Sailing came out on 19 November 2025 and is the only skill exclusive to Old School RuneScape. It is also the skill that has changed the most since launch: Jagex has shipped balance passes almost monthly in 2026, so this guide states every figure as it appears on the OSRS Wiki as of 17 September 2026 and says so when the wiki itself flags a number as provisional.
For an ironman the point of Sailing is not the level. It is the islands. Twenty-seven of them are reachable only by boat, and they hold things you cannot get anywhere else: lead and nickel for boat parts, camphor, ironwood and rosewood logs, coral and coloured crabs for unique potions, squid beaks for a self-made blowpipe, rubium for incendiary cannonballs, four runite rocks, frost dragons, and Wyrmscraig with the best mid-game Crafting method in the game. Deep sea trawling adds halibut and marlin. Salvage feeds planks, nails and cannonballs back into your ship. Treat the skill as an unlock tree and the training becomes a means to an end.
How to start
Talk to Will and Anne on the Port Sarim docks to begin Pandemonium. It has no requirements, is Novice and short, and teaches you to sail, dock and do the basic tasks. Rewards are your first boat, a raft, a captain's log, 1 quest point and 300 Sailing XP, with another 100 XP when you deliver the cargo. After the quest you board the raft at the gangplank on the east dock of The Pandemonium.
Three things unlock immediately: trimming sails, ocean encounters, courier tasks and sea charting, and bounty tasks later at level 30. Gusts of wind appear around your sails while moving; trim them within 12 seconds for a speed boost and a small XP drop, 10.5 XP per trim on the starting raft. Always trim.
Keep the raft forever
The wiki is explicit: a few sea charting tasks can only be reached on a raft, because skiffs and sloops do not fit. It is also the cheapest boat to teleport around through a shipwright. Do not sell or scrap it when you buy the skiff.
Ships and upgrades
Boats come from a shipwright at a large port. The level to own each boat is not boostable.
| Boat | Sailing | Size | Facility hotspots | Players | Crew slots | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raft | 1 | Tiny (1x3) | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1,000 |
| Skiff | 15 | Small (2x5) | 7 | 5 | 2 | 15,000 |
| Sloop | 50 | Medium (3x10) | 11 | 10 | 5 | 200,000 |
Own all three. The skiff is required for Barracuda Trials, only the raft reaches some charting spots, and the sloop is the upgrade for salvaging, trawling and boat combat. The wiki warns the sloop is "hugely expensive to upgrade or retrieve" and cannot fit certain small spaces.
Core parts (hull, helm, mast and sails, keel) are upgraded at the Shipyard for Construction XP. The ones that gate content, per the wiki's ironman guide:
| Part | Sailing | Other levels | Materials | What it unlocks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iron helm | 17 | 14 Construction | 4 oak planks | The Tempor Tantrum (with oak mast); gentle rapid resistance and a speed boost |
| Oak mast and linen sails | 24 | 11 Construction, 12 Crafting | 15 oak planks | The Tempor Tantrum (with iron helm); partial storm resistance |
| Teak hull | 31 | 23 Construction, 25 Smithing | 50 teak planks | Base speed increase |
| Mithril helm | 55 | 47 Construction | 8 mithril bars | The Jubbly Jive (with inoculation station); strong rapid resistance |
| Adamant keel | 66 | 62 Construction, 74 Smithing | 50 adamantite bars | Crystal-flecked waters around Prifddinas; The Gwenith Glide (also needs Regicide); Prifddinas dock needs Song of the Elves |
| Camphor hull | 67 | 59 Construction, 66 Woodcutting | Camphor planks | Base speed increase |
| Camphor mast and canvas sails | 68 | 60 Construction; 74 Smithing (or 73 Sailing and adamant helm) for adamantite nails; 39 Crafting, 39 Farming and hemp seeds for canvas | Adamantite nails, bolts of canvas | Full storm resistance, longer speed boosts |
| Adamant helm | 72 | 59 Construction, 66 Woodcutting; 80 Woodcutting for ironwood | Ironwood planks | Tangled kelp resistance; mercenary shipwrecks |
| Rosewood hull | 93 | 84 Construction | Rosewood, via schematic | 20% base speed, roughly 15% more trial XP per hour |
Facilities go in hotspots. The ones that matter:
| Facility | Sailing | Construction | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze salvaging hook | 15 | 1 | First hook; everything is shop-bought |
| Bronze cannon | 28 | 21 | First cannon for boat combat |
| Keg | 33 | 25 | Holds ales for passive effects; needs the barrel stand from The Tempor Tantrum |
