By now you should have:
Assembled your ship
Arranged Islands on the table

STEP ONE: Find Out How Far You Ship Can Sail?.

You will use your ruler to determine how far a ship can sail across the table, while referencing your Ship Chart to find its speed. To the left, you will see a handy picture that shows you what to look for. The numbers going down the right-hand side of your Ship Chart tell you two things: 1) How many inches your ship can move in one turn, and 2) how close it is to sinking. We'll touch more on 2) in a later entry. For now, we'll just say that a ship (undamaged) can sail 6" per turn.

STEP TWO: Line Up Your Ruler.

Place your ruler along the length of your boat, with the black rectangle ending at the very tip of your piece. If the ruler had a 0" mark, you would want it to begin at your piece's tip. Whenever you move your piece, you should always measure to the front tip instead of any other point.

STEP THREE: Move Your Ship.

Slide your ship along the length of your ruler as far as you A) can, or B) want to. There are certain times when you won't want to move your ship as far as it can possibly move. Remember how many inches you moved, though. After Firing, turning, or selling goods at an island, you may want to continue moving. You don't get a full fresh 6", you get the left-overs from the start of your turn. See the diagram above for an example of moving along the ruler.

STEP FOUR – Turning Your Piece

Your ship piece may only ever move in a straight line. In order to avoid pirates and reach faraway islands, then, you must turn your piece before you move. First, look at the numbers along the outside of the piece's base. Each box-ish marking counts as one inch of speed. Decide how far you would like to turn your piece, and make a note of where that marking is with your finger. Then, turn the tip of your piece until it reaches your marking finger. You may turn after moving, just be sure to keep track of how far you have gone already. It is possible to move, turn, and then move again if you are careful and thoughtful

STEP FIVE: Special Turning Notes

There are three special turning circumstances:

1) The Schooner Scenario - The numbers that go along a Schooner's outer edge are different from the Galleon and Frigate. Instead of requiring a full 6" to face in the opposite direction, the Schooner only requires 4". This allows the Schooner to turn more quickly, and use more of its speed to move forwards towards islands and away from pirates.

2) Power Rudder - After the game is over, you will sometimes have to option to buy a Power Rudder. This ship upgrade is very useful and powerful. It gives you one free inch of turning every turn of every game. This means you can sail 4' and still turn 3" (see, they add up to 7"!). You may also move 6" and still turn the free inch. You may not, though, sail 7" in a straight line. The Power Rudder doesn't work like that.

Dodge the Pilot - You may only move and turn during your own turn. The Dodge the Pilot upgrade, though, allows you to suddenly turn your ship 1" every time anyone fires a cannon at your piece. This does not count against you during your turn. Think of him as an emergency Power Ruder.