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.Marine navigation has its own secret language, and let’s face it—half of it sounds like someone making things up after too much grog. You’ve got your ‘dead reckoning,’ which isn’t nearly as ominous as it sounds, and ‘bearing,’ which has nothing to do with polar bears but everything to do with pointing the right way. Don’t even get us started on ‘knots’—why measure speed like you’re tying a shoelace? And then there’s ‘fix (not for your engine) and ‘DR’ (spoiler: it’s not a doctor). If you’re baffled, don’t worry—we’re here to help you decipher this nautical code so you can sound like a pro, not a landlubber who’s lost their compass.
The angular difference at a location between true north and magnetic north. Also called magnetic declination, it is named east or west according to the direction of magnetic north from true north. Charts state a value for a reference year and an annual change because the Earth’s magnetic field evolves over time and varies geographically….
A digital chart whose features are stored as individually encoded points, lines, areas and attributes. Vector data allow the display system to select layers, interrogate objects, change presentation by scale and apply safety settings or alarms. An official Electronic Navigational Chart is a vector chart produced to IHO standards by or under a government hydrographic…
The component of a vessel’s velocity in a specified target direction. In sailing, VMG often means progress directly upwind or downwind and combines boat speed with the angle to the true-wind axis. Navigation instruments may instead label speed towards a waypoint as VMG, so the reference direction must be identified. Optimising VMG does not always…
The disturbed flow and wave pattern left behind a vessel or other body moving through water. A vessel’s wake can include divergent and transverse waves, propeller wash, turbulence and a region of changed current. Its size and persistence depend on speed, displacement, hull form, depth, channel width and propulsion rather than speed alone. Wake can…
To remain or move away from a shore, vessel, hazard or position rather than approach it closely. The instruction can mean maintaining sea room, waiting clear of an entrance, increasing distance from danger or holding outside an operating area. It describes an intended relationship, not one fixed distance or manoeuvre. A safe stand-off distance depends…
To maintain course and speed as the stand-on vessel while monitoring an encounter and remaining ready to avoid collision. The requirement allows the give-way vessel to predict the stand-on vessel’s movement. The stand-on vessel may take action when it becomes apparent that the give-way vessel is not acting appropriately and must take action when collision…
A tidal reference location for which independent predictions of high- and low-water times and heights are published. A standard port provides the base data from which published corrections can be applied to associated secondary ports. The exact prediction method, time zone, datum, interval and available stream information depend on the responsible hydrographic publication. It is…
The right-hand side of a vessel when facing forward. Starboard is fixed to the vessel and does not change with the observer’s facing direction. Its opposite is port, and the terms avoid the ambiguity of left and right when people aboard face different ways. At night the starboard sidelight is green and marks the prescribed…
The direction approximately at right angles to the vessel’s centreline on its starboard side. An object abeam to starboard has a relative bearing close to 090 degrees. In less precise speech, ‘on the starboard beam’ can refer to a small sector around that direction rather than exactly one bearing. The reference turns with the vessel…
The forward part of a vessel’s starboard side, or the relative direction forward of the starboard beam. As a structural location it lies towards the bow on the right when facing forward. As a lookout report, an object on the starboard bow lies in the sector between approximately dead ahead and abeam to starboard. The…
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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