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.
A sideways tendency of a vessel’s stern caused by transverse forces from a rotating propeller. Also called transverse thrust or prop walk, it is often most noticeable when applying astern power at low speed before useful water flow reaches the rudder. Direction and strength depend on propeller rotation, shaft angle, aperture, hull and rudder geometry,…
A fast, turbulent tidal stream, often concentrated by seabed or coastal features. Tidal races form where large volumes of water are forced through narrow channels, around headlands or over abrupt changes of depth. Eddies, overfalls and steep waves may develop, especially near the strongest part of the stream. Conditions can deteriorate sharply when wind opposes…
A radio-detection system that measures the range and direction of objects by transmitting energy and processing returned echoes. Marine radar can detect coast, vessels, buoys, rain and other reflecting targets and supports position checking, collision assessment and navigation in restricted visibility. Pulse, broadband and solid-state systems use differing waveforms, frequencies and processing but share the…
The vertical difference between a high water and an adjacent low water. A falling-tide range is measured from high water to the following low water, while a rising-tide range can be measured from low water to the following high water. Range varies through the spring-neap cycle and with longer astronomical constituents and local geography. Observed…
A digital chart made from a georeferenced image of a paper nautical chart. A raster chart preserves the printed chart’s appearance as a grid of pixels. Navigation software can place the vessel’s position and other overlays on the image, but the individual symbols, soundings and lines are not separate selectable objects as they are on…
The speed of a tidal current at a stated position and time. Rate is normally expressed in knots and paired with set, the direction towards which the water flows. It changes through the tidal cycle and with springs, neaps, depth and location, and can differ substantially across a channel or near a headland. Atlas and…
A point of sail with the apparent wind between close-hauled and directly astern. A close reach has the apparent wind forward of the beam, a beam reach approximately abeam and a broad reach abaft the beam. Exact angles vary with vessel, rig, sail and whether true or apparent wind is being referenced. Reaching often allows…
A hinged chartwork instrument used to transfer a direction across a chart while keeping the same alignment. The two straightedges remain parallel as the instrument is walked across the chart. This allows a course or bearing line to be moved to a compass rose for reading, or a direction from the rose to be transferred…
For a vessel’s bow to turn away from the wind. The expression can describe an intentional helm action or a response to wind, sails, current, waves or loss of forward speed. It is similar to bear away or fall off, although usage varies between regions and types of vessel. Paying off changes the apparent wind…
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…
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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