Sailing

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A player piloting an island.

Sailing is a staple of Aloft, and this guide is here to help you figure out how it works, what the different UI gauges mean, how to choose sails, and where to go from here. In the simplest terms, sailing requires sails and steering. More Sails means more forward momentum. More Rudders means turning faster. More Floater Sails means faster altitude changes. Durability is implied to be a concern later in the game development.

Important Buildings

Navigation
Visual	Item	Description	Required Materials	Unlock
	Table-Map	An intricate contraption, useful for orientation and tracking your exploration and progress.	x20 + x20 + x3	Knowledge Anchor
	Stormchaser	A strange device capable of finding specific objects and locations through mystical means	x5 + x20 + x10 + x5 + x3	Knowledge Anchor
	Helm	Streering wheel used to pilot an island	x10	Fresco Monuments
	Rudder	Grants the ability to steer an island	x5	Knowledge Anchor
	Floater	Inclined sail, used to lift an island	x5 + x5 + x2 + x5 + x3	Knowledge Anchor
Sails
Visual	Item	Description	Required Materials	Unlock
Square Sail
	Leaf Square Sail	Fragile sail used to propel an island foward. Excellent wind intake, but low flexibility. Will break in harsh environnements and strong winds.	x6 + x4 + x3 + x2	Knowledge Anchor
	Wool Square Sail	Resistant sail used to propel an island foward. Excellent wind intake, but low flexibility. Strong enough to resist jetstreams' winds, allowing you to reach regions closer to the hurricane.	x6 + x4 + x6 + x4 + x1	Knowledge Anchor
	Linen Square Sail	High-quality sail used to propel an island foward. Excellent wind intake, but low flexibility. Can withstand the heat of jetstreams, allowing you to reach arid sectors.	x6 + x4 + x3 + x6 + x2	Knowledge Anchor
Junk Sail
	Leaf Junk Sail	Fragile sail used to propel an island foward. Good overall attributes, but expensive. Will break in harsh environnements and strong winds.	x5 + x4 + x3 + x2	Knowledge Anchor
	Wool Junk Sail	Resistant sail used to propel an island foward. Good overall attributes, but expensive. Strong enough to resist jetstreams' winds, allowing you to reach regions closer to the hurricane.	x5 + x4 + x6 + x4 + x1	Knowledge Anchor
	Linen Junk Sail	High-quality sail used to propel an island foward. Good overall attributes, but expensive. Can withstand the heat of jetstreams, allowing you to reach arid sectors.	x5 + x4 + x3 + x6 + x2	Knowledge Anchor
Lateen Sail
	Leaf Lateen Sail	Fragile sail used to propel an island foward. Low cost and good flexibility, but low wind intake. Will break in harsh environnements and strong winds.	x3 + x3 + x3 + x2	Knowledge Anchor
	Wool Lateen Sail	Resistant sail used to propel an island foward. Low cost and good flexibility, but low wind intake. Strong enough to resist jetstreams' winds, allowing you to reach regions closer to the hurricane.	x3 + x3 + x6 + x4 + x1	Knowledge Anchor
	Linen Lateen Sail	High-quality sail used to propel an island foward. Low cost and good flexibility, but low wind intake. Can withstand the heat of jetstreams, allowing you to reach arid sectors.	x3 + x3 + x3 + x6 + x2	Knowledge Anchor
Gaff Sail
	Leaf Gaff Sail	Fragile sail used to propel an island foward. Overall average attributes. Will break in harsh environnements and strong winds.	x3 + x3 + x3 + x2	Knowledge Anchor
	Wool Gaff Sail	Resistant sail used to propel an island foward. Overall average attributes. Strong enough to resist jetstreams' winds, allowing you to reach regions closer to the hurricane.	x3 + x3 + x6 + x4 + x1	Knowledge Anchor
	Linen Gaff Sail	High-quality sail used to propel an island foward. Overall average attributes. Can withstand the heat of jetstreams, allowing you to reach arid sectors.	x3 + x3 + x3 + x6 + x2	Knowledge Anchor
Bermuda Sail
	Leaf Bermuda Sail	Fragile sail used to propel an island foward. Excellent flexibility, but low wind intake. Will break in harsh environnements and strong winds.	x4 + x4 + x3 + x2	Knowledge Anchor
	Wool Bermuda Sail	Resistant sail used to propel an island foward. Excellent flexibility, but low wind intake. Strong enough to resist jetstreams' winds, allowing you to reach regions closer to the hurricane.	x4 + x4 + x6 + x4 + x1	Knowledge Anchor
	Linen Bermuda Sail	High-quality sail used to propel an island foward. Excellent flexibility, but low wind intake. Can withstand the heat of jetstreams, allowing you to reach arid sectors.	x4 + x4 + x3 + x6 + x2	Knowledge Anchor
Beacon
Visual	Item	Description	Required Materials	Unlock
	Beacon	Stackable structure that leaves symbols that can be seen through a spyglass and the table-map	x3 + x2 + x4 + x1 + x1	Knowledge Anchor
	Beacon		x3 + x3 + x1 + x1 + x1	Knowledge Anchor
	Beacon		x3 + x3 + x3 + x1 + x1	Knowledge Anchor
	Beacon		x3 + x5 + x5 + x1	Knowledge Anchor
	Beacon		x3 + x1 + x1	Knowledge Anchor
	Beacon Stands		x3 or x3 + x3 maybe	Knowledge Anchor

