55 of 55 videos
Chart plotter essentials: series introduction
Welcome to the RYA Wavelength DigitalFirst Manufacturers' Insights series — bite-size chart plotter skills from the manufacturers.
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Decluttering charts for navigation
Strip a chart plotter display back to the information you actually need underway.
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Adjusting depth contours and the depth alarm
Set safety contours and depth alarms so the plotter warns you before you run out of water.
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Chart and dashboard split screen
Combine chart and instrument data on one plotter screen.
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Cursor range and bearing
Measure range and bearing from your boat or a waypoint using the plotter cursor.
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Heading and COG vectors
Understand heading vs course over ground and how vector lines predict your track.
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Navigation alarms
Set and manage arrival, anchor and off-course alarms on the plotter.
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Rulers for bearing and position confirmation
Use on-screen rulers to confirm bearings and your position at a waypoint.
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True and relative vectors
Compare true and relative vector modes and when to use each.
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VRM and EBL for position monitoring
Use variable range markers and electronic bearing lines to monitor position and traffic.
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Route creation and editing
Build, review and edit a route on the chart plotter.
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Man overboard crew training: Prevent, Practise, Prepare
RYA guidance on preventing a man overboard and preparing the whole crew to respond.
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Essential Navigation and Seamanship: course taster
A look inside the RYA Essential Navigation and Seamanship online course.
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How to tie nine sailing knots
Yachting Monthly demonstrates the nine essential sailing knots, bends and hitches every crew member should know, and where each is used on board.
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MOB retrieval and recovery
Yachting Monthly tests man overboard retrieval and recovery techniques afloat, showing what really works when getting a casualty back on board.
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How to moor a yacht securely
Step-by-step Yachting Monthly guide to mooring a yacht securely, from approach and lines to springs and fender placement.
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How to moor stern to
Yachting Monthly shows how to moor stern-to a quay Mediterranean style — exactly what you will do in Barcelona and Menorca.
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Spronging off a berth
Yachting Monthly demonstrates 'spronging' — using a spring line and engine to spring off a berth when pinned on by wind or tide.
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Big boat handling tips
Yachting Monthly shares professional tips for handling larger yachts under power — momentum, windage, pivot points and slow-speed control.
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Sailing in 40 knots: heavy weather lessons
Yachting Monthly's Theo Stocker goes out in 40 knots to test heavy-weather techniques for coastal sailors — reefing, sea room, and decision-making.
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Taking the stress out of sailing shorthanded
Yachting Monthly shows techniques for sailing shorthanded without stress — preparation, automation, and keeping manoeuvres simple.
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How to scull a dinghy
Yachting Monthly teaches sculling — propelling a dinghy with a single oar over the stern, an essential tender skill.
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How to climb a mast solo at sea
Yachting Monthly demonstrates safe solo mast-climbing techniques at sea — equipment, backup lines and communication with the crew.
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Are your sails past their best?
Yachting Monthly explains how to tell when sails are past their best — stretched shape, worn cloth and stitching — and what to do about it.
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Are distress signals out of date?
Yachting Monthly examines traditional flares versus modern electronic distress signals — what works, what is changing, and what to carry.
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Cruising chute demonstration
Yachting Monthly demonstrates setting, trimming and dousing a cruising chute — the simple downwind sail for cruising yachts.
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How to troubleshoot a four-stroke outboard
Yachting Monthly and Marine Matters walk through the common four-stroke outboard faults — fuel, carburettor, spark, cooling and oil — and how to fix them.
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Yachting Monthly anchor chain test
Yachting Monthly tests anchor chain and anchoring gear to find what really holds — scope, chain versus rope, and setting technique.
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Skip Novak's Storm Sailing Part 1: the Pelagic philosophy
Skip Novak introduces the series and the seamanship ethos behind his high-latitude expedition voyages.
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Skip Novak's Storm Sailing Part 2: expedition yacht design
A tour of Pelagic and Pelagic Australis showing the design choices that make a yacht able to work in extreme conditions.
