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 signal or device that uses a controlled energetic chemical reaction to produce light, smoke, sound or heat. Marine pyrotechnics include rocket parachute flares, hand flares, smoke signals and line-throwing cartridges. Their colour, duration, altitude and pattern carry recognised meanings or serve particular alerting and locating functions; not every pyrotechnic is a distress signal. They…
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…
A passive structure intended to increase the strength of radar energy returned from a vessel or object. Corner reflectors and other geometries redirect incident radar energy towards its source and are fitted particularly to small craft or low-reflectivity structures. Performance depends on frequency band, orientation, elevation, heel, mounting height and obstruction by rig or equipment….
A line secured at or near the bow of a dinghy or other small boat for towing or making fast. The painter provides a ready means of securing the boat to a vessel, pontoon, mooring or shore fitting and may be used for towing when the boat and attachment point are suitable. It should be…
To release rope, chain, cable or wire progressively under control. Paying out increases the deployed length of an anchor rode, mooring line, towline, cable or similar item. The operation may use hands, a brake, winch, windlass, drum or capstan according to the load and equipment. Control is the defining feature: a freely running line can…
A portable 406 MHz distress beacon registered to a person and intended to alert search-and-rescue authorities through the Cospas-Sarsat satellite system. When activated, a PLB transmits a coded identity and many models include GNSS position; a low-power 121.5 MHz homing signal may help rescuers locate it nearby. It differs from an EPIRB, which is normally…
A mast stepped abaft the mainmast on a multi-masted sailing vessel. On a ketch or yawl, the mizzen mast is the smaller after mast and carries the mizzen sail. Its position relative to the rudder stock forms the conventional distinction between those two rigs. On vessels with more complex rigs, “mizzen” identifies an after mast…
A vessel whose main buoyant structure consists of a single hull. The term distinguishes conventional single-hulled vessels from multihulls such as catamarans and trimarans. A monohull may be sailing or powered and can have many different underwater forms, including displacement, semi-displacement and planing hulls. Its stability and motion depend on hull shape, loading, ballast and…
An arrangement that secures a vessel to the seabed, shore or a fixed structure, or the act of using that arrangement. A mooring may consist of lines to a berth, a permanent buoy and ground tackle, piles, dolphins, fore-and-aft anchors or another engineered system. Unlike anchoring with the vessel’s own anchor, a permanent mooring is…
A buoy connected to seabed ground tackle and intended to provide or identify a point for securing a vessel. The vessel normally connects to a pickup line, pendant, ring or riser associated with the buoy rather than anchoring independently. Buoy colour, markings, ownership and permitted use vary by jurisdiction and purpose; some mooring buoys also…
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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