RYA Navigation Courses

This course is an introduction to navigation and safety awareness and is aimed at anyone new to sailing, motor boating, including RIBs and other small powerboats, sea angling, diving, sea kayaking and canoeing, diving, or those who are rusty and just want to brush up on their skills. There is no pre-course knowledge or experience necessary. The course content includes:- charts and publications, safety, engine checks, buoyage, tidal awareness, visual and electronic navigation, pilotage rules of the road, anchoring, weather forecasts, passage planning. There is no formal assessment. It requires 16 hours of teaching, usually over a 2 day period.

No previous knowledge is necessary and provides a comprehensive introduction to cruising which is designed to give you enough knowledge to navigate around familiar waters by day. The course content includes:- nautical terms, ropework, anchoring, safety, International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (IRPCS), position fixing, plotting a course to steer, charts and publications, use of navigational instruments, chartwork, tides and tidal streams, visual aids, meterology, passage planning, navigation in restricted visibility, pilotage and the marine environment. The required teaching time is 40 hours, five to six days, with two assessment papers.

This is an advanced course in navigation and meteorology and equips the student with the ability to navigate safely in coastal and offshore passages and as such requires some previous knowledge to at least Day Skipper Theory level and some practical experience is desirable. Building on the Day Skipper theory course, the course content includes navigation, meteorology, collision avoidance, safety and passage planning. The required teaching time is 40 hours, five to six days, with three assessment papers.