Online Sailing Games and Simulators

Sailing Simulators

Virtual Regatta – Inshore

Virtual Regatta Inshore is the best dinghy racing simulator currently available. With the demise of SailX, Virtual Regatta seems to have gone from strength to strength and, with real-life sailing temporarily suspended during the Covid-19 lockdowns, it gained lots of new users looking for their sailing fix.

The game is relatively straightforward to learn and devilishly difficult to get really good at but, for sailors looking to improve their tactics and racecraft, it can be a very useful tool for when you can’t get on the water.

You can sign up and play for free here, and there is a paid subscription available that allows you to do a few really useful things, like setting up private races for friends or clubmates.

And if you need some help getting better then there’s lots of help available out there too:

To get you started this is very useful:

Once you’re up and running, this video has some great tips to help improve your race results:

And Sam Whaley from the British Sailing Team has some good tips too:

There’s plenty more tips available on YouTube if you want more, and the RYA has a helpful page too

Virtual Regatta – Offshore

This isn’t terribly useful for dinghy sailors, but it is good fun, especially as you get to take part in some of the biggest and most famous offshore yacht races in the world, including the Vendee Globe and the Fastnet Race.

But (as with many of these games) you need to be careful – you can end up spending far more time pondering tactical decisions than you probably should…

Tactical Sailing

You can learn about this tactics simulator here, and you can order it here (there used to be a free demo, but I don’t think it is still available)

Sail Simulator

You can play a free demo version of the game here.

Sail Simulator is an enjoyable way to pass an hour or two. The graphics are quite good, the gameplay is good enough without being spectacular, and it is generally good fun.

There is an online ranking system which encourages regular play, and you can improve your ranking overall, in different boats or for your country.

I’m not sure how useful it is for improving your sailing skills, though. Unlike some of the other simulators, there are no windshifts, so it becomes a game of set-up and of straight line speed. The boat set-up doesn’t match real life set-up all that accurately, which means you can become great at setting up a 470 on the game but be awful at setting up a 470 in real life.

That said, if you can’t get out on the water it can be a good way of getting your sailing fix.

SailRacer’s Windgame

Learn about windshifts using this online game.

Want some help to get better at this game? Ian E at Laser Salience has spent way too much time thinking about this stuff, and he gives some excellent advice for this game here.

E-Regata

Virtual Skipper 5

Sailaway

eSail

SailOnline

ASA Sailing Challenge App

Pancake Sailor and VR Regatta

NauticEd Sailing Simulator (NED)

Other Simulators

SailX

SailX is no longer working, which is both a big shame and a blessed relief.

It is a shame because it was a good sailing simulator. It is a relief because it was way too addictive and would drain your life away. You would ALWAYS do “one more race”. Until it was 2.39 am, and you realised that not only has your whole evening been used up, but tomorrow is now a write-off too.

The old links are here (in case it ever comes back):

And some videos that were useful too:

There’s more good stuff here

You can read all Tillerman’s thoughts on SailX here

There are some interesting thoughts on some of the best simulators in this discussion thread.

And here’s one for the safety boat guys:

Another site’s list of sailing simulators can be found here

Online Sailing Games

Sail for Gold Game

More online sailing games can be found here and here