March 2025 Sailing Alpha

March 2025 Sailing Alpha
Open date		20 March 2025
End date		26 March 2025
Update blog		Sailing Alpha Live Now!
Removal update		None

The March 2025 Sailing Alpha was a preview of the Sailing skill, available to all members running from 20 March to 26 March 2025. The alpha build allowed players to play-test the early stages of the skill, focusing on initial levels and progression. The skill was not fully implemented, and Sailing levels were capped at 30 during the alpha.

Upon logging into a Sailing alpha world, players were required to complete an in-game CAPTCHA to verify they are using supported clients. For more information, click here.

When entering the alpha worlds, players started in Port Sarim with 12 Construction, 30 Smithing and completion of The Knight's Sword. After completing the introductory Sailing quest to unlock access to The Pandemonium, they were then able to board their own raft through the gangplank found on the east dock.

During the alpha, players were able to open a special integrated FAQ interface to learn more about the alpha, and were encouraged to share their feedback in the Sailing Alpha Survey.

	Sailing Level Up!
The jingle that plays when levelling up.

	Sailing Level Up! - unused
Grander variation of the level up jingle, unused.

The alpha could be played via one of the following supported clients:

• Java Client
• Official Client
• RuneLite - The GPU plugin and 117 HD plugin are not supported. You must turn off GPU and 117 HD to use the vanilla renderer or use the GPU (Experimental) plugin from the plugin hub. Certain plugin's from the plugin hub such as "Dimmer" are also not supported.

HDOS and the mobile client are not supported for the Sailing alpha.

Join one of the Sailing Alpha worlds. You will be asked "Can you see a code?". If you do not see a code ensure you are using one of the supported clients with proper configuration. If you see the code enter the four digit code in the chatbox.

If it is your first time joining the Sailing alpha use the character customisation screen to customise your character.

If you wish to use your standard character login to a standard world, open the in-game Settings, then click "Convert save to beta worlds".

The following worlds were available during the Sailing Alpha:

World	Location	Type	Activity
400	United States (east)		Sailing Alpha World
405	Germany		Sailing Alpha World
406	Germany		Sailing Alpha World
407	United Kingdom		Sailing Alpha World
408	United Kingdom		Sailing Alpha World
409	United States (west)		Sailing Alpha World
410	United States (west)		Sailing Alpha World
411	United States (west)		Sailing Alpha World
412	Australia		Sailing Alpha World
442	United States (west)		Sailing Alpha World
460	Germany		Sailing Alpha World
470	United States (east)		Sailing Alpha World
471	United States (east)		Sailing Alpha World
472	United States (east)		Sailing Alpha World
538	United States (west)		Sailing Alpha World
564	United Kingdom		Sailing Alpha World
566	United Kingdom		Sailing Alpha World
574	United States (east)		Sailing Alpha World
582	Germany		Sailing Alpha World
585	Australia		Sailing Alpha World
586	Germany		Sailing Alpha World
587	United Kingdom		Sailing Alpha World
588	United States		Sailing Alpha World
589	United States		Sailing Alpha World
590	Australia		Sailing Alpha World

Sailing changed player navigation significantly from the typical point-and-click gameplay throughout the rest of Gielinor. After obtaining and boarding your first boat at a gangplank at any port, a navigation interface replaced the player's combat options tab, detailing useful information about the currently boarded vessel such as its name, facilities, stats, and crewmates. Up to three distinct ships could be owned by the player at one time, with larger vessels allowing multiple other players to be aboard.

When not interacting with any facilities, players could move around the deck of their ship normally. To move the ship, players clicked the helm at the back of their ship. While in this mode, a white arrow appeared near the boat in the direction of their cursor. Clicking would rotate the boat to point in that direction. The player could then adjust the ship's speed using the up and down arrows in the ship's navigation interface. The "set" and "unset" sails toggle would immediately stop and start ship movement. Moving in reverse was also possible.

Whilst sailing, gusts of wind appeared around the sails of a ship allowing players to trim them and receive a boost of speed for 20 ticks. These winds appeared every 49 ticks naturally or 20 ticks after a previous trimming speed boost had worn off. Trimming sails on a raft without an active wind catcher granted 35 Sailing experience. Trimming sails on a skiff without an active wind catcher granted 50 Sailing experience. If a wind catcher had been built on a player's vessel, the Sailing experience was halved upon trimming the sails, and a wind mote is generated; releasing a wind mote from a wind catcher granted 150 Sailing experience, increasing the overall experience provided by trimming sails.

