What is Included?

• Access to the online course with Navathome for a period of 6 months. Access can be extended for a longer period with an administration fee to Navathome.

• A course pack including a chart, Breton plotter, dividers, course handbook, exercises and an electronic chart plotter simulator download. Course packs are mailed out after registration and usually delivered to Canadian addresses within 5-10 business days.

• The course is fully compatible with any PC or OS operating system and any major browser.

• Email support from one of Navathome’s instructors.

• RYA certification issued by Navathome upon successful completion of the course.

Course Curriculum

Day Skipper Theory Online is a highly informative course with many interactive exercises to help reinforce the information and lots of chances to try out what you've learned. Instructors at Navathome are on standby to help answer any questions by email if you get stuck!

Just some of the topics included in the course:

• Using charts, depth contours, three point fix, plotting a course to steer allowing for tidal set and drift. Position fixing using by various means and estimated position taking into account tidal set and drift.

• Using a tidal diamond table and the tidal stream atlas to work out the tidal set and drift for various times of day and compensating for spring and neap tides.

• An introduction to planning short daytime passages using waypoints and visual aids.

• Working out the height of tide for entering ports, crossing shallows and avoiding grounding, allowing for springs and neap tides, basic secondary port calculations, allowing for time differences, etc.

• Basic collision regulations including collision avoidance, the correct lights to use and how to identify various types of vessel from their lights.

• Using various onboard electronic equipment such as chart plotters, depth, wind instruments and more.

• Causes of weather systems, reading and taking into account present and future weather forecasts, understanding weather charts and sources of weather information. 

• How to recognise buoys by their lights characteristics, shape, colour, name and what action to take when approaching one.

• Basic safety at sea including using life rafts, use of life jackets, how to handle and use flares, types of fire fighting equipment and fire prevention, how to make mayday calls, various ways of making other vessel aware that there is a mayday situation.

What's Next?

Take the Day Skipper practical training course with Sea to Sky Sailing to put your theory into practice!  

You can also join us for some of our cruising adventures in order to gain more experience and mileage or start learning some techniques to get the boat going faster in our Learn to Race program. These are great ways of building towards the experience necessary to take on the Yachtmaster program!