Chapter 5 Open water navigation

“Open water” is not a well-defined term - a novice group might feel quite exposed the first tie they leave the shore of a lake, whereas a very experienced sea kayaker might be considering long open-ocean journeys, like the ~64 km crossing to the isolated island of St. Kilda off the Outer Hebrides. For the purposes of their open water module, British Canoeing Awarding Body use this definition:

A large expanse of open water that at some point has an element of commitment i.e., returning to shore will not necessarily be straightforward, easy or a quick process

This section focuses on navigation techniques for paddling further from land. Clearly, we’ll need some new approaches to work out where we are when away from the landmarks of the shore. 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. Much of 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.