• Sailing without the sails set
• Sailing with sails set
• You feel a gust of wind while sailing
• You trim the sails, catching the wind for a burst of speed!
• 
  Interface showing remaining time until sails can be trimmed
• 
  Interface when boost for trimming sail is active

Ships themselves had associated Hitpoints which could be reduced by combat, obstacles, and rough waters; if your ship's health was reduced to zero, you would capsize, lose all items in your cargo hold, and be transported to the nearest port, where you would need to retrieve your capsized vessel at the cost of gold before you could venture back out to sea. There were three depths of water--shallow, open, and deep sea--which limited boat access depending on the size and strength of the vessel's hull.

Pandemonium was the introductory quest for players to the Sailing skill. It could be started by speaking to Will or Anne in Port Sarim and taught the player the basics such as how to sail a ship, dock a ship at a port, and perform other general Sailing tasks. Upon completing this quest, players were rewarded with their first ship, a raft, and a Captain's log.

Prying Times was a miniquest introducing prying open sealed crates. It could be started by speaking to Steve Beanie after the completion of Pandemonium. Upon completing this miniquest, players were rewarded with a crowbar which allowed completion of certain sea charting tasks.

Quest	Experience reward	Sailing requirement	Other requirements
Pandemonium	300	N/A	N/A
Prying Times (miniquest)	250	10	30 , Pandemonium, The Knight's Sword

Two ocean areas were accessible during the Sailing Alpha, the Kandarin Gulf and the Unquiet Ocean, each comprising several smaller divisions such as the Bay of Sarim.

The Kandarin Gulf was north of the Unquiet Ocean and was mostly comprised of shallow sea with some open sea in the east. It was bounded by Feldip Hills to the south-west, Kandarin to the west, Asgarnia to the north, Misthalin to the north-east and the Kharidian Desert to the west. Its southern limit was a line between Corsair Cove and the Ruins of Unkah. It encompassed the islands of Crandor, Entrana, Karamja, The Pandemonium, Tutorial Island and Tempoross Cove. The River Lum flowed into Kharidian Gulf.

The Unquiet Ocean comprised the southernmost waters of Gielinor's ocean and was mostly open sea with some deep sea in the south. It encompassed the islands of Ape Atoll, Charred Island, Dognose Island, the Isle of Bones, The Great Conch, Last Light, The Little Pearl and the Void Knights' Outpost. The Unquiet Ocean flowed into the Kharidian Ocean to the east, and into the Western Ocean to the west.

Docking points were placed on various islands and landmasses to dock your ship, allowing disembarking at that point. There were 15 docking points accessible during the Sailing Alpha with associated level requirements to dock at them and various facilities to assist in your Sailing experience.

Docking point		Level	Other requirements	Shipwright	Notice board	Salvaging station
	Port Sarim	1	N/A
	The Pandemonium	1	N/A
	Dognose Island	5	N/A
	Musa Point	10	N/A
	Last Light	15	N/A
	Charred Island	20	N/A
	Catherby	21	N/A
	Entrana	22	Completion of Lost City
	Witchaven	24	N/A
	Brimhaven	25	N/A
	Ardougne	28	N/A
	Port Khazard	30	N/A
	Corsair Cove	40	Completion of The Corsair Curse
	Ruins of Unkah	50
	Isle of Bones	52	Skill requirement waived for the alpha

Two different ship types were available, and up to 5 boats could be purchased in the alpha.

Level	Ship		Image	Size	Facility hotspots	Player capacity	Uses	Cost
1		Raft		1x3	1	2	The player's first ship Earned as a reward for completing the Pandemonium quest	1,000
10		Skiff		2x5	3	5	Claimed for free from a Shipwright after reaching level 10 Sailing Recommended for shipwreck salvaging and Barracuda Trials	10,000

Ships could be upgraded and customised to players' specific needs depending on the content they wished to complete, with different facilities benefitting and enabling different sailing activities. This customisation could be done at the shipyard, which was accessed by selecting the Customise-boat option on a shipwright at any port. When at the shipyard, the nearby boat schematics board allowed players to select which of the ship's components they wish to upgrade: upgrading a ship's hull allowed it to overcome gentle rapids, and upgrading a ship's sails allowed it to overcome stormy seas.

