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 broad pointed part of an anchor designed to penetrate or bear against the seabed. The number, area, angle and freedom of movement of flukes vary between anchor patterns. In suitable ground they develop holding resistance by burying and mobilising the surrounding seabed rather than by surface area alone. No single fluke shape is best…
A reinforced eye or loop in a sail or canvas item through which a fitting or line can take load. A cringle may be formed around a metal ring, sewn ring, rope eye or pressed eyelet and reinforced with patches, webbing or roping. High-load cringles are fitted at the head, tack and clew and at…
A slender, upright floating marker used to make a position conspicuous on the water. A dan buoy typically has a weighted or ballasted lower section and a pole carrying a flag, light or reflective material. Fishing versions mark gear; emergency versions can be deployed near a person-overboard position and may incorporate flotation or other recovery…
A lifting appliance fitted to a vessel or structure for lowering and recovering a boat or other load. Davits commonly handle lifeboats, rescue boats, tenders, liferafts and operational equipment. Designs include radial, luffing, gravity and articulated systems and may use one arm or a matched pair with falls, winches and release arrangements. The appliance, foundations,…
A small, usually open boat used independently or as a tender to a larger vessel. A sailing dinghy is a lightweight craft sailed for training, recreation or racing and may be designed to capsize and be righted by its crew. A tender dinghy carries people or stores between a parent vessel and shore and may…
The mass or weight of water displaced by a floating vessel, equal to the vessel’s total mass or weight in equilibrium. Displacement is commonly quoted as a mass in tonnes even though the traditional word “weight” is often used. Light displacement describes the vessel in a defined light condition, while loaded displacement includes cargo, people,…
A vessel supported primarily by hydrostatic buoyancy rather than dynamic planing lift throughout its normal speed range. Its hull moves through the water and creates a wave system rather than rising substantially onto the surface as a planing hull does. Full-displacement forms include many ships, trawlers, cruising motorboats and sailing yachts, with shapes ranging well…
A two-pointed hinged instrument used to transfer and measure distances on a chart. The points can span two positions, step a distance along a line or transfer a measurement to the chart’s distance scale. On a Mercator chart, distance is commonly read from the latitude scale at approximately the same latitude as the measurement, not…
A raised screen or fabric cover that shelters a cockpit or companionway from wind and spray. On many sailing yachts, a dodger consists of a framed canvas or synthetic cover with clear panels fitted ahead of the cockpit. In British usage, this type of folding cover is often called a sprayhood; “dodger” can also describe…
To lower or take in a sail, or in another context to extinguish a light or flame. Dousing a sail means removing its driving effect and bringing it under control, often before harbour entry, a sail change or worsening conditions. The method differs for a mainsail, headsail and spinnaker and need not always be rapid….
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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