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.Nautical weather terminology is like a secret language designed to keep landlubbers guessing. Why say ‘storm’s brewing’ when you can declare there’s a ‘cyclonic gale on the Beaufort scale’? And don’t even get us started on terms like ‘sea state 5’—is that a weather warning or a new action movie? Mariner-speak turns clouds into ‘cumulonimbus monstrosities’ and drizzle into ‘light spindrift.’ Meanwhile, the rest of us are just trying to figure out if we need a raincoat. Don’t worry, we can help you navigate this foggy jargon without needing a barometer tattooed on your arm!
A temporary reduction in wind speed. A lull may last only a few seconds or persist for longer between gusts or during a broader change in the weather. It can alter sail force, apparent wind, boat speed and balance, particularly when the surrounding wind is variable. The term describes a decrease rather than a forecast…
A unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour. One knot is exactly 1.852 kilometres per hour and approximately 1.151 statute miles per hour. Because a knot already means nautical miles per hour, expressions such as ‘knots per hour’ are incorrect when stating speed. The unit is used for vessel speed, current and…
The downwind direction or the side away from the wind. The lee side of a vessel is the side towards which the wind is blowing, opposite the weather or windward side. A person, object or shore lying downwind may similarly be described as being to leeward. The word also conveys shelter: a vessel may seek…
In the direction towards which the wind is blowing, or on the side away from the wind. Leeward describes direction or relative position and is the opposite of windward. A vessel’s leeward side is normally the side away from the incoming wind, while an object may create a sheltered lee extending downwind of it. Shelter…
A line on a weather chart joining places with the same atmospheric pressure at a stated time. Surface synoptic charts normally plot isobars at regular pressure intervals, commonly measured in hectopascals. Their pattern shows the position and shape of pressure systems and troughs and helps reveal the pressure gradient across an area. Closely spaced isobars…
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 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…
Suspended microscopic water droplets or ice crystals near the surface that reduce horizontal visibility below 1,000 metres. Fog forms through several processes, including cooling moist air to saturation, moving warm moist air over colder water, radiation cooling and evaporation into cold air. Mist is the corresponding obscuration when visibility remains at least 1,000 metres under…
Favourable or clear when describing weather, and smooth or continuously shaped when describing a vessel’s surface or line. A fair wind assists the intended passage or sailing direction, while fair weather generally means settled or suitable conditions in the stated context. Neither expression defines a wind force, visibility or sea-state threshold. In boatbuilding, to fair…
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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