Chapter 5 Open water navigation

This final section focuses on navigation techniques for paddling in open water further from land. For longer crossings in tidal waters, we’ll need to do more work ahead of time to plan, given the limits of what we can achieve on the deck of a kayak. This section focuses on the techniques used to plan crossings in tidal water that will take several hours to complete.

The chart work outlined in this section is a step more difficult than described elsewhere in these notes. I’ve tried to break it down step by step and explain it as simply as possibly. It might help to print off a copy of the example chart that I’ll provide and follow along with the example step by step.

The more complex techniques covered in this section fall outside of the remit of Paddle UK’s Sea Leader award. However, they are appropriate for those looking to become Advanced Sea Leaders.