| Inoculation station | 40 | 37 | Fetid waters around Gu'Tanoth; needed for The Jubbly Jive; partial Zogre Flesh Eaters for Relicym's balm, 8 teak planks |
| Salvaging station | 42 | 34 | Sort salvage at sea; read the schematic from the Chinchompa Island lockbox, opened with the small key on The Pandemonium |
| Ballistic attractor | 50 | 44 | Recovers 60% of cannonballs fired |
| Wind catcher | 53 | 47 | Stores wind motes; needs the captured wind mote from the Shark rank of The Jubbly Jive, so 55 in practice |
| Teleport focus | 55 | 49 | Teleport the boat to the nearest dock |
| Rope trawling net and chum station | 56 | 45 | Deep sea trawling |
| Bosun's workbench | 63 | 54 | Crew repair the boat automatically |
| Crystal extractor | 73 | 67 | Also 80 Woodcutting, 74 Smithing, 74 Mining, two magic stones and the heart of Ithell from the Shark rank of The Gwenith Glide |
| Greater teleport focus | 75 | 69 | Teleport to your docked boat from anywhere |
| Eternal brazier | 78 | 72 | Icy seas and the Northern Ocean; 6 runite bars, 16 rune nails, 250 of each salt from Making Friends with My Arm, schematic from the Buccaneers' Haven lockbox |
Skip the middle tiers
The wiki's ironman guide says intermediate boat upgrades give only minor speed or stat gains and can be skipped to save resources, and that armour and health upgrades do not speed up XP unless you are doing bounty tasks. Spend your planks on the parts in the table above, in the order the trials need them.
Training 1-99
The wiki's recommended fast route is quests, sea charting and courier tasks to 30, then the three Barracuda Trials: The Tempor Tantrum at 30, The Jubbly Jive at 55 and The Gwenith Glide at 72. Everything else is a lower-intensity substitute. Two things stack on top of whatever you do: trimming sails, and from 73 the crystal extractor.
Levels 1-30: quests, charting and courier tasks
The wiki's own progression:
- 1-4: Pandemonium.
- 4-12: Courier tasks between Port Sarim and The Pandemonium while sailing to sea charting locations. Only generic and spyglass charting tasks are possible yet. At 5, Land's End tasks pay slightly more but are further away. At 7 you can hold two tasks; two deliveries between Port Sarim and The Pandemonium effectively double the XP. At 10, Musa Point opens.
- 12-14: Prying Times (30 Smithing, The Knight's Sword, one free task slot) for the crowbar, which unlocks crowbar charting tasks.
- 14-22: Courier tasks and crowbar charting.
- 22-24: Current Affairs (10 Fishing) for the current duck and its charting tasks.
- 24-30: Courier tasks and current duck charting.
Sea charting is one-off XP for exploring, with bonus XP for finishing an area, and it is the better of the two early methods. The wiki puts it at around 10,000 XP per hour at level 22, most of it from completing regions, and says that charting alone, stopping only for the quests, is enough to reach 45 for Troubled Tortugans. Fully charting an area also unlocks rapids in it, which speed you up if you have an iron helm or better. Charting every ocean needs 78 Sailing, boostable from 76, and unlocks horizon's lure: an ale that boosts all Sailing XP by 2.5% when kept in a keg.
Courier tasks pay more for longer distances, and tasks whose cargo sits at a different port than the notice board pay more again. Accepting a task elsewhere and teleporting to the pickup raises XP per hour. Every completion also gives a port coin bag or a port reward bag; reward bags carry ship-combat and shipbuilding supplies including sawmill coupons.
Task slots grow with level:
| Sailing | Tasks at once |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |
| 7 | 2 |
| 28 | 3 |
| 56 | 4 |
| 84 | 5 |
Levels 30-55: The Tempor Tantrum
Buy a skiff at 15 and fit an iron helm and oak mast and linen sails; those are the requirements to enter. Each trial has Swordfish, Shark and Marlin ranks with tighter time limits. Every completion gives a flat XP amount regardless of time, the first completion of each rank gives bonus XP, and beating the target time on the Shark rank of each trial is the one that matters, because it awards the facility item.
| Rank | XP per trial | XP per hour |
|---|---|---|
| Swordfish | 634 | 19,342 |
| Shark | 1,103 | 21,938 |
| Marlin | 1,907 | 24,519 |
These are the wiki's figures, computed from its per-lap XP and target times plus ten seconds. Rewards are the stormy key, Ralph's fabric roll, the barrel stand (build a keg) and, from the Shark rank, the whirlpool surprise ale: a +3 visible Sailing boost that also gives an invisible +2 when the keg is on board.
