Coastal sea kayak award

The Coastal Sea Kayak Award

The British Canoeing Sea Kayak Award is designed to develop your skills and ability to apply appropriate decision making for an enjoyable and safe day out on the sea at a more advanced level than the Sea Kayak Award.

Award holders are confident planning and undertaking journeys in:

  • Wind up to force 4
  • Tidal streams up to 2 knot

This matches British Canoeing definition of ‘moderate water’. Because of this, the Coastal Sea Kayak Award is a greater stepping stone to the Sea Kayak Leader Award, for those who want to lead others in this environment. The award syllabus is available online at the BritishCanoeingAwarding Body website.

Prerequisites

Although the course has no formal prerequisites, you should either hold the British Canoeing Sea Kayak Award, or have a similar level of competence.

All participants must be over 18 years of age.

Course program

There is no fixed program for the Caostal Sea Kayak Award, and we are able to sign off anyone who meets the requirments regardless of what training has been undertaken. We can work with you to set up a course that meets your needs.

Equipment

You will need the following equipment for the weekend trips:

  • Sea kayak - Please check that your boat is in good repair and has a working skeg.
  • Paddles - find a set that’s a good length for you.
  • Towline: around 15min length. If possible, you should have a knife in you buoyancy aid in case the line gets tangled.
  • Spraydeck: Neoprene
  • Helmet
  • Buoyancy aid: You may find a pocket useful.
  • Wallet, phone + charger, keys etc.
  • Guidebook, maps - we can supply these for the areas that we normally run the course in, but you are welcome to bring your own.
  • Paper and pen/pencil - you’ll find it helpful to make notes of forecasts, tides and the trip plans that you come up with. Thin tipped permanent marker (OHP pen) for marking up maps.
  • Wind+waterproof outer shell: top and bottom: The club has cagoules and a pair of walker’s waterproof trousers will suffice for bottoms to keep the wind off
  • Warm layers: Plenty of warm layers to wear on the water and to carry as spare layers in the boat. Avoid cotton. We tend to wear close fitting tops (e.g. rash vest) and bottoms (leggings), with fleecy warm layers if it’s colder. Take a complete change of clothes in the boat, unless you’re wearing a drysuit.
  • Towel: for changing, drying if you get wet
  • Good paddling shoes: Trainers can work if they fit in the boat. Neoprene boots are great - Lomo sells cheap and durable ones.
  • Water bottle + thermos flask.
  • Sunglasses and sunblock
  • Warm hat + sunhat
  • Drybags: At least one for lunch+snacks and one for spare clothing. Also dry bags for phones / car keys / inhalers if you need these on the water. Fairly inexpensive from Decathlon or (better) Lomo. 10 liters is a good size.
  • Food: Lunches, snacks and anything special you want to eat at other times
  • Linen & towels: if not supplied in the accommodation that we are using

Relevant policies/terms

This course will be run under our policies (including the cancellation policy), laid out here and the Paddles Up Training policies which can be found here. The Paddles up training policies include information on how they’ll use the data that we share with them for certification, equality and diversity, special considerations and reasonable adjustments among other things.

Contacting us

Our contact details are on the home page of this site - please do get in touch if you have any questions.

We’re always keen to get feedback from those who we coach. Feel free to provide feedback in person or by email. I have an online feedback form here.