Online theory course · novice → RYA Day Skipper theory

Learn to skipper, one waypoint at a time.

All 18 modules of the RYA Day Skipper theory syllabus, a film for each, three boat-handling simulators, a mock exam.

Start free: the first two modules, the docking game and a 10-question exam taster. Then £12 a month or £79 a year.

Start freeSee plans
18 films Moving diagrams, 1–2 minutes each, with a phone cut and captions.

Take the helm

Three simulators with real momentum, prop walk, wind and tide. Monohull or catamaran, keyboard or touch.

Docking alongside Free

Stem the tide, come in at an angle, stop parallel to the pontoon.

Entering a marina berth Plan

Hold in the fairway, turn on the spot, back in slow and straight.

Anchoring in a bay Plan

Pick a clear swinging circle, pay out the scope, dig in astern.
Kerran Sound practice chart with the course drawn as a dashed passage line of 18 numbered waypoints, from Port Kerran out past Gull Island to open water.
The course map. Solid waypoints are live; dashed ones are being built. The chart is fictional: later chartwork modules use it for fixes and tidal courses.Swipe the chart sideways →

Passage plan

Work through it in order: each waypoint uses words from the ones before.

    Four ways to learn

    Watch

    Every module opens with a narrated film of 1–2 minutes: diagrams that move, so the drawing is the lesson. A phone version comes with each one.

    Tie

    Eight knots, animated step by step. Pause, step back and slow them down until your hands know them.

    Helm

    Bring a monohull or a catamaran alongside, with real momentum, prop walk, wind and tide. Three levels, keyboard or touch.

    Test

    Every module ends with an exam-style quiz. When you reach the end, sit the 50-question mock paper drawn from all of them, and see which lessons to go back to.