Do Crab Quest at 40 (30 Fishing, 10,000 XP) and Troubled Tortugans at 45 as soon as you meet its other requirements:
Troubled Tortugans
- 45 SailingNot boostable
- 51 SlayerNot boostable
- 48 ConstructionNot boostable
- 45 HunterNot boostable
- 40 WoodcuttingNot boostable
- 34 CraftingNot boostable
- Pandemonium complete
Connect your account in the header to auto-check these requirements.
It pays 10,000 Sailing XP, opens The Great Conch and unlocks the Summer Shore courier route.
Levels 55-72: The Jubbly Jive
Needs a mithril helm (55 Sailing, 47 Construction, 8 mithril bars) and an inoculation station (40 Sailing, 37 Construction, partial Zogre Flesh Eaters).
| Rank | XP per trial | XP per hour |
|---|---|---|
| Swordfish | 2,392 | 64,746 |
| Shark | 4,270 | 80,905 |
| Marlin | 8,176 | 88,923 |
The Shark rank, under 3:00, awards the captured wind mote for the wind catcher. Complete The Red Reef at 52 (48 Smithing, Troubled Tortugans) for 15,000 XP and 2 quest points, and Fallen From Grace at 62 for 12,500 XP. Fallen From Grace wants a raft or skiff, not a sloop, and there is no bank on Wyrmscraig until it is done; the Wyrmscraig guide covers the fight.
If you would rather not race, the Rellekka courier route opens at 62: check the Rellekka board for Aldarin, Sunset Coast or Port Roberts deliveries, fill remaining slots down the Varlamore and Kourend coasts, and summon the boat to Aldarin with a teleport focus. The wiki estimates about 66,000 XP per hour with only Rellekka unlocked and about 99,000 once Etceteria is available at 65, and notes rates depend heavily on which tasks the boards offer. At 70 with Song of the Elves, the Prifddinas route is estimated at 71,000 to 77,000.
Courier figures are unretested
The wiki says every courier route estimate was extrapolated from testing done before courier XP was raised by 10% on 3 June 2026, and that none has been independently retested since. Treat them as ballpark numbers.
Levels 72-99: The Gwenith Glide
Needs Regicide and an adamant keel (66 Sailing, 62 Construction, 74 Smithing, 50 adamantite bars).
| Rank | XP per trial | XP per hour |
|---|---|---|
| Swordfish | 4,100 | 113,538 |
| Shark | 9,315 | 144,543 |
| Marlin | 19,410 | 184,369 |
With a crystal extractor harvested during laps the wiki puts the Marlin rank at about 198,000 XP per hour, and with a rosewood hull at 93 Sailing and 84 Construction (both boostable) it says 200,000 or higher. The Shark rank, under 3:42, awards the heart of Ithell for the extractor.
The Lunar Isle courier route from 76 is the relaxed alternative: accept every round-trip task on the Lunar Isle board (Aldarin 12,671 XP, Deepfin Point 9,092, Civitas illa Fortis 7,381, Port Roberts 5,851, Prifddinas 5,491, Piscatoris 3,150), add Prifddinas round trips, fill slots at the furthest pickup and sail back. At 84 you hold five tasks. The wiki's estimate is 130,000 to 160,000 XP per hour depending on board luck, upgrades and the extractor.
Crystal extractor
Built at 73 Sailing and 67 Construction, it makes wind motes, and harvesting one gives 250 Sailing XP roughly every 63 seconds. That is 15,000 XP per hour used perfectly and about 10,000 realistically, on top of anything else you are doing. On a skiff, put it in the slot to the right of the helm so you can harvest without leaving the helm; on a sloop, above and to the left of the helm, or next to your main salvaging hook.
Lower-input alternatives
Shipwreck salvaging from 15, much better after the salvaging station at 42. Jagex's own published tests, with four-deckhandiness crew and no extractor, were 35,000 to 40,000 XP per hour at 97 Sailing sorting casually while two crewmates worked two dragon hooks, about 85,000 actively multitasking, and 105,000 to 110,000 at 87 with rune hooks salvaging and sorting actively. Tick manipulation roughly doubles to 2.5 times that. The full method, wreck tiers and loot are in the shipwreck salvaging guide.
Deep sea trawling trains Fishing at the same time. The wiki marks all of its estimates as provisional and incomplete, but the recorded ones on a sloop with two nets run from 7,000 to 10,000 Sailing XP per hour on a giant krill shoal with rope nets (56 Sailing, 69 Fishing) up to 57,000 to 60,000 on halibut or bluefin shoals with cotton nets (84 Sailing, 83 or 87 Fishing), the top figures including extractor XP. In May 2026 Jagex roughly doubled trawling XP and cut the gather interval from 4 ticks to 3.
Bounty tasks are for drops, not XP: the wiki says their XP was cut 25% in April 2026 and the task lengths were raised about five times in June with XP rebalanced to match. All bounty tasks can be done at 80.