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Skip Novak's Storm Sailing Part 3: how to choose and use storm sails
Choosing, rigging and setting storm sails, and why a dedicated storm jib and trysail earn their place.
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Skip Novak's Storm Sailing Part 4: how to heave to
Heaving to as a way of riding out heavy weather, and the art of making it work in a big sea.
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Skip Novak's Storm Sailing Part 5: how to reef quickly and easily
A tried and tested reefing method for sailing comfortably in 35 knots.
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Skip Novak's Storm Sailing Part 6: how to prepare a yacht for heavy weather
Deck, rig, below-decks and crew preparation before heavy weather arrives.
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Skip Novak's Storm Sailing Part 7: how to choose sails for ocean voyaging
Sail design and the wardrobe choices that suit long ocean passages.
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Skip Novak's Storm Sailing Part 8: the trouble with drogues and sea anchors
A realistic look at what drogues and sea anchors can and cannot do.
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Skip Novak's Storm Sailing Part 9: sounding an uncharted bay
Using the tender and echo sounder to survey an uncharted anchorage before committing the yacht.
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Skip Novak's Storm Sailing Part 10: how to anchor for heavy weather
Anchoring technique, scope and gear for riding out heavy weather at anchor.
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Skip Novak's Storm Sailing Part 11: how to tie a yacht to shore
Running shore lines to hold a yacht securely in a tight or deep anchorage.
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Skip Novak's Storm Sailing Part 12: dinghy handling in heavy weather
Working a yacht tender safely in wind, chop and cold water.
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Digital route planning (RYA #DigitalFirst)
An RYA Digital First session on planning a route on screen: building it leg by leg, checking each leg against the chart, and reviewing it before you rely on it.
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Trusted sources of navigation data (RYA #DigitalFirst)
Where the data on your screen comes from, how to tell an official chart source from a crowd-sourced one, and why keeping charts up to date still matters.
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Relative motion on screen (RYA #DigitalFirst)
How relative motion works on radar and plotter displays, and how to tell whether a target is genuinely on a collision course with you.
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Teaching real-world eNav skills
An RYA training conference session on the practical eNavigation habits that keep a crew safe: monitoring position, cross-checking, and knowing what to do when the screen goes blank.
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How to use a Portland plotter
The paper skill that underpins the digital one: using a Portland plotter to take and lay off courses and bearings on a chart.
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Garmin GPSMAP: getting started
Garmin's own walk-through of the GPSMAP home screen, pages and basic setup — the same layout as the 923 on our boats.
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Garmin GPSMAP: SmartMode layouts
How to build and save the screen combinations you actually use — passage, pilotage, night.
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Garmin GPSMAP: waypoints and routes
Creating, editing and saving waypoints and routes on a GPSMAP chartplotter.
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Garmin chartplotters: Auto Guidance
How Auto Guidance suggests a route, and the settings that decide what it avoids.
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Garmin marine radar basics
Garmin's introduction to marine radar: range, gain, sea and rain clutter, and what the picture means.
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Garmin radar: guard zones and variable range markers
Using guard zones, VRM and bearing lines on a Garmin radar for watchkeeping and collision work.
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Garmin marine radar: troubleshooting
What to check when the radar picture degrades or the scanner stops transmitting.
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Garmin ActiveCaptain app: overview
Garmin's walk-through of the ActiveCaptain app: syncing user data with the plotter, downloading charts, planning waypoints and routes on a phone, and the Helm screen-mirroring feature.
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Garmin: software and chart updates via ActiveCaptain
Garmin Support shows how to set up the plotter Wi-Fi network, pair the ActiveCaptain app and update device software and charts using a memory card.
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Garmin VHF: getting started, DSC and the AIS page
Garmin Support covers the VHF handset: channels and watch modes, MMSI and DSC calling, the directory and the radio's AIS plotter page — the source of many of the AIS targets on your chartplotter.
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All videos are produced by the Royal Yachting Association and embedded here for our students.