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.Signals and communication in the marine world are like a game of charades with the ocean as your stage. Picture a crew furiously waving flags screaming, “We’re out of snacks!” while another ship squints, trying to decode whether that’s a distress call or just terrible semaphore skills. Horns blast at decibels high enough to wake Poseidon, with meanings ranging from “I’m turning left” to “Move it or lose it!” And let’s not forget Morse code—nothing says “urgent message” like blinking a flashlight at a seagull for hours. Meanwhile, the VHF radio crackles with static and a dozen accents yelling about the weather, leaving everyone more confused than enlightened. It’s a symphony of organised chaos where somehow, miraculously, no one crashes into an iceberg. Usually.
The observed alignment of two charted or identifiable objects from a vessel. When the nearer and farther objects lie on the same bearing, the vessel is on the straight line through them. A charted transit can mark a channel centreline, clearing line or position line, while an uncharted pair can provide a useful repeatable reference….
A single navigation-light fitting that combines red and green sidelights with a white sternlight. The three sectors are arranged around one lantern, normally mounted at or near the masthead of an eligible sailing vessel. From ahead it shows the appropriate red or green sidelight sector and from astern it shows white. It is not itself…
The status of a vessel that is not at anchor, made fast to the shore or aground. Under way is a defined collision-regulation status and does not require the vessel to be moving through the water. A vessel stopped and drifting can be under way but not making way, while one tied to a buoy…
The international radiotelephony spelling word for the letter U. It is used to spell call signs, identifiers and words clearly over voice radio. Accepted prescribed spoken forms are represented as ‘YOU NEE FORM’ or ‘OO NEE FORM’. The International Code of Signals assigns a separate meaning to the single flag U. That signal use should…
A digital chart whose features are stored as individually encoded points, lines, areas and attributes. Vector data allow the display system to select layers, interrogate objects, change presentation by scale and apply safety settings or alarms. An official Electronic Navigational Chart is a vector chart produced to IHO standards by or under a government hydrographic…
The radio-frequency band from 30 to 300 megahertz, including the maritime mobile channels around 156 to 174 megahertz. Marine VHF supports voice, digital selective calling, AIS and other services on assigned frequencies and channel plans. Propagation is mainly line of sight, so antenna height, terrain, atmospheric conditions, transmitter power and receiver installation strongly affect range….
The international radiotelephony spelling word for the letter V. It is used to spell call signs, identifiers and words clearly over voice radio. Its prescribed spoken form is represented as ‘VIK TAH’. The International Code of Signals assigns a separate meaning to the single flag V. That signal use should not be confused with saying…
The right-hand side of a vessel when facing forward. Starboard is fixed to the vessel and does not change with the observer’s facing direction. Its opposite is port, and the terms avoid the ambiguity of left and right when people aboard face different ways. At night the starboard sidelight is green and marks the prescribed…
The direction approximately at right angles to the vessel’s centreline on its starboard side. An object abeam to starboard has a relative bearing close to 090 degrees. In less precise speech, ‘on the starboard beam’ can refer to a small sector around that direction rather than exactly one bearing. The reference turns with the vessel…
The forward part of a vessel’s starboard side, or the relative direction forward of the starboard beam. As a structural location it lies towards the bow on the right when facing forward. As a lookout report, an object on the starboard bow lies in the sector between approximately dead ahead and abeam to starboard. The…
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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