Navigation modules

I’ll be delivering a navigation course over the weekend of 21/22 February 2026 in Harston, near Cambridge.

The course will provide an in-depth introduction to sea kayak trip planning and navigation. It will cover the modules that are pre-requisites for the Sea Kayak Leader Award and (if you want) Advanced Sea Kayak Leader Award. The course fee will be £90. In order to ensure a high-quality learning experience, places on the course will be strictly limited - please get in touch in you’re interested!

What will be covered?

British Canoeing Awarding Body offers 5 modules on navigation and trip planning. These are aimed at paddlers of all disciplines, although they have obvious relevance to those of us that paddle on the sea, and I’ll teach them with an emphasis on sea kayaking. The modules are:

  • Weather: How to access weather forecasts, understand them and use them to plan a safe and enjoyable day on the water. Because of it’s importance, we spend a fair bit of time focusing on wind, but the module looks at other weather-related hazards too.

  • Tides: How to find information on tides, use it to predict tidal heights and tidal streams and plan days out on coastlines subject to tidal influences (i.e. most of the coast of the UK!).

  • Surf and Swell: Understanding waves, from small wind-driven chop to big ocean swell. The module looks at how to access and understand wave forecasts and how waves might affect a planned trip.

  • Navigation: The module covers simple approaches to navigation relevant to all paddling environments and synthesizes the information from the previous 3 modules to make safe trip plans. It also looks at how to plan short crossings in tidal waters.

  • Open crossings: Navigation and planning become more complex for longer crossings. This module covers the techniques required to plan significant crossings of several hours duration. I expect that not everyone will want to cover this module (see below).

You can find out more about each of the modules from the British Canoeing Awarding Body or from my course notes. These notes deliberately go into a little more depth and cover a few topics that there isn’t time to cover in a 2 or 3-hour module, but they give a good feel for what is covered.

4 modules or 5?

During the course, I expect to cover the first 4 of these modules with all participants. If you’re new to the material, that’s a lot to cover over two days, and I imagine you’ll be grateful for an early finish on the Sunday! You’ll have covered everything that you need in the way of navigation for the Sea Leader Award.

If anyone is interested, I will cover the final Open Crossings module on Sunday afternoon. This module is not a prerequisite for the Sea Leader Award but is required for those working towards Advanced Sea Leader. The module builds on the tides and navigation modules, introducing the more advanced chart work needed to plan longer crossings in tidal waters. If you’re new to tidal planning, you may wish to consolidate your understanding before moving on to the more advanced material in the Open Crossings module. If in doubt, get in touch, and we can discuss this.

What’s the plan?

The modules will be delivered in a classroom-based environment, although we may spend a bit of time outside looking at some navigation concepts. Please let us know if you have any mobility issues which may affect your ability to access the venue (we’ll do our best to make this work!), or if you have any specific learning needs (we’ll do our best to make sure everyone can get as much as possible from attending!). We will ask you to share information on any existing medical conditions and an emergency contact person just in case when you book onto the course.

I expect to roughly follow the following agenda:

Saturday 21 February

08:30-09:00: Arrive at venue, tea/coffee, pastries

09:00: Introductions, course structure and admin

09:30-10:30: Weather module part 1

10:45 - 12:00: Weather module part 2

Lunch - please bring your own food!

12:30 - 14:00: Tides part 1

14:15 - 15:45: Tides part 2

16:00 - 17:30: Surf and swell part 1

Sunday 22 February

09:00-10:30: Surf and swell part 2

10:40-12:10: Navigation part 1

Lunch - please bring your own food!

12:40-14:10: Navigation part 2

Tea break - those not doing open crossings module depart

14:20-15:50: Open crossings part 1

16:00-17:30: Open crossings part 2

Why this course?

There are many ways to learn about sea kayak navigation, and how you choose to engage with it will depend on how you like to learn. Good options include:

All of the modules can be taken through e-learning from the British Canoeing Awarding body here. For some people, especially those with prior experience of marine navigation, the e-learning may be ideal, but I wouldn’t recommend it for newcomers to sea kayaking who are looking to develop a good grasp of navigation and trip planning.

Many people will, I think, prefer a more traditional face-to-face taught course. Given the slightly technical nature of some of the material and the need to develop planning skills suitable for the real world, I’ve found that people tend to benefit from the input of a coach when learning navigation and planning and trying out the skills for the first time in practical exercises.

