Free student resources

Chart No.1

Symbols, abbreviations and terms used on
paper and electronic navigational charts

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The Beaufort Wind Force Scale

A guide to the scale used for observing and classifying wind force at sea and used in marine forecasts

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Forecast terminology

The terms used to describe forecast wind direction and force,
sea state, weather, and visibility

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How weather works

The UK Met Office’s series of guides looks at what happens in the atmosphere to create our day-to-day weather

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Passage of a depression

With the associated fronts and an indication of the associated weather.

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The Collision Regulations 

The full text of the International Regulations
for Preventing Collisions at Sea

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SOLAS V 

The Safety of Life at Sea regulations which
directly affect pleasure boat users

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How to update paper charts

A series of videos from the UK Hydrographic Office detailing the process of keeping your paper charts updated 

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Digital Passage Planning

This Yachting Monthly article looks at the process of “digital first” passage planning

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How to shape a course

This Practical Boat Owner article covers the basics of shaping a rough ‘course to steer’ on a paper chart

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Electronic Chart Plotter

You can get a feel for using an electronic chart with Navionics chart app

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Lateral Marks

Lateral Marks are used to mark navigable channels in accordance with the Direction of Buoyage

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Cardinal Marks

Indicate the direction from the buoy in
which the deepest navigable water lies

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Nautical Terms

An excellent reference of nautical words and their meaning from Practical Boat Owner

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The Phonetic Alphabet

A list of code words assigned to letters in the alphabet allowing for clearer voice messages by radio or telephone

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Calling for help at sea

This RNLI guide look at the different means of distress alerting and their effectiveness in each situation

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Get to know your liferaft

Yachting Monthly guide to how to use your liferaft and what's actually inside

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Passage Planning 

You can use these passage planning example pages to record your plan, or print them out as a booklet for use onboard

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Mayday prompt card

Make sure you and your crew know exactly
what to say when making a VHF Mayday call

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Chartwork symbols

A reminder of the standard chartwork symbols used by marine navigators