OSRS Sailing Skill: The Red Reef Quest Is Live - New Cannonballs, Bosun's Bench & XP Buffs Explained
By Yellow Hat Editorial ·
The Red Reef, OSRS Sailing's second Tortugan quest, is live. Here's everything in the May 21 update: new cannonball types, Bosun's Bench, doubled Deep Sea Trawling XP rates, and what's next for the skill.
The Sailing skill's second story quest launched on May 21, and it's quickly become the most-discussed update of the fortnight. The Red Reef - the second chapter in the Tortugan storyline - raises the bar for what Sailing can tell as a skill, and it brought some genuinely game-changing combat mechanics alongside it.
THE QUEST The Red Reef requires Troubled Tortugans completed, Level 52 Sailing, and Level 48 Smithing to start. Find Elder Raley in the south-east house of Summer Shore and you're in. The quest continues Floopa's storyline, investigating a new threat to the Tortugans, and on completion rewards access to the Bosun's Bench schematic - a new boat facility that handles repairs automatically while you sail. One less thing to juggle at sea.
THE NEW CANNONBALLS Two new ammo types are the bigger mechanical story. Chainshot reduces enemy movement speed for five seconds - excellent for sea encounters where maintaining range is critical. Incendiary cannonballs apply a burn-over-time that bypasses flat armour bonuses entirely. That armour-ignoring burn is already reshaping sea combat theory. Most players expect Incendiaries to become the default choice in multi-target encounters rapidly. Auto-retaliate for ship cannons also went live in the same patch, toggled under options.
XP RATES ACROSS THE BOARD Jagex acknowledged that Deep Sea Trawling XP was too demanding for too little reward and roughly doubled the rates. Character gather rate also dropped from 4 ticks to 3 ticks, speeding up the loop without eliminating the 2-tick method for dedicated efficiency players.
THE KEY CHANGES AT A GLANCE - New quest: The Red Reef (Experienced tier; requires Level 52 Sailing, 48 Smithing) - Reward: Bosun's Bench schematic (auto-repair facility for your boat) - Chainshot cannonballs: slows target movement speed for 5 seconds - Incendiary cannonballs: DoT burn that bypasses flat armour bonuses - Auto-retaliate for cannons now live (toggleable under options) - Deep Sea Trawling Sailing XP roughly doubled - Gather rate buffed from 4 ticks to 3 ticks
WHERE THE SKILL STANDS NOW Sailing has been in the water long enough for the community to move from "does this fit OSRS?" to genuinely arguing about optimal sea routes and build orders. The Red Reef adds narrative depth that the skill needed, the new cannonballs add proper combat identity, and the XP changes make mid-game Sailing feel less punishing. The Tortugan storyline has more chapters to come - and Wyrmscraig, the community-designed island that won the Sailing poll, arrives this summer to expand the skill's world further.
Starting a new account to experience Sailing from the beginning? Yellow Hat carries a wide selection of [OSRS accounts](/osrs/accounts) ready to go - escrow-protected, instant delivery.
(Sources: xpgained.co.uk patch notes May 21, 2026; oldschool.runescape.com; Jagex game update blog. Last updated May 20, 2026.)
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