing sums — true wind, apparent wind, point of sail, trim, heel and leeway — then hands it to your viewer as one smooth glide. No bouncing, no jitter, and it behaves the same on BulletSim or ubODE regions.
How she sails
⚓ Wind & speed
- Speed builds and fades over about 10 seconds, like a heavy cruiser.
- Pinching slows her rather than stopping her: drive fades between 34° and 22° apparent wind.
- About 8 kn at 45° off the wind, 6 kn at 39°, 4 kn at 33° (in 18 kn of breeze).
- In irons when pointed straight into the wind.
- Slight sideways drift (about 5° of leeway) while moving.
How she moves
↻ Heel & steering
- Heels away from the wind (up to 25°) and leans into turns; comes upright gradually.
- Turn rate grows with speed — about 6°/s slow, 11.5°/s at full speed.
- A held arrow key keeps her circling as long as you hold it.
- Let go and she carries on turning for about 3 seconds.
- Sheet by arrow keys: the longer you hold, the more it moves (10° a second).
Helping hands
✦ Autopilot
- HOLD keeps her current heading; steering by hand cancels it.
- STEER to any of 16 compass points or a bearing — she turns there and holds it.
- A course into the wind is sailed as close as she can, and she tells you so.
- COURSE +5 / −5 nudges the held course.
- TRIM sets the sheet for green trim continuously.
- TACK goes to the same angle on the other side — or gybes if the wind is behind — and reports “Maneuver completed” only when she's really there.
Navigation
⚠ Safety at sea
- Checks the depth along her path; stops before grounding (2.6 m draft + 0.3 m spare).
- Warns about 15 seconds ahead of shallows or the edge of the world, with an alarm sound.
- Sails across region borders and re-plans on the other side.
- why explains what she's doing: heading, wind, settling speed, planned distance, depth under the keel.
Reading the trim
The text above the boat changes colour with your trim. Mis-trim costs speed gradually — no sudden cliffs — and the main and jib flap audibly until you get it right.
Green — optimum, sails silent
Yellow — a bit loose
Red — far too loose
Cyan — too tight
▲ Sails & rigging
- RAISE hoists main and jib together and stows the fenders.
- LOWER drops all sail; she drifts to a gentle stop.
- Main, jib and boom swing to the sheet on the correct side for each tack.
- Sheet range 5°–80°, set by keys, by number or by step.
- Ruritania sail livery on both tacks and when flapping.
◉ Spinnaker
- Hoist once the sheet is past 50° — it replaces the jib.
- Trim ±3° with PgUp / PgDn.
- GYBE swaps the pole side.
- Adds speed off the wind.
⚙ Motor
- MOTOR drops the sails and starts the engine.
- Throttle −10 astern to +10 ahead; about 8 kn ahead, half speed astern.
- Propeller spins with the throttle, the right way astern, and stops with the engine.
- Engine sound follows the throttle; ENGINE OFF stops without mooring.
- MOOR stops everything and puts the fenders out; standing up from the helm moors her too.
