I  still enjoy sailing and testing this model.

 I plotted a Polar Diagram,  by plotting speed that were developed on various points of sail. I tested points 7-16, against wind Forces 5 and 3.  In both diagrams the best speeds were made with the winds at  points 8-11. The slowest speed was directly down wind , as it should be. At 6 points and less speed drops off quickly-as it should.

Ship tacking and wearing seemed natural and fluid under different wind speeds  and sea conditions. No glaring problems. 

Its been my RL experience that no two modern production sloops sail the same.  I can only imagine how ships from the 1800s  would have differed. The point Im trying  to make is don't get lost in the weed with the physics. If the model sails well and hits the key parameters -work with it. Don't worry too much about glitchy physics . Anyway,  I have enjoyed playing with it and hope you decide to to do something with your model. 

Glenn

Thanks, and I'm glad you're still enjoying it.

I initially worked on getting a physics model that felt reasonable to me, but did not have too much data on actual speeds at different points of sail, and especially when turning. Then I found some more numbers, and players contributed some of their sources, and by tuning various lift and drag parameters it seems to match fairly well. See here: Historical data - A Painted Ocean by Neil Thapen (itch.io)

Hi Neil, congratulations for your game, I just downloaded it and it is great ! As a fan of the period, I am impressed by your attention to historical accuracy and the intuitive UI of this game which focuses on the most important and exciting aspects of sailing with a 1800-era frigate. I hope you will find time to develop it again, best regards,