Yeah hi so this is how I sail ships, it can be a bit complicated at first, but you’ll be sailing hundreds of blocks every minute (assuming you’re sailing in open waters)

How it works:

• Helm signs work by rotating the ship about that point, it acts as a pivot
• By adding two or more helm signs to a ship, you can rotate it about several different points
• Putting two of these helm signs far apart lets you move your ship about these two far away point, and in the process you move your ship a lot further

When to use this technique:

• When travelling in reasonably straight lines (or perfect diagonals)
• When in open waters (not a canal or small pond)
• When you have a big ship (won’t work very well on smaller ships, not much point really)
• If you don’t mind running back and forth a lot (with speed I or II if possible)

What you’ll need:

• Roughly a stack (64) of wood, wool, or any other block that can be used on a ship
• 3 or 4 signs
• A ship (duh)
• *Optional* Speed I or II potions

Step by step guide:

1. Find your ship, make sure it can sail, pretty obvious

2. Make a sideways pole along your ship using your stack of blocks. Don’t add it to the front of your ship, make sure you can sprint from end to end freely, and that it is along the whole length of your ship. It doesn’t really matter how far along you put the pole/ship; the ship could be in the middle, or at either end. I recommend having it at one of the ends.

3. Place helm signs at either end of the pole, and another roughly 2/3rds down the pole (as seen in the picture above). You’ll be using the ones at either end for the majority of your moving, and any other helm signs along the ship for small adjustments (if the area you are rotating your ship in doesn’t allow you to rotate the whole rod + ship, you may be able to rotate it about one of the helm signs in the middle of the pole)

[No image see above]

4. Pilot your ship, drink your speed potions (if you have any), and run to the front of the pole. Use the helm sign at the front to rotate it twice so that you are now facing the opposite direction. You will have rotated the ship by 180 degrees:

5. Run to the other end of the pole (that should now be pointing in the direction you’re travelling), and click it twice to rotate your ship again by 180 degrees. It should now be facing in the same direction as when you started. In the image below, imagine that the whole ship is facing the other way (i took all the pictures with crazymoneyy while the ship was stationary, thanks crazy <3)

6. Hopefully (providing there was enough space for the ship to rotate) you will have moved your ship quite a far distance. If the pole you made was 64 blocks long, and put a helm sign at either end, it means that after rotating the ship twice (it will take you roughly 10 seconds), you will have moved 128 blocks forward. Thats a lot better than the standard cruise speed of 4 blocks every 2 seconds (20 blocks after 10 seconds).

This means that, assuming you are in open waters, in 1 minute you will have traveled:

• 120 blocks in cruise mode (depending on the ship)
• Roughly 140 blocks in direct control mode
• At least 750 blocks using my helm sign method

Thats a helluva lot faster

(hope this helped)