A raft with a wooden raft base had 60 hitpoints. A raft with an oak raft base had 70 hitpoints. A skiff with a wooden hull had 120 hitpoints. A skiff with an oak hull had 130 hitpoints.

Rafts contained only one facility hotspot, while skiffs contained three separate facility hotspots, which allowed for multiple facilities such as cargo holds, salvaging hooks, and the wind catcher. Upgrading your ship's facilities awarded players with Sailing and Construction experience and required upgrade materials such as planks, nails, and cloth of various tiers. All materials were provided in the alpha.

Port tasks were a Sailing activity that involved the player picking up various tasks from Notice boards located at specific docks and completing objectives for Sailing experience and resources.

Courier tasks specified two ports to bring a number of cargo between, with both origin and destination being randomly generated regardless of the port from which you collect the task. Initially a maximum of 2 port tasks could be accepted at one time, increasing to 5 in total as Sailing was leveled up, allowing players to complete multiple tasks at once. The amount of cargo required per task could differ and be as low as a single piece. Once a courier task had been accepted, players needed both hands free in order to collect cargo from a nearby ledger table, then transported it to their boat to place it in their cargo hold. Collecting and unloading the cargo at the destination's ledger table rewarded the player with Sailing experience and items useful for shipbuilding, such as logs, nails and gems.

Bounty tasks were visible in the Sailing alpha, but could not be accepted as combat was not yet implemented. They could have assigned players a specific seafaring monster to kill in hopes of collecting a specific item, similar to Hunters' Rumours.

Sea charting involved performing bespoke tasks in various parts of the sea and were intended to encourage players to explore Gielinor's oceans and reward them with one-off experience for doing so. These tasks varied from simple exploration to puzzles and even data collection, which could require specific tools to complete. Most charting tools could be collected from your ship's cargo hold or from the associated task NPC, other than the crowbar which is received upon completion of the miniquest Prying Times.

Charting tools could be withdrawn from the basic cargo hold by clicking the duck icon in the bottom-left of the cargo hold interface. There was also a right-click "Take all" option.

Tool		Description
	Captain's log	To record and document sea charting. It will also tell you information about where you can chart.
	Spyglass	Observe notable areas when your ship is positioned upon a group of bubbles on the ocean surface.
	Current duck	Track the currents of the sea when your ship is positioned upon a ripple on the ocean surface by placing and following the duck.
	Crowbar	Pry open sealed crates found at sea and choose whether you want to drink what you find inside. The miniquest Prying Times provide you with more information about how to use the Crowbar.
	Deep sea helmet	Gather sea depth data after assisting mermaids.
	Deep sea apparatus
	Anti-rust tonic	Removes rust from weather stations for Troll Meteorologists.

During the Sailing Alpha, a total of 29 tasks were available in the Bay of Sarim, Bedabin Basin, The Firth of Lum, Mudskipper Sound, and Rimmington Strait. All were within the Kandarin Gulf.

• Completing all 6 tasks in the Bay of Sarim awarded 259 bonus Sailing XP.
• Completing all 6 tasks in Bedabin Basin awarded 259 bonus Sailing XP.
• Completing all 5 tasks in the Firth of Lum awarded 267 bonus Sailing XP.
• Completing all 7 tasks in Mudskipper Sound awarded 274 bonus Sailing XP.
• Completing all 5 tasks in Rimmington Strait awarded 288 bonus Sailing XP.
• Completing all 29 tasks in the Kandarin Gulf awarded 288 bonus Sailing XP.
• Completing all the same 29 total tasks available in the Sailing Alpha awarded another 288 bonus Sailing XP.

Salvaging was a low-intensity gathering activity in Sailing where players moved adjacent to sunken shipwrecks across the ocean, deployed their salvaging hooks, and collected resources for small amounts of Sailing experience. Salvage collected came in a number of varieties and could be stored in your ship's cargo hold if the facility had been built. Salvaging hooks themselves came in various metal tiers with associated Sailing level requirements, which allowed for gathering at higher tier locations and with greater success.

