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.To release rope, chain, cable or wire progressively under control. Paying out increases the deployed length of an anchor rode, mooring line, towline, cable or similar item. The operation may use hands, a brake, winch, windlass, drum or capstan according to the load and equipment. Control is the defining feature: a freely running line can…
A long structural member driven or fixed vertically into the bed of a river, harbour or sea. Piles may be timber, steel, concrete or another suitable material. They support piers and pontoons, guide floating structures as the water level changes, carry navigation marks or mooring fittings, and can be grouped to form dolphins or protective…
A coastal or inland-water location equipped or designated for vessels to berth, shelter, transfer people or cargo, or obtain services. A port can include approach channels, anchorages, terminals, docks, marinas, repair facilities, customs areas and a harbour authority’s jurisdiction. Not every port performs cargo or passenger operations, and a port may exist within a harbour…
A substantial structure extending from the shore to shelter a harbour or provide a berthing face. A mole is normally built from rock, masonry, concrete or a combination of materials. It can reduce wave action within a harbour and may carry a roadway, railway, walkway, services or cargo-handling equipment. Its sheltered side may be designed…
An arrangement that secures a vessel to the seabed, shore or a fixed structure, or the act of using that arrangement. A mooring may consist of lines to a berth, a permanent buoy and ground tackle, piles, dolphins, fore-and-aft anchors or another engineered system. Unlike anchoring with the vessel’s own anchor, a permanent mooring is…
A buoy connected to seabed ground tackle and intended to provide or identify a point for securing a vessel. The vessel normally connects to a pickup line, pendant, ring or riser associated with the buoy rather than anchoring independently. Buoy colour, markings, ownership and permitted use vary by jurisdiction and purpose; some mooring buoys also…
A metal ring provided as an attachment point for a vessel’s mooring line or connection. A mooring ring may be fitted to a buoy, quay, wall, pile or another fixed structure. A line can be passed through it or connected by an appropriate shackle or strop, depending on the mooring arrangement and local instructions. The…
The vessel’s overall fore-and-aft length measured between the specified extreme points. LOA usually spans the foremost and aftermost permanent parts of the hull or vessel, but standards, marinas and authorities differ over whether bowsprits, pulpits, davits, rudders, outboards and other projections are included. It is therefore a defined measurement only when the convention is stated….
A length of rope, cordage or wire assigned to a particular working purpose aboard a vessel. Once cordage is selected and put to use it is commonly named for its function, such as a sheet, halyard, mooring line, painter or towline. Material, construction, diameter, stretch and termination are chosen for the expected load and handling…
An enclosed section of a waterway in which the water level is changed to transfer vessels between different levels. A chamber is closed by gates and filled or emptied through sluices, culverts or pumps until its level matches the waterway ahead. Locks range from manually operated canal structures to large controlled systems for ships, and…
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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