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.A survival-craft locating device that replies to a searching 9 GHz radar with a distinctive series of returns. When interrogated by compatible X-band radar, a radar SART produces a line of dots or arcs on the rescuer’s display leading towards the device. It is carried on ships and survival craft under applicable GMDSS requirements. It…
A mooring line led from the vessel’s stern area forward to a shore or berth fitting. It opposes the vessel’s movement astern and, together with head lines, stern lines and a forward spring, controls fore-and-aft position and yaw alongside. Lead, length, elasticity and load sharing affect performance. Spring lines can carry high loads and create…
Electronic chart systems intended for certain small commercial vessels that do not carry type-approved ECDIS. In the UK context, Small Vessel Electronic Chart System standards address equipment and official chart-data arrangements for eligible coded or regulated vessels, including functional, display, update and backup expectations set by the applicable authority. Eligibility and carriage treatment depend on…
A stopper knot formed by passing the working end around the standing part and back through the resulting loop in a figure-eight path. It creates a bulky, relatively secure stop that helps prevent a line running through a fairlead, clutch, block or other fitting. It is generally easier to untie after loading than a simple…
An unintended gybe in which the boom and mainsail cross the vessel abruptly as the apparent wind moves across the stern. It may result from poor course control, rolling, a wind shift, an over-eased course or loss of steering. The boom, mainsheet and traveller can move with great force, risking injury, gear damage, broach or…
A proprietary-style fixed-shank plough anchor with a weighted, roughly triangular fluke designed to set quickly. The original Delta design and similar anchors use a single concave or plough-form fluke without a roll bar. They generally perform well in sand and mud, but holding and reset behaviour varies with size, seabed, scope, loading and the particular…
A measured line with a drag device used to determine a vessel’s speed through the water. In the traditional chip log, a sector-shaped board was streamed astern while the line paid out. Knots spaced at calibrated intervals were counted during a timed period, giving speed directly in knots. The reading was speed through the water,…
A structure formed by interlacing or looping rope, cord or similar flexible material so it holds under an intended load. Knots may form a fixed or adjustable loop, join two lines, attach a line to an object, create a stopper or shorten a rope. In strict terminology, bends join lines and hitches attach a line…
A backstay that can be tensioned or released during sailing to support the mast and control rig loads. Running backstays are normally fitted as a port-and-starboard pair from the after part of the vessel to an upper mast attachment. The windward runner is tensioned while the leeward one is eased so the boom and sail…
An international professional institution advancing naval architecture and associated maritime engineering. The Royal Institution of Naval Architects supports professional development, technical exchange, publications, conferences and recognition for naval architects, maritime engineers and related specialists. It was founded in 1860 and later incorporated by Royal Charter. RINA is a professional body rather than a ship classification…
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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