Once collected, salvage could be sorted and processed into items at a salvaging station found at most ports. This process did not award experience of any kind, but did return potentially useful or valuable items.

There were two types of shipwrecks:

Level	Shipwreck	Image	XP	Salvage		Notable drops
12	Small shipwreck		13		Small salvage	Clue scroll (easy) Sunken locket
25	Pirate shipwreck		30		Plundered salvage	Clue scroll (hard) Sunken locket Rune sword Uncut dragonstone

There were two locations where shipwrecks could be found:

Barracuda Trials were a skilling activity unlocked at level 30 Sailing. Gameplay involved navigating obstacle courses at sea for the Barracudas as quickly as possible, with completion granting a chunk of Sailing experience. Each trial had three ranks of difficulty (Swordfish, Shark, and Marlin), with increasingly strict time limits and collection requirements, the first completion of each tier awarded additional bonus Sailing experience and unlocks the ability to attempt the subsequent tier. Your fastest completion time and achieved ranks were tracked by the scoreboard.

Typical Sailing navigation was used for the Barracuda trial, with some additional mechanics. Gentle rapids provided a stacking speed bonus when sailed across that decayed over time. Precise use of these rapids was necessary for achieving faster completion times. Obstacles included lightning clouds, which moved in a small area. Periodically, they increased in size before striking with lightning and dealing 10 damage to your ship if nearby.

Other trials had different mechanics, but were not accessible under normal circumstances.

Upon entering a Barracuda trial, a HUD would appear in the top left of the screen. There were several icons on the HUD:

• A reset button for Resetting and Quick Resetting the current trial.
• A main objective icon which indicated whether or not the required trial item had been collected.
• A live timer recording your current time in the trial.
• A goal time for the difficulty rank of the trial.
• A icon displaying what rank is being attempted.
• Two icons recording the number of rum shipments and lost supplies currently collected out of the required amount for completion.

The only Barracuda Trial accessible under normal circumstances in the alpha was The Tempor Tantrum, unlocked at level 30 Sailing. It could be started by speaking to Rum-dashed Ralph north-west of The Storm Tempor. This trial tasked you with collecting rum shipments from the merchant ship south of Tempoross before returning to Ralph. Lost supplies could be found along the route, a number of which must be collected for completion, with the amount increasing depending on the rank being attempted. Requirements included a ship with at least an oak hull to withstand the traversal of gentle rapids.

Rank		Time	Rum shipments	Lost supplies	Completion XP	Bonus XP	Reward
	Unranked	N/A	1	10	200	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Swordfish	2:00	1	14	400	2,500		Placeholder swordfish reward
	Shark	3:06	2	25	1,200	5,000		Placeholder shark reward
	Marlin	5:00	3	36	2,500	8,000		Placeholder marlin reward

During the alpha, a guide could be accessed using the information button which was displayed at all times. A link to the feedback section was displayed at the top left of every page within the guide. The guide sections covered an introduction, port tasks, charting the sea, the shipyard, shipwreck salvaging, exploration, and barracuda trials. Each of these sections contained a summary, tasks which the player could complete, and FAQs. There was also an about section which contained a summary and FAQs on the alpha and Sailing skill. A full transcript of the guide can be found here.

• Information button
• Main guide interface
• The about section
• Tasks in the charting section

• The sailing alpha world map including area labels

• The Sailing Alpha was available in-person at RuneFest 2025 before its official launch.
• Portmaster's watch, a debug tool used to experience a different day's port tasks, was intended to be given to players during the Sailing Alpha but it ultimately was not.^[1]

General resources

1. "Behind the Scenes of Sailing: Volume 3 (Sailing Alpha Launch Date) - RuneFest". Old School RuneScape News. Jagex. 1 March 2025. Archived from the original.
2. "Sailing Alpha Preview - OSRS Q&A Livestream March 18th" . YouTube video. 18 March 2025.
3. "Sailing Alpha Live Now!". Old School RuneScape News. Jagex. 20 March 2025. Archived from the original.
4. "Unlocking the Seas: The Complete OSRS Sailing Alpha Breakdown" . YouTube video.
5. "Sailing Alpha Modcast - OSRS Discord Stage March 24th" . YouTube video.

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