AD / ←→Steer (helm stays where you leave it; Space centres it)
WSMainsheet trim / ease
↑↓Jib or gennaker sheet trim / ease
Shift+↑↓Staysail sheet (cutter)
ZXTraveler to windward / leeward
CVVang ease / tension
NMBackstay ease / tension (bends mast, tightens forestay)
QEYour weight in / hike out (turns automatic weight off)
FLet the jib sheet fly (the turns off its winch or cleat: it runs out under load and the clew can cross)
CleatsEvery line is held by what the real boat has: cam or clam cleat, V-jammer, horn cleat, clutch, ratchet block, car lock or winch. Its button in the panel (or the part on deck) makes it fast or casts it off, each in its own time — a cam at once, a horn cleat's figure-eights in seconds. Released, a loaded line dumps (cam, clutch) or surges round the drum (winch, horn); a ratchet leaves it in your hand. Hauling goes through a cam, clutch or ratchet; easing, or hauling off a horn cleat, takes the line off first. Overloaded, a cleat slips.
J⇧JHaul / ease the lazy jib sheet on the windward winch — backs the jib (una-rig: push the boom out)
GHoist / douse gennaker
RReef (cycles 0 → 1 → 2) · rights a capsized dinghy
YDaggerboard or centreboard up / down
T HAutomatic trim / automatic weight
BStart / stop the engine, on boats that carry one (a racing sportboat's or Melges' outboard is stowed below). Racing, using it after the preparatory signal retires you. On a desktop its throttle and Start button are at the foot of the rig panel
PgUpPgDn / ][Throttle ahead / astern (or the two keys right of P on any layout) — one lever through a neutral detent; the gear shifts once the engine is back at idle
1–7Chase · Helm · Bow · Masthead · Overhead · Orbit · On deck
On deckPoint at a rope, car, winch or the tiller: pull ropes up/down, slide cars along their tracks, wind winch handles round either way (clockwise = fast gear, anticlockwise = slow powerful gear; the drum only turns one way — drag a sheet tail down to ease), push the tiller sideways, click the reef line or gennaker halyard.
L K ILaylines · force vectors · physics readout
Shift+BRacing: “Protest!” — a boat that did not keep clear of you (the umpire rules at once; contact and mark touches it penalises by itself). A ring on each boat near you: green, you have right of way; red, keep clear of her; amber, she is owed room or mark-room
Shift+URacing: hail “Room to tack!” at an obstruction to the boat to windward (rule 20); hailed yourself, tack, or answer “You tack”. A penalty: turn the same way round, each turn a tack and a gybe, before the countdown ends
TabChart: seamarks and lights, depths, your track; click or tap to set a waypoint (a mark: steer for it)
Shift+OAutopilot (Pilot on the toolbar): sails to the waypoint (racing, round the course) as the AI crews do — laylines, tacks and gybes, the kite, reefs, the shallows, the racing rules — trimming for you, and a coach line says what it does and why. With no waypoint it holds the wind angle. Touch the helm and it lets go
U 9 0Anchor down / weigh (keelboats) · lines: make fast alongside a pier or to a mooring, cast off · MOB: mark the spot on the plotter
DamageLoads break gear: shrouds part, sails tear or blow out, collisions and groundings hole the hull and she takes water (pump, or she sinks), a rudder bends, a keel can go. The Boat section of the rig panel shows it all, with the crew's strength (hiking and grinding tire them) — and Damage: off.
- =Time warp, up to ×8 (free sail, or racing until 20 s before the gun)
P EscPause (not online) · menu (Esc first closes the help, the chart or the results)
O ?Sound on / off (Snd on the toolbar: volume of each kind of sound) · this help (also F1, Shift+H)
Shift+LArrange the HUD (or Arrange HUD in the menu): drag any panel where you want it, hide the ones you don't need, reset to the default layout. Kept on this device
MouseDrag to look around, wheel to zoom. Click the map to set a waypoint.
TouchDrag to look around, pinch to zoom, tap the map for a waypoint. Hold ◀ ▶ to steer and Trim / Ease for the sheets; the third row works one more line (tap its name for the next: traveler, vang, weight, board…). Tap a rope, winch or cleat on deck to grab it. Rig opens every line.