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 line or tackle used to control the position and trim of a sail’s clew or boom. Headsail sheets normally attach to or control the clew directly, while a mainsheet commonly controls the boom through blocks, a traveller or bridle. Easing or trimming changes angle of attack, twist and load, but the exact effects depend…
To reduce the sail area set or exposed to the wind. Sail can be shortened by reefing, partially rolling a sail designed for reefing, lowering or furling one sail, or replacing it with a smaller sail. The aim may be to control heel, loads, speed, balance or crew workload rather than only to cope with…
Standing rigging that supports a mast primarily against transverse loads. Shrouds lead from the mast or spreaders to chainplates or other hull attachments and may be arranged as cap shrouds, intermediates, diagonals or lowers. They can be wire, rod or high-modulus fibre and work with stays, spreaders, mast structure and the opposite shrouds as one…
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…
Sailing with the apparent wind between close-hauled and directly astern. The range includes close, beam and broad reaches. Fixed degree limits are only illustrative because a vessel’s no-go angle, speed and apparent-wind direction vary with design, sails, conditions and course. Reaching trim generally eases sails progressively as the wind moves aft and may use different…
A preparatory command warning the crew that the vessel is about to tack. The call gives crew time to prepare the working and lazy sheets, check that lines and equipment are clear and move to safe positions before the bow turns through the wind. Crew normally acknowledge when their stations are ready. The person controlling…
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…
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 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…
Reducing a sail’s exposed area by partially rolling it around or into a stay, foil, mast or boom. Unlike complete roller furling, roller reefing leaves part of the sail set and loaded. Headsails roll around a stay or foil, while mainsails may roll inside a mast or boom or around a boom, and each arrangement…
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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