Knowledge Anchor

Knowledge Anchors are Knowledge Artifacts that give you sailing points in order to learn a Sailing related recipe you have yet to discover when interacted with the Sailing Tech Tree. Looking at an Anchor will display a writing on-screen until it is interacted with. Each Anchor can only be interacted with once.

Knowledge Anchor Tech Tree

Complete Knowledge Anchor Tech Tree
Table-Map Helm Rudder Floater Leaf Square Sail Stormchaser Leaf Bermuda Sail Leaf Lateen Sail Leaf Gaff Sail Beacons Leaf Junk Sail Wool Bermuda Sail Beacons Beacons Wool Lateen Sail Wool Junk Sail Wool Gaff Sail Wool Square Sail Beacons Beacons Linen Bermuda Sail Linen Lateen Sail Linen Junk Sail Linen Graff Sail Linen Square Sail

Basics

Sailing is the action of moving an island via wind power and steering it where you want it to go. There are several steps to ensuring that you have an island that is wind-worthy and able to do all that you need. We will briefly cover types of islands, what is needed to create a sailing island, and items you may wish to consider when choosing an island to build upon.

Island Size

Each island in Aloft has its own weight. If viewed through a spyglass, a sailor can tell if an island can be flown by the absence of a symbol of an island labeled "KG". Any island labeled with this symbol is too heavy to sail no matter how many sails you add to it. There is a general correlation between how large an island is and its weight - the smallest islands, affectionally known as Itty Bitty Island or IBIs in the community, are the easiest to fly with minimal resources added.

Necessary Components

To fly, an island must have four items built upon it.

1. A Helm, to steer;
2. At least one Rudder for the helm to make turns;
3. At least one Sail, for momentum; and
4. At least one Floater Sail, to change altitude.

Considerations

Depending on your play style, you may wish to use a larger or a smaller island. Using an Itty Bitty Island (IBI) allows you to effectively hide the island within a larger superstructure, if you wish, only providing the flying center for your vessel. Larger islands provide more "prebuilt" structure, and the additional weight may prove useful in the inner layers of the Storm. A sailor may also consider whether or not there is a source of water on the island chosen, as water is needed for some Recipes and also for watering crops.

Sails

There are at least five different types of sail in two different cloth materials. Each sail has its own (implied) statistics and uses. This section will touch briefly on the various types. Full descriptions, blueprints, and detailed analysis may be found on each sail's page.

Terminology

• Windtake: How much wind a sail can catch/use.
• Durability: The ability to withstand wear, pressure, or damage.
• Flexibility: The ability to change easily according to the situation. In this case, the ability of the sail to automatically adjust for which way the wind flows to maintain a high windtake.

Materials

Sails made of Leaf Cloth are the earliest variety of sails, and are noted to be of "low-quality / Fragile" but cost less to create than other sails. It also mentioned that they "Will break in harsh environnements and strong winds".

Sails made of Wool Cloth are noted to be of "medium-quality / Resistant". It also mentioned that they are "Strong enough to resist jetstreams' winds, allowing you to reach regions closer to the hurricane".

Sails made of Linen are noted to be of "high-quality". It also mentioned that they "Can withstand the heat of jetstreams, allowing you to reach arid sectors".