I suspect that the need to travel a long distance to attend a face-to-face course may put some people off - if you’re going to drive 3-5 hours to an area with a fine coastline (where sea kayak coaches tend to be based), it’s not especially appealing to sit in a classroom for 2 days. I’m hoping that a course based in south-east England in the dead of winter makes learning navigation a bit more accessible!

In an ideal world, I’d prefer to cover all this material over a week or two of making plans then going paddling - and if you’re able to spare the time and expense, I’d highly recommend hiring a coach to do just that. However, for the majority of time-poor paddlers, learning the theory in a block before applying it to their own paddling isn’t a bad approach.

Who are you?

I’m Rich, a keen sea kayaker based in Cambridge. Whilst it can be a long drive to a rocky coastline, I feel privileged to live in a country with so much stunning coastline. I’ve tried to explore pretty widely, from Orkney and Shetland in the north, to the Channel Islands and Brittany in the South, and from the West Coast of Ireland to the occasional foray on our local bits of the East Coast. Having no regular ‘local paddles’, I’ve had to rely heavily on planning and navigation skills rather than local knowledge - although my coaching takes me to Anglesey on a pretty regular basis.

I’ve been involved in coaching for around 25 years, mostly on a voluntary basis through local clubs. Recently, my focus has been on helping people develop the skills to paddle independently and lead others on the sea. I’m a British Canoeing Advanced Water Leader on both whitewater and the sea and an Advanced Water Sea Coach. As well as the navigation modules, I’m a tutor for the Sea Kayak Safety & Rescue Course and the Sea Kayak Leader Award.

Are there any prerequisites?

There are no prerequisites for any of these modules. However, it is likely that paddlers will get more out of them if they have some experience paddling on the sea. We can only offer these modules to over 18s.

Will I get what I need for my leadership award?

Yes.

From the end of January 2025, these modulus replaced the old Coastal Navigation and Tidal Planning (CNTP) and Open Water Navigation and Tidal Planning (OWNTP) courses. Those who completed these courses prior to the end of January 2025 may still use them as pre-requisites for the Sea Leader (CNTP) and Advanced Sea Leader (OWNTP) qualifications. Currently, all five modulus must be completed prior to an Advanced Sea Leader assessment, with Sea Leader candidates needing all but the Open Crossings module.

I’ll try my best to develop skills and knowledge towards that which a sea leader will need through the course, but obviously those looking to take on leadership responsibilities will need to build their planning and navigation skills in the real world prior to an assessment. I’m more than happy to discuss how to do that, and any other aspects of preparing for the Sea Leader award, over lunch if you’re interested.

How will I get to the venue?

Harston is a small village close to Cambridge. We’ll provide you with directions to the venue once you have booked the course. The venue has plenty of parking.

If you’re considering coming by public transport, please let me know - I’m keen to make that possible! Harston is a pleasant cycle from Cambridge, and we may be able to sort out lifts from a train station if that’s what you need.

What should I bring?

Cake. Cakes or other baked good are always appreciated and can dramatically enhance the learning experience for everyone! Please tell me if you have any allergies so that I can let prospective bakers know.

Stuff for note taking. We will provide all required equipment, but we suggest that you bring a pen/pencil and a note pad for taking notes.

Your mobile phone - it’ll be useful to access online information like weather forecasts.

Warm clothes. There’s nothing worse than trying to learn when you’re cold - bring warm jumpers, in case the venue gets chilly or we head outside to explore some navigation skills.

Lunch and snacks. We will provide tea and coffee, and pastries on the first morning of the course. Please bring a packed lunch for each day, and any snacks that you’ll need to stay awake! The venue has a small kitchen, with a kettle and a microwave.

What does the course fee cover?

The course fee includes instruction, use of resources required for the exercises on the course, any handouts (the course notes are free online) and the fees that we have to pay to Paddle UK. The fee does not include lunch or accommodation.

Anything else I should know?

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.

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.

How do I book a place?

Get in touch with me by email: rbown (at) cantab (dot) net.

To secure a place on the course, I’ll ask you to complete a booking form, and send the course fee by bank transfer.

What if I’ve got a question that isn’t covered here?

Please get in touch and ask away! We can always find a time to talk over the phone/Zoom if it’s easier than email.