Sailing Theory & Exam Prep

Sailing Theory & Exam Prep is the mobile-first way to master your sailing theory and pass your qualification exams with confidence. Whether you're preparing for Day Skipper, working toward Yachtmaster, or about to start your Competent Crew practical course, this app helps you learn and retain the knowledge that matters.

Preparing for a Day Skipper theory exam means absorbing 40+ hours of material covering navigation, meteorology, seamanship, collision regulations, and safety. Traditional study methods — paper textbooks, PDF question banks — don't adapt to what you actually know. This app does.

Our spaced repetition engine tracks your mastery of every question. Answer correctly twice in a row and a question is marked as mastered. Mastered questions return at increasing intervals: 1 day, 3 days, 7 days, 14 days, 30 days, 60 days, and 120 days. This evidence-based technique dramatically improves long-term retention compared to passive reading or last-minute cramming.

COURSES

Competent Crew Preparation
No theory exam exists for Competent Crew, but there is a lot of knowledge that will help you get the most from your practical course. Our Competent Crew preparation covers nautical terminology, knots, safety procedures, sailing basics, and seamanship skills. Designed for complete beginners with zero assumed knowledge, it helps you arrive at your five-day practical training confident and ready to learn.

Day Skipper Theory
The Day Skipper theory course covers 14 lessons across every topic you need: navigation and chart work, position fixing, tides and tidal streams, meteorology, collision regulations (COLREGs), buoyage, safety, passage planning, and seamanship. 500+ practice questions with detailed explanations for every answer.

Coming Soon
VHF/SRC Radio, COLREGs deep-dive, Diesel Engine, Coastal Skipper, and Yachtmaster theory courses are in active development.

FEATURES

Eight exercise types keep practice varied and engaging: multiple choice, true/false, fill-in-the-blank, free text input, multi-select, matching pairs, ordering sequences, and image identification. Every answer receives instant feedback with a full explanation.

Daily streaks track your consistency. Sixteen achievements celebrate your milestones. Session completion screens summarise your performance and mastery progress. Push notifications protect your streak and remind you to study.

Your sailing theory progress syncs with crewtheboat.com — the platform where sailors track sea miles, build verified sailing CVs, find boats to crew on, and connect with others working toward the same qualifications in the RYA cruising scheme.

EXAM PREPARATION THAT WORKS

Day Skipper is the most popular entry point into the RYA qualification pathway. And this app exists to make sure you pass it. And when you progress to Coastal Skipper and Yachtmaster, we progress with you.

Free to start. Three lessons per course available free. Upgrade to Pro (£9.99/month or £89.99/year) for full access to all sailing theory courses, complete spaced repetition tracking, and cross-device sync.