It is possible that higher-quality sails will prove more resistant to damage from intense winds deeper in the Storm.

Sail Varieties

Floaters
Leaf	Wool	Linen	Type	Cost	Flexibility	Wind Intake	Durability	Description
	None	None	Floater Sail	5 Cloth	-	-	-	-
Sails
Leaf	Wool	Linen	Type	Cost	Flexibility	Wind Intake	Durability	Description
			Square Sail	6 Cloth	4 - Low	1 - Excellent	-	Excellent wind intake, but low flexibility.
			Junk Sail	5 Cloth	2 - Good	2 - Good	2 - Good	Good overall attributes, but expensive.
			Lateen Sail	3 Cloth	2 - Good	4 - Low	4 - Low	Low cost and good flexibility, but low wind intake.
			Gaff Sail	3 Cloth	3 - Average	3 - Average	3 - Average	Overall average attributes.
			Bermuda Sail	4 Cloth	1 - Excellent	4 - Low	-	Excellent flexibility, but low wind intake.

Windlanes

Player Navigating inside the Windlane tunnels

Healing a Life Sapling will grant a Dream Fruit and open up all the Wind Lanes connecting that cluster of islands to nearby ones.

Wind Lanes will let you sail faster between island clusters, reaching speeds of around 120 knots for a more fun and engaging journey!

Table Map

A table map is "an intricate contraption, useful for orientation and tracking your exploration progress." You will discover the blueprint for the Table-Map as you explore.

Using the table-map allows the player to calculate their relative position in the Aloft world, and also permits you to set a waypoint by right-clicking anywhere on the map. After setting a waypoint, the player can exit the map view and follow a distant green glow to arrive at their chosen destination. Keep in mind that heavy fog can make it difficult to see the waypoint marker.

The Aloft map is separated into four rings, including the Eye of the Hurricane. Neither the Eye nor the innermost ring are currently implemented. The outer ring is divided into twelve sectors, four of which are impassable storm barriers in the west and east. The inner ring is composed of eight sectors, all of which are explorable.

Each sector contains one or more pockets of stable air in which islands congregate. The lighter portions of the map denote featureless empty space. The islands themselves are marked by ovals or symbols. The table-map cannot differentiate between different sizes of islands or their altitudes. Instead, use the Spyglass when you are within range of an unexplored island to learn about its characteristics. Your current island has a circle around it, and can move on the map in real time.

You may also filter the world map by selecting the symbols on the righthand side of the screen in map view mode. This will cause all the relevant islands to become highlighted.

Map Legend

Gray - Unexplored
Yellow - Unhealthy Island
Purple - Corrupted Island
Green - Healthy Island

Beacon Markers

When using the table map, a toolbox of toggle icons appears. These indicate beacon markers that are found on later islands (or can be placed on islands once you have discovered the beacon blueprint.)

x3 Stone x3 Leaf Cloth x1 Beet Red Pigment x1 Brightsun Yellow Pigment x1 Crystal Cyan Pigment	x3 Stone Leaf Cloth x4 Wood x1 Brightsun Yellow Pigment x1 Crystal Cyan Pigment	x3 Stone x5 Leaf Cloth x5 Wood x1 Cactus Green Pigment	x3 Stone x1 Leaf Cloth x1 Moonbloom Purple Pigment	x3 Stone x3 Leaf Cloth x3 Wood x1 Azure Sky Blue Pigment x1 Crystal Cyan Pigment
Interact with it to shows or hides islands marked with the...
ring beacon stone	gateway beacon stone	leaf beacon stone	triangle beacon stone	sun beacon stone	Lost Atlas beacons

Stormchaser

Stormchaser	x1 Clean Water + x1 Charcoal + x5 Windstone + x5 Windstone Crystal	Knowledge Stone
	x1 Clean Water + x1 Charcoal + x5 Windstone + x10 Salt Crystals	Knowledge Anchor
	x1 Clean Water + x1 Charcoal + x5 Windstone + x1 Golden Feather	Fresco Monuments
	x1 Clean Water + x1 Charcoal + x5 Windstone + x3 Yellow Moonbloom	Unhealthy Ecosystem
	x1 Clean Water + x1 Charcoal + x5 Windstone + x10 Mykter Fibre	Corruption
	x1 Clean Water + x1 Charcoal + x5 Windstone + x1 Whistling Core	Leviathan(s)