Course Details
Basic Navigation
Day Skipper
Coastal Skipper
Yachtmaster Offshore
Yachtmaster Ocean
Practical Courses

Student Comments
Basic Navigation
Day Skipper
Coastal Skipper
Yachtmaster Offshore
Yachtmaster Ocean

Retail Therapy Page

Return to Home Page

Downloads
TideComp 2000
Offshore Almanac
AstroCalc
Basic Navigation errata
Day Skipper errata
Coastal Skipper errata
Yachtmaster Offshore errata
Yachtmaster Ocean errata
Free Sample of Materials

RYA Training Centre

 Centaur Sailing Limited: High quality tuition at reasonable cost.
Items purchasable from Centaur Sailing Limited
  • Please also note that we will only accept orders to be sent to an address with a UK postcode. The only exception being orders for software downloaded from this website, where the registration code can be e-mailed.

  • RYA Training Almanac (Northern Hemisphere)
    • RYA Training Almanac (Northern Hemisphere). A fictitious almanac designed specifically for RYA shorebased courses. Just like a real almanac, it includes tide tables, pilotage notes and other important sources of information used throughout this course which cannot be completed without a copy of the RYA Training Almanac (Northern Hemisphere version for Centaur Sailing Limited courses). Please note that this item supercedes the publication known as 'Practice Navigation Tables'.
  • Admiralty Chart 5011
    • A reference book for the symbols and abbreviations used on Admiralty Charts. Centaur Sailing Limited recommends that every skipper and/or navigator keeps a personal copy of Chart 5011 with their own favourite plotter and compass (see below). Day Skipper and Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster offshore courses cannot be completed without a copy of the Admiralty Chart 5011. Please note that this item is now in a third edition and supercedes previous editions or publications that don't show an edition number at all.
  • Professional Navigation Course Plotter
    • We at Centaur Sailing Limited have tried quite a number of the different designs of marine course plotter. Each has disadvantages of some sort. Even the ubiquitous Breton type of plotter (a.k.a. “Portland Plotter”), causes frequent complaint from students that the rotating protractor “sticks” and then “jumps” too far when trying to select a bearing; making it hard, if not impossible, to achieve the precision desired when developing plotting skills. We have designed our own plotter, with no moving parts to cause problems, and now have it specially manufactured. The goal was to bring together the advantages seen in other designs, at the same time minimising their disadvantages, i.e. to provide a really “user-friendly” plotter which offers the best possible accuracy for marine navigation. Please note that Day Skipper, Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster offshore and Yachtmaster Ocean courses cannot be completed without a course plotter.
  • TideComp 2000
    What’s the tide doing in the Galapagos, Gibraltar or in the Hamble? These are questions long distance cruising and racing yachts frequently need to answer quickly. Even in regions that appear to be free of tides, such as the Mediterranean or parts of the Pacific, the small rise and fall can produce some surprisingly strong currents. Many Polynesian atolls are impossible to enter when the tide is flowing out and, unless you choose your time carefully, a passage through the straits of Gibraltar or Messina can be disturbingly uncomfortable. And if you have the misfortune to run aground on a reef, wouldn't it be useful to know the time of high tide even if it's only a few centimetres? TideComp provides all the answers, no matter where you are. Its robust mathematical algorithms have been developed over 6 years and chosen by numerous ocean voyagers including participants in the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers and the last Whitbread race. For local authorities, it is used for planning dredging operations and effluent outflow control, For yacht clubs, it provides advance data for planning events and for Greenpeace, it was the way to obtain tide data for the nuclear test site at Moruroa.
    • Gives rapid 24 hour graphs showing rates of rise and fall and spot tide heights at any time throughout the day.
    • Prints monthly tables of high and low tide in familiar tide table format.
    • Tables can be saved in HTML format for use within web pages or in other documents.
    • Computes under keel clearance at any state of the tide.
    • Indicates hours of daylight and darkness.
    • Valid until the year 2050.
    • Data base of over 4000 locations covering all continents (including Antarctica) and hundreds of isolated islands.
    • Comprehensive search functions allow tide stations to be selected by name or from a zoomable world map.
    • Point and click' from 6 world atlas maps to rapidly locate and identify tide locations.
    • Computes tides at secondary ports enabling you to build your own personal data base of minor ports, anchorages and creeks.
    • Requires Windows (95, 98, NT, ME, XP or 2000), 4 Mbytes RAM + 2 Mbytes hard drive space and processor speed: 500MHz or greater.
    • Click on this link to download a free 30 day trial copy to check it out.
    • Please be sure to select "E-mail" as the shipping option to avoid being charged for post and packing.
  • Offshore Almanac
    When buying a conventional printed almanac most people will use only a tiny fraction of the data it contains. If your annual cruising is spent in, say, the Caribbean or Mediterranean, you'll probably not need anything for the northern hemisphere, Indian Ocean or Pacific. Neither will you need data for the time you are not cruising. Also, if your almanac happens to expire while you are away, getting a timely replacement may not be easy. With the Offshore Almanac you need only print the pages you are likely to use and for cruising, its long term coverage means that you don't have to wait until the official version is published. For Astro/Celestial navigation, the program prints pages of Ephemeris for Sun, Moon, Stars and Planets in a familiar format and for any year until 2030.
    • Ephemeris pages for Sun, Moon, planets and navigational stars. Printable in familiar format and valid for years between 1980 and 2030 and complete with increments and corrections.
    • Sight Reduction Tables in Air Navigation Table style.
    • Sextant angle correction tables.
    • Distance off rising and setting lights.
    • Sun and Moon rise and set times with times of Nautical and Civil twilight.
    • Geomagnetic data - variation, dip and their annual rates of change.
    • Great circle course and distance plotter.
    • Visible Star prediction tables.
    • Night sky views of visible stars and planets for anywhere in the world.
    • Unit conversion utility.
    • Requires Windows (95, 98, NT, ME, XP or 2000), 4 Mbytes RAM + 2 Mbytes hard drive space and processor speed: 500MHz or greater.
    • Click on this link to download a free 30 day trial copy to check it out.
    • Please be sure to select "E-mail" as the shipping option to avoid being charged for post and packing.
  • AstroCalc - £21
    If you're looking for a tutorial giving a painless introduction to the ancient art of navigating by the sun, moon or stars, then look no further. If you're an experienced navigator, wanting a program that offers long term precision ephemeris, sight reduction, the utmost simplicity and one that's intuitive to use, then AstroCalc is written with you in mind. Its mathematical routines have been developed over 15 years and have been well proven by many circumnavigators and long distance cruising sailors. However, a main feature is its apparent lack of features, or rather a lack of complex options. AstroCalc will not tax your computer skills, which need to be no greater than you'd use to view pages on the web.
    • Handles sights of the sun, moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and 58 navigational stars.
    • Ephemeris valid until 2050.
    • Carries out sight reduction and sextant angle corrections.
    • Replaces Nautical Almanac, Sight Reduction Tables and altitude correction tables.
    • Requires Windows (95, 98, NT, ME, XP or 2000), 4 Mbytes RAM + 2 Mbytes hard drive space and processor speed: 500MHz or greater.
    • Click on this link to download a free 30 day trial copy to check it out.

Copyright © 2008 Centaur Sailing Limited.
Centaur Sailing Limited is registered in England and Wales with Registered Number 6442192.
Registered Office 78 Devonshire Gardens, Tilehurst, Reading, Berkshire, RG31 6FP.