Have you played… Sailaway - The Sailing Simulator?

Sailaway has some good waves. It has nice rain. It has many ropes. You cannot die in Sailaway. But you can simulate seasickness.

For someone who knows jack ship about sailing, it’s a nice introduction to the terminology of the sail boat. I made a weeks-long journey through the Northwest Passage and just about learned the difference between the sail they call a “genoa” and another called the “gennaker”. I say "weeks long", I really mean that you can set the boat to auto-pilot while offline and it continues without you. But every time I logged in, I messed about with ropes and tutorials and learned something new.

Obviously, I’ve since forgotten it all. But while I was at sea, it felt very calm and educational. Except when we were caught in a storm, pulled from the real world weather at that exact moment and location. I say “we” because you don’t check in and out of a sailing game for weeks on end without creating a few fictional crewmates along the way.

We had a good time. Maybe you will too.