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.Rough, broken or confused water produced when strong flow passes over an irregular seabed or meets another stream. Overfalls commonly form near banks, shoals, ledges, headlands and abrupt changes of depth, where tidal flow is accelerated or disturbed. They can also occur where streams converge. The surface may become steep and chaotic even when nearby…
Directed or moving from the water towards the land. The term commonly describes wind, current, waves or movement relative to a coast. An onshore wind blows towards land; an onshore current sets towards it, but their directions need not be the same and can vary along an irregular coastline. Onshore conditions can create a lee-shore…
A Beaufort force 7 wind, with a mean speed of 28 to 33 knots. Near gale is the formal descriptive term immediately below gale on the Beaufort scale. At sea, foam begins to stream in the direction of the wind, the surface becomes increasingly covered with white water and wave conditions are difficult for small…
A shore lying downwind of a vessel so that wind tends to set the vessel towards it. A lee shore reduces the room available to recover from loss of propulsion, steering or sail control. Waves may steepen or break as they approach shallow water, and an onshore current can worsen the set even when the…
Situated, moving or operating relatively close to the shore. The word is relative unless a regulation, forecast area, routeing measure or local publication gives it a defined boundary. It may describe waters, a direction towards the shore, or the landward side of another vessel or feature. Inshore water is not necessarily calm, shallow or safer…
A regional name for a tropical cyclone whose maximum sustained surface winds have reached hurricane strength. The term is used in the North Atlantic and the eastern and central North Pacific; the same class of rotating warm-core storm is called a typhoon in the western North Pacific and a severe tropical cyclone in several other…
A projection of land extending from a coast into the sea or another body of water. Headlands are often visually prominent and may serve as charted landmarks, but they need not be high or narrow. Their shape reflects geology, erosion and deposition, and bays commonly lie between adjacent projections. Tidal streams, wind and waves can…
A Beaufort force 8 wind, with a mean speed of 34 to 40 knots. At sea, a gale produces moderately high waves, spindrift and well-defined streaks of foam, creating demanding conditions for small craft and exposed operations. Strong gale, storm and violent storm are higher Beaufort forces with their own speed ranges. The range refers…
Waves travelling in broadly the same direction as the vessel. In a following sea, waves approach from astern and overtake the vessel or carry it forward. The effect depends on wave speed, steepness and direction relative to the vessel, as well as the vessel’s speed, hull form and steering characteristics. Large or steep following seas…
The uninterrupted distance of open water over which wind blows in a broadly constant direction. Fetch is measured along the upwind water surface available for wave generation, not as the path travelled by an individual parcel of air. Coastlines, islands, ice and major changes in wind direction can limit the effective fetch. Wave growth depends…
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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