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 powered or manual machine used to heave, veer and control an anchor rode. A chain gypsy engages calibrated chain, while a warping drum handles rope and a combined unit may manage a rope-chain rode. Windlasses may have horizontal or vertical shafts and use electric, hydraulic or manual power with a clutch and brake. The…
A vessel used principally for recreation, cruising or sport rather than commercial carriage or working service. A yacht may be sailing or motor-powered and can range from a small cabin craft to a very large vessel. The word describes use and social or regulatory context more than one hull form, size or level of luxury….
A spar set across a mast to support and spread a square sail or another transverse sail arrangement. A square sail’s head is bent or attached along the yard, whose braces rotate it horizontally and whose lifts and halyards support or raise it according to the rig. Yards may be fixed, lowered, hoisted or sent…
Lightweight streamers used to show local airflow over a sail or wind direction around a vessel. Pairs placed on each side of a headsail luff indicate attached or disturbed flow and help adjust sheet trim and steering. Leech telltales show flow leaving a sail, while shroud or masthead telltales can indicate local apparent wind but…
A lever attached to the rudder head or steering system and moved to control the rudder. On a simple arrangement, pushing the tiller to port turns the rudder so that the vessel’s bow turns to starboard when moving ahead, and vice versa. Some vessels use linkages or auxiliary tillers, so the exact movement should be…
A low raised strip or structural edge along a deck margin that helps retain feet and loose objects aboard. A toe rail may be timber, metal or moulded into the hull-to-deck joint and can include drainage gaps or perforations. On some vessels it also carries fittings or contributes to edge stiffness, but those functions depend…
A line or wire supporting or controlling the height of a boom, yard or pole. A mainsail topping lift supports the boom when the sail and halyard do not and may be eased once the sail carries the load. A spinnaker-pole topping lift controls the pole’s vertical position together with a foreguy or downhaul; the…
The exterior sides of a vessel’s hull above the waterline. Topsides extend from the waterline region towards the sheer or deck edge and may include plating, planking or moulded laminate, coatings, rubbing strakes, ports and fittings. The term usually excludes the deck and superstructure. The actual waterline changes with loading, heel and waves, so part…
The structural surface or framing forming the after end of a hull. A transom is commonly flat or slightly curved and may be vertical, raked or stepped. It can carry an outboard engine, rudder fittings, boarding platform, drains, exhausts or other equipment when designed and reinforced for those loads. Not every vessel has a transom;…
A movable car, ring or fitting that changes the position from which a sheet or control applies its load. A mainsheet traveller commonly runs across a track to alter the boom’s lateral position while retaining chosen sheet tension. Travellers are also used on headsail tracks, horse arrangements and other rigging systems, with adjustment by tackles,…
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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