Sailing


 * For the minigame involving sailing, see player-owned ports.

Sailing is a hyped and discussed skill that has never actually been released. It was among the most popular points of speculation as to what the then upcoming Dungeoneering skill would be, and subsequently became a running joke amongst the RuneScape community. It is commonly referenced by Jagex, and has featured in some of their April Fools jokes.

However, with the introduction of elite skills, it is potential upcoming content.

History
Shortly before the RuneScape HD update in early July 2008, an image appeared that apparently showed a new skill in the Hiscores called "Sailing". It was featured in a YouTube video that was uploaded on 3 July 2008, and included other "evidence" for the imminent release of Sailing. This led to a flood of related posts on the RuneScape Forums. However, Mod Dave posted on the forums on 11 July 2008 to say: "I can conform [sic] that image that has been going around the Internet was spoofed and there is no Sailing Skill."

Soon after, some people claimed that the RuneScape website header image of the time appeared to show a mage on a boat whilst wearing a "sailing cape", a fictional Cape of Accomplishment. However, in the Q&amp;A on 10 September 2009, Mod Mark described this as "a crazy rumour based on a picture of a mage on a dock, who apparently is sailing a ship. He isn’t, and there is no Sailing skill."

Many players speculated that the new skill of 2010 would be Sailing, although a Jagex Moderator confirmed the new skill was not Sailing. Via in-game chat, Mark Gerhard said "no it will not be sailing unless of course I get sacked first :)" However, during a live Q&A session on the RuneScape Forums on August 6, 2009, a player asked: "In your CC you allegedly said that Sailing will not become a skill while you're CEO, true?" Mod Gerhard replied by stating: "I was only joking around about sailing, maybe there will be sailing maybe there won't be?", followed by a winking emoticon. This implied that Sailing could possibly be a future skill.

This apparent uncertainty was rebuffed again in a Q&amp;A on 10 September 2009, when Mod Mark said of the planned new skill: "Honestly, it’s not the Sailing skill. That was a crazy rumour based on a picture of a mage on a dock, who apparently is sailing a ship. He isn’t, and there is no Sailing skill. ... Oh, and the new skill is far better than sailing." Mod Fetzki added: "We couldn’t believe it when we saw the fake Sailing icon that someone had put on to the Highscores list, but the community identified it as a fake very quickly."

Legacy
After Dungeoneering was finally released, much of the speculation over Sailing died down, although it remained an in-joke among both the RuneScape community and Jagex, and many updates are jokingly speculated to be "Sailing" before they're actually released.

Since then, Jagex have referenced Sailing many times, including:
 * In the April Fools Behind the Scenes of 2011, where it was briefly mentioned as an update scheduled to be released that month
 * In the Cryptic Clue Fest III as the answer to the crossword clue "The skill that never was"
 * The lyrics of the Player Owned Ports Ahoy promotional video for Player-Owned Ports proclaim that "You thought that Sailing was a new skill, but no it's not that easy".
 * In Behind the Scenes Video 64, while in front of a boat at Tobacco Dock, Mod Mark states that the new skill is not Sailing, but in fact Divination.
 * In Behind the Scenes Video 65 a "breaking news" banner at the bottom left of the screen displayed the message "Sailing Skill confirmed!".
 * In dialogue with Tiny Lucien, he asks players "Sailing or Riding?", and regardless of the player's choice, tells them to be silent, as only he can decide.
 * Sailing was added to the skill level up guide on the Hero tab as part of the 2014 April Fools event, and was actually released as a trainable skill in Old School RuneScape at the same time, although only up to level 21.
 * Sailing is one of the available names for gear presets, which were released on 7 April 2014.

2014 April Fools
On April Fool's Day 2014, as a Hidden update, Jagex added Sailing as one of the skills on the skill level up guide section of the Hero tab, although it was not visible on the main Skills tab or trainable in any way. Despite this, a full list of level unlocks was available, a list of which can be found here, and like Dungeoneering, the highest level for this "skill" was 120, which oddly enough only grants normal Skill Mastery instead of True Skill Mastery, like Dungeoneering.

Strangely, level 51 in the fake Sailing skill unlocks both "8 crew members" and "10 crew members", despite this being an obvious contradiction.

Possible Elite Skill
Sailing is one of the purposed elite skills that are set to come out in 2016. It will require at least two level 80 skills to unlock it in Construction, Fletching, Crafting and Agility.