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.The narrow deck area running along the side of a vessel’s cabin or coachroof. Side decks provide a route between the cockpit and foredeck and may carry chainplates, tracks, cleats, stanchions, ventilators and other fittings. Their width and layout vary greatly and can influence how safely crew can move along the vessel. Handholds, guard rails…
A reefing method that reduces a sail by lowering a horizontal panel and securing new tack and clew points. On a boomed mainsail the halyard is eased, the selected reef tack and clew are brought to their working positions and the sail is re-tensioned. The loose panel lies along the boom and may be gathered…
To ease a line in a controlled manner so that its tension is reduced. The instruction may apply to a sheet, halyard, mooring line, control line or tackle and can mean a small adjustment rather than complete release. ‘Slack away’ or ‘ease’ may be used similarly, but crew terminology should be agreed. A loaded line…
A sudden impact produced when part of a vessel’s hull re-enters or strikes the water with substantial relative velocity. Bottom slamming often affects forward flatter sections after they emerge in waves, while bow flare, wet-deck and stern slamming occur in other hull forms and conditions. The event creates short-duration pressure loads, noise and acceleration rather…
A fitting attached to a sail that runs in a track on a mast, boom or stay. Sail slides hold the sail’s luff or foot close to its supporting spar while allowing it to be hoisted, lowered or reefed. They may be metal or plastic and are attached by webbing, shackles, screws or another method…
Lines forming part of a system that reduces and secures a sail’s exposed area. On slab-reefed mainsails, reefing lines commonly pull a reef clew towards the boom and may also control the reef tack in a single-line system. Traditional reef points secure bunt cloth after the primary tack and clew loads are taken, while roller…
A turn of rope trapped beneath or crossed by another loaded turn on a winch or drum. It forms when incoming rope overrides an earlier turn, often because of an unsuitable lead angle, slack handling or too many turns. Load then pinches the lower rope so it cannot run or be eased normally. A riding…
The system of spars, stays, shrouds, lines and fittings that supports and controls a vessel’s sails or other elevated equipment. Standing rigging primarily supports masts and resists relatively fixed loads, while running rigging moves or controls sails, spars and equipment. The term can include terminals, chainplates, blocks, tracks, winches and related hardware, and non-sailing vessels…
A lightweight powerboat with a rigid hull surrounded by inflatable buoyancy tubes. Commonly abbreviated to RIB, the design combines the shaped underwater form and structural support of a rigid hull with a large inflatable collar. The tubes add reserve buoyancy, provide a soft contact surface and contribute to stability, while the rigid hull supports the…
A system that stows a sail by rolling it around a stay, foil, spar or mandrel. Headsail furlers commonly rotate a foil or drum around the forestay, while mainsail systems can roll the sail inside a mast, inside a boom or around an external spar. A furling line or powered drive controls rotation while sheets…
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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