Learn the COLREGS by Ear: Introducing Listen to the Rules

There is a particular kind of frustration that comes with reading Rule 19 for the fourth time and still not being sure you could explain it under pressure. The words are there on the page, but they have not quite settled into the part of your memory that you can reach in the dark, in a seaway, at three in the morning. That gap between knowing a rule exists and truly knowing what it demands is exactly what audio learning is designed to close.

The IRPCS app now includes Listen to the Rules - a 42-episode audio course built into version 3 on iOS and Android. The tagline is simple: The Rules, read and explained. Each episode pairs two voices. A Reader works through the rule word for word, exactly as it appears in the COLREGS. Then an Instructor steps in with a plain-English explanation of what it means. Hearing the official text first, then an immediate unpacking of it, gives your brain two bites at the same material in the same sitting.

This article is about why that approach works, when to use it, and how to weave listening into a broader study habit alongside reading and drilling. We will use Rule 5 and Rule 7 as worked examples, because they happen to be the two rules you can hear in full for free.

Why Hearing a Rule Helps It Stick

Most of us encounter the COLREGS as text - a column of dense, legally precise language that rewards careful reading but does not always reward a quick glance. The problem is that comprehension and retention are different things. You can follow every sentence on a first read and still find the rule has evaporated by the morning.

Hearing a rule adds something reading does not. When you hear a rule spoken aloud, you are processing rhythm, emphasis, and structure in addition to meaning. A good reader pauses at the commas that matter. The word "shall" lands differently when someone says it than when you skim past it on a page. And when a voice immediately follows with "what that means in practice is...", the connection between the official wording and the real-world situation is made in real time, rather than being left as an exercise for later.

There is also the question of repetition without boredom. Listening while doing something else - more on when in a moment - means you can return to an episode several times without the friction of sitting down to read again. The rule accumulates familiarity.

Rule 5 and Rule 7: Two Free Episodes Worth Your Time

The course makes the Introduction, Rule 5 (Look-out), and Rule 7 (Risk of collision) available in full to all users, no premium required. These are not arbitrary choices for a sample - they are two of the most practically consequential rules in the whole document, and two where the gap between reading and understanding is particularly costly.

Rule 5 requires every vessel to keep a proper look-out at all times, using sight and hearing as well as all available means appropriate to the circumstances. That sounds straightforward until you ask what "all available means" includes in a modern vessel with radar, AIS, and a chartplotter. The answer matters: the rule is not satisfied by glancing forward occasionally. It asks for an active, continuous look-out by sight and hearing, and by every other means appropriate to the conditions.

Rule 7 deals with risk of collision and the means of determining whether that risk exists. It requires every vessel to use all available means to decide whether risk of collision exists, and if there is any doubt, risk is to be treated as existing. It warns against assumptions based on scanty information, especially scanty radar information, and it gives the classic test: a compass bearing that does not appreciably change as the other vessel closes means risk should be deemed to exist, and even a changing bearing does not rule it out when approaching a very large vessel, a tow or a vessel at close range. That is a lot of conditions to hold in your head, and it is exactly the kind of rule that benefits from hearing the wording once and then hearing it unpacked.

If you want to understand why these rules are structured the way they are, not just what they say, the free episodes are a good place to start. You can also browse the full rule library alongside your listening.

When to Listen: Fitting It Into a Sailor's Week

The most important thing to say about when to use COLREGS audio is also the most obvious: never while you are actually keeping a look-out. Rule 5 itself would take a dim view of a watch-keeper with one ear on an explanation of Rule 5. Audio learning is for the time around sailing, not during the safety-critical parts of it.

With that said, the gaps in a working sailor's week are surprisingly well suited to this format. The drive to the marina is an obvious one. Listen to the Rules plays through CarPlay and Android Auto, so the episode appears on the car's Now Playing screen and you can manage playback without touching your phone. The commute to work, a walk, or time at the gym all work equally well. Below deck off watch on a passage, with the screen locked and headphone controls handling play and pause, is another natural fit.

The playback speed control - adjustable from 0.75x to 2x - means you can slow down for a dense rule like Rule 10 (Traffic separation schemes) and move more quickly through rules you are already confident about. A sleep timer, including an End of episode option, means you are not losing your place if you drift off on a night passage. Continue listening picks up exactly where you left off, across sessions.

Pairing Audio with Reading and Drilling

Listening alone is not enough - the research on learning is fairly consistent that retrieval practice (being tested on material, not just exposed to it) is what moves knowledge from short-term familiarity into long-term retention. The audio course is designed to be one layer of a broader habit, not the whole structure.

A practical approach: listen to an episode on the way to the marina. When you are aboard and have a moment, open the rule in the app - every rule page includes a Listen to this rule button that connects directly to the relevant episode, so you can move between reading and listening without hunting around. Then, when you are back home, take a few minutes on the practice quiz to test what has settled in. The combination of hearing, reading, and being tested gives the rule three separate chances to consolidate.

The transcript in the player is useful for moments when you want to check the exact wording of something the Instructor said, or when you are in a situation where listening is not practical but you have a moment to read.

What the Course Includes

Listen to the Rules is built into version 3 of the IRPCS app on iOS and Android. There are 42 episodes in total: an introduction to the course, followed by one episode for each of the 41 Rules of the COLREGS. You can choose between British or North American voices - the app plays a sample so you can decide, and you can change the setting later in Settings.

The Introduction, Rule 5 (Look-out), and Rule 7 (Risk of collision) play in full for all users. Premium unlocks all 41 Rules as audio, read and explained. Premium episodes are saved to your phone automatically over Wi-Fi by default, ready to play offline wherever you are.

This is not a replacement for a formal course or an official publication - nothing in the app should be mistaken for that. But as a way of making the time between sails count, of hearing the exact wording of a rule in one ear and its meaning in the next breath, it is a serious addition to how skippers and exam candidates can learn the rules of the road.

FAQ

Does listening to the rules count as studying for an RYA or MCA exam? Listening is a useful supplement to formal study, but it is not a substitute for a structured course or the official COLREGS publication. Use the audio course to build familiarity and fluency with the rules, then reinforce that with reading and quiz practice. Formal examination requirements should always be met through an approved training route.

Can I use Listen to the Rules on a long offshore passage? Yes - provided you are not on watch. With Premium, episodes save to your phone automatically, so they play without an internet connection, and playback continues with the screen locked. Below deck, off watch, it is an excellent use of time that might otherwise be spent staring at a deckhead. Just make sure you are genuinely stood down before you put the headphones on.

How does the two-voice format work in practice? Each episode opens with the Reader, who works through the rule text as it appears in the COLREGS - no paraphrasing, no shortcuts. When the Reader finishes, the Instructor takes over and explains the rule in plain English, so you hear the exact wording first and its meaning straight after.

What if I prefer reading to listening? The two approaches work best together, and the app is built to support both. The Listen to this rule button on every rule page means you can switch between reading and listening at any point. If you find you absorb more through text, use the transcript in the player to follow along while the episode plays - the combination of reading and hearing simultaneously is one of the most effective ways to consolidate detailed regulatory language.