Navigation modules
Content
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. 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 focussing on wind, but the module looks at other weather-related hazards.
Tides: How to find information on tides, use them 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!). Because of their importance to kayakers, there is a focus on tidal streams.
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 the waves might affect a planned trip.
Navigation: The module covers simple approaches to navigation relevant to all paddling environemnts. 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.
You can find out more about each of the modules from 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 aren’t time to cover in a 2-hour module, but they give a good feel for what is covered.
Course programme
We typically deliver the modules in a classroom-based format. 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.
Each of the modules listed above takes around 2 hours to deliver. We typically deliver the modules either:
As one module at a time during an evening session - e.g. 6-8pm
Several modules back-to-back over the course of a (weekend) day (e.g. 9am-5pm) - with time for a tea break in between each module!
For an experience more grounded in the reality of paddling on the sea, it is possible to deliver the modules in whole or in part during a day on the water. Whilst this obviously takes more time, I can typically deliver other coaching during the day (e.g. leadership, rough water skills) and there are obvious benefits in seeing how the theory works in the real world. Please get in touch if this is of interest.
Alternative approaches to taking these modules
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. Others might