Learn to sail a dinghy in your browser: backwards tiller, invisible wind, no cold water
Helm a pixel-art dinghy through seven lessons until you understand why a boat cannot sail straight into the wind.
Runs in any browser, on a phone or a laptop. No wetsuit, no sailing club.
- It teaches real sailing, not arcade physics: wind direction, points of sail, the no-go zone, tacking, gybing, and crew balance, all modelled from an actual sailing spec.
- The backwards tiller, in your thumbs: you steer with a real, inverted tiller, so the muscle memory sticks in a way no diagram ever managed. That inversion is the whole lesson.
- A 7-level voyage: each level drills one new skill and switches the next hazard on only once you've earned it, Mario 1-1 style, until the full physics is live by the finale.
- Built for a phone: drag the tiller, slide the mainsheet into the green groove, swipe to cross sides, hold to hike out. Beat the par time for three stars.
- A coach on your shoulder: live tips while you sail, plus a How-to-sail card and a glossary for the moment "gybe" stops meaning anything.
- Capsize is real: lean the wrong way in the later levels and she goes over. Crew weight and hiking keep her flat.
You only ever touch two things: the tiller to steer and the mainsheet to trim the sail. Everything else is reading the wind.
| Action | On a phone | On a keyboard |
|---|---|---|
| Steer | Drag the tiller bar | A / D or ← / → |
| Trim the sail | Drag the sheet into the green groove | W / S or ↑ / ↓ |
| Cross sides, through a tack or gybe | Swipe across, or tap CROSS | C |
| Hike out, to lean and stay flat | Hold HIKE | Shift / H |
| Pause | Tap the pause button | Esc |
The catch with the tiller: aim the tiller, not the bow. Push it away from where you want to go.
Seven levels, each one new idea, each unlocking the next.
| # | Level | What it drills |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cast Off | Steering, and the backwards tiller |
| 2 | Find the Groove | Trimming the sail to your angle to the wind |
| 3 | The No-Go Zone | Points of sail, and the wedge you can't sail into |
| 4 | Zig-Zag Upwind | Tacking: beating to a mark that's dead upwind |
| 5 | Downwind Run | Gybing without the boom slamming across |
| 6 | Crew & Balance | Crew weight, hiking, and roll tacks (capsize goes live) |
| 7 | The Full Course | The real windward and leeward race, with swimmers to rescue |
A private project, built for the joy of it. Fair winds.
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