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 predicted date and time at which a vessel will reach a stated position, destination or operational point. Usually abbreviated ETA, it is calculated from remaining distance and expected progress, with allowances for route, speed changes, weather, current, traffic, pilotage, locks, port instructions and other foreseeable delays. The stated time zone and the point that…
A navigable channel or recognised route through a harbour, river or other confined waterway. A fairway is normally the part of the waterway intended for through navigation and may be defined by its depth, lateral marks, charted limits or local directions. It is not necessarily the deepest water everywhere, and its available width and depth…
A safe water mark used to identify a channel centreline, approach or landfall. Under the IALA buoyage system, the mark has red-and-white vertical stripes and may carry a single red spherical topmark. Its permitted white-light characteristics identify it as safe water rather than a lateral or isolated-danger mark. A fairway mark is often placed at…
A determined vessel position obtained from observations or reliable position data. A traditional fix is plotted from two or more position lines observed at the same time or corrected to a common time. Electronic navigation systems can provide a direct position fix from GNSS or another suitable positioning source. Every fix has uncertainty arising from…
A rhythmic navigation light whose periods of light are shorter in total than its periods of darkness.
The rising phase of the tide between low water and the following high water. Flood describes changing water level; the associated horizontal flow is a flood tidal stream. That stream may begin or end at a different time from local low or high water and may follow a channel rather than simply flowing directly towards…
The shortest lateral distance from a vessel’s position to its active intended track line. Usually abbreviated XTE or XTD, it is calculated by a navigation system relative to the selected route leg and may be given a port or starboard sign. It is a distance, not a rate of drift, and depends on how the…
A sustained movement of water with a measurable direction and speed. Currents may be driven by wind, density differences, large-scale ocean circulation, river flow, pressure gradients or other processes. Tidal streams are periodic horizontal water movements caused by the tide and are often treated separately in UK navigation terminology. A current changes a vessel’s movement…
Estimating a vessel’s position by advancing a known position using course steered, speed through the water and elapsed time. A dead-reckoning position, commonly marked DR, is plotted without using a new external position observation. In the traditional UK distinction, effects such as tidal stream and leeway are applied to obtain an estimated position rather than…
The vertical distance from the water surface to the seabed or another underwater feature at a stated time and position. Actual water depth changes with tide, surge, waves and water-level variation. A charted depth is instead referenced to chart datum and must be combined with the height of tide or water level to estimate 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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