All our courses are engaging, interactive and fun! Whether formal training or simply looking to brush up, we take online learning to the next level.
Sailing EssentialsFreeA free course great for anyone who spends time on the water.
Essential Navigation & SeamanshipRYA course for beginners. Learn charts, tides, pilotage, and core seamanship with simple practice tasks.
Day Skipper TheoryMost PopularRYA course for inshore skippers. Plan day passages using chartwork, tides, weather, and COLREGs.
Coastal Skipper / Yachtmaster® TheoryComing SoonRYA course for advanced navigation and passage planning, secondary ports, tidal streams, and offshore weather.
SRC (VHF) Marine Radio CourseRYA Short Range Certificate radio course. Study online, then take the practical exam with an RYA assessor.Are you looking for something nautical related? Our directory is an extensive list of courses and places associated with the marine industry. Hop over and search now.
We believe every day’s a school day on a boat! That’s why we built Nautical Know-How, dedicated to answering your questions. Even better, if it can’t answer your question immediately, you can request it, and we’ll add it to our knowledge base.
Nautical Terms & TerminologyUnderstanding the language of the marine world is like trying to learn a pirate’s secret code while juggling fish. Let us explain why a sheet isn’t for your bed, why “heave ho” doesn’t mean throw up (most of the time), and why “dead reckoning” is surprisingly less ominous than it sounds.
Why do we have tides?Have you ever wondered what causes the tides? Check out this video, which introduces the forces that create the tides we experience on Earth.
What causes our weather?A video introducing the drivers behind our weather, part of our RYA Day Skipper & RYA Coastal Skipper / Yachtmaster® Offshore theory courses.
Buoyage FlashcardsFlashcards designed to help remember the buoys in the IALA system. If you want to learn them in detail, our module ‘Getting in and out of harbour‘, covers the IALA system and different buoys used.
Interactive Rule Book (COLREGs / IRPCS)Whether you’re a novice sailor or a seasoned skipper, we can help you navigate the IRPCS confidently and clearly. Our easy-to-use, easy-to-understand, plain English rule book with helpful interpretations of what each rule means.
The Salty Sea BlogFrom salty old sea dogs to fresh-faced deckhands, this blog is for anyone who finds peace, adventure, and a bit of mischief on the water. So hoist the main, set your course, and let’s sail into the stories, lessons, and musings that make life on the sea so irresistible.Understanding the language of the marine world is like trying to learn a pirate’s secret code while juggling fish. You’ll wonder why a “sheet” isn’t something you sleep under but a rope that controls a sail. “Bowsprit” sounds like a sneeze, “booby hatch” isn’t a bird’s hideout, and “port” doesn’t come in a glass—it’s just left. If someone yells, “Man overboard!” don’t ask which direction they swam. And heaven help you if you think “scuttlebutt” is gossip—well, actually, you’d be right about that one. By the time you’ve figured out that “head” means toilet and “galley” isn’t an alley with gourds, you’ve already been hit with a wave and lost your hat to the wind they call a “nor’easter.”
Let us explain why a sheet isn’t for your bed, why “heave ho” doesn’t mean throw up (most of the time), and why “dead reckoning” is surprisingly less ominous than it sounds.
The heel angle at which a vessel’s righting lever reduces to zero after its initial range of positive stability. Before the AVS, the intact vessel normally has positive righting ability and tends to return towards upright when the heeling force is removed. Beyond it, the righting lever becomes negative and the vessel tends to continue…
An expression meaning the straight-line distance between two places, without following roads, channels or terrain. At sea, a straight line on a chart is not automatically a safe or practicable route. Land, shoals, traffic separation schemes, restricted areas, weather and tidal streams may require a longer planned track. Stories that the expression arose from releasing…
A maritime superstition that carrying bananas aboard a boat brings bad luck. The belief is particularly associated with some fishing and recreational-boating communities. Suggested explanations include fast fruit-carrying voyages, hazards hidden among cargo, premature ripening of other produce and coincidences involving lost vessels, but no single origin is established reliably. It has no navigational or…
The chapter of the SOLAS Convention setting international requirements for safe navigation and navigational services and equipment. It covers matters including navigational warnings, meteorological services, search and rescue, hydrographic services, routeing, reporting, carriage of navigation systems, charts and publications, voyage planning, danger messages and the master’s professional judgement. Unlike many SOLAS chapters, parts of Chapter…
The volunteer crewed rescue service providing 24-hour services around the UK and Irish coastline. They also provide seasonal lifeguards who look after people on busy beaches.
A type-approved shipborne navigation system meeting IMO performance standards for displaying official electronic chart data and supporting route planning and monitoring. With adequate backup arrangements and up-to-date official chart data, ECDIS can satisfy applicable SOLAS chart-carriage requirements. It integrates position and other sensor information with chart objects, safety contours, route checks, alarms and official updates….
The predicted minimum distance between two moving targets if both maintain their present course and speed. Commonly abbreviated to CPA, it is calculated from relative motion and is normally considered with Time to Closest Point of Approach, or TCPA. Radar, AIS and plotting systems can display these values to support assessment of an approaching vessel….
The predicted time remaining until two moving objects reach their calculated closest point of approach if their motions remain unchanged. TCPA is derived with closest point of approach from relative position and velocity, using radar plotting, ARPA, AIS or other tracking. A positive value normally indicates the CPA is ahead in time; a negative value…
Detailed navigation in confined, coastal or harbour waters using a pre-planned sequence of references, limits and actions. A pilotage plan can use visual marks, transits, clearing bearings, soundings, radar ranges, GNSS positions, buoyage, tidal windows, courses, speeds and abort points. It is prepared at a scale and tempo that supports continuous monitoring as hazards and…
Official or authoritative publications giving descriptive navigation information that supplements nautical charts. They can describe coast and harbour approaches, hazards, currents, climate, routeing, regulations, reporting, pilotage, facilities and local procedures that cannot be shown fully on a chart. Hydrographic offices issue regional volumes under names such as Sailing Directions or Pilots. The correct volume, edition,…
If you belive the Earth is flat, you're about to fall of the end...
If you belive the Earth is flat, you're about to fall of the end...
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