Sails

Sails are Ship customization Items in Sea of Thieves. They are purchased at a Shipwright and equipped via a Ship Customization Chest.

Mechanics
The main purpose of the Sails is to catch the Wind and move the Ship forward. Any Sails tied to a Mast can be Lowered and Raised at the Sail Length Cleat to pick up or decrease the speed of a Ship. These Sails can also be angled left and right to catch Wind at the Sail Angle Pulley right next to the Length Cleat. Each Ship has a different number of Sails and Masts and can therefore acquire different speeds. The Sloop is the slowest ship, with just one small Sail. The Brigantine is the second fastest with two Masts with one large Sail and one medium Sail. Finally, the Galleon is the fastest of the Ships with three Masts with three big Sails, two medium Sails and one Small Sail. Note that the larger the Sails, the slower their handling and the more manpower is required to effectively sail the Ship. When going against the wind, "Dummy Sails" or default sails have proven to give the Ship more speed than angling the Sails to the sides.

Masts
Every Sail is attached to a Mast, with the Ship's Main Mast having a ladder allowing access to the Ship's Crow's Nest and Ship Flag Box. Masts are one of the ship's elements that can sustain damage from Cannon fire and Gunpowder Barrel explosions. Each mast can sustain three Cannonball hits or one chainshot worth of damage until it completely breaks and falls down. Additionally, any explosion close to the mast is enough to break it. As expected, any broken mast hinders the maneuverability and movement of the Ship and should be taken care of as soon as possible. A broken mast first requires to be completely raised. First you raise the sails of the broken mast and then you begin to raise the whole mast itself. Once the mast is up, it needs to be quickly fixed with Wooden Planks or else it will fall down again from movement or damage. Each mast takes around 2 to 3 planks to fix, with each crack notifying one stage of damage. Before masts fully break they receive cracks, which can be fixed early to prevent it from breaking.

Fire can also damage the Masts when left unattended. Fire will quickly climb up the Masts, damaging anything on top of the Crow's Nest.

Variants
The following list includes all the different cosmetic Sail variants in Sea of Thieves:

Velas