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 forward capsize in which a vessel rotates end over end as the bow stops or buries while the stern continues forward. It is most associated with fast multihulls, dinghies and surf craft running into a wave or decelerating sharply. Sail force, high speed, bow immersion, crew position and wave shape contribute to the pitching…
A lightweight, curved downwind or reaching sail with dissimilar luff and leech edges. Its tack is secured forward, often on a bowsprit, while the clew is controlled by sheets and the head by a halyard. Unlike a symmetric spinnaker, it is not normally squared back with a conventional pole and cannot simply be reversed edge-for-edge….
A sail-control line that pulls a sheet lead or sail clew inboard. On a headsail, an inhauler narrows the sheeting angle and can alter slot shape and pointing performance. On other sails or spars, the same general term may describe a control pulling the component towards the centreline. Excessive inhauling can close the slot, hook…
A line or tackle that changes a sheet’s lead position to adjust sail shape or sheeting angle. A barber hauler may pull a headsail sheet inboard or outboard, depending on the rig and sail. It can control leech tension, foot depth and slot shape, and is also used with spinnaker or reaching-sheet systems. The term…
Sailing with the true wind coming from close to astern. On a run, sails are eased well out and a headsail may be blanketed by the mainsail. The apparent wind is normally lighter and farther aft than the true wind because the vessel is moving in the same general direction. Course instability, rolling and wind…
The lower forward corner of a fore-and-aft sail. On a mainsail it is secured near the gooseneck; on a headsail it is attached near the bow, furler or bowsprit. Tack also names the vessel’s relationship to the wind—port tack or starboard tack—and the manoeuvre of turning the bow through the wind. These meanings are related…
A large, light-air reaching sail with an asymmetric shape, typically set on a furler ahead of the forestay. A Code Zero bridges some of the performance gap between a genoa and an asymmetric spinnaker. Its cut, luff tension and permitted dimensions vary between cruising designs and rating-rule definitions. It is not always a close-reaching sail…
The rotating lower component of a furling system that winds or releases the control line to turn a sail foil or stay. In a headsail furler, pulling the furling line rotates the drum and foil to roll the sail; unfurling the sail rewinds the line onto the drum. Some systems use continuous-line drums rather than…
An RYA practical foiling course developing longer, more controlled and efficient flight on a windsurfing. It refines take-off, ride height, direction, speed, balance and recovery, with techniques adapted to the foil and craft. It follows first-flight competence and precedes the sustained-flight standard; progress remains dependent on conditions and equipment.
An RYA practical foiling course developing continuous, controlled flight and linked manoeuvres on a windsurfing. Training consolidates take-off, stable ride height, course changes, touchdowns, recovery and decision-making over longer periods on foil. It is an advanced personal-performance award, not an instructor qualification, and remains specific to the discipline, equipment and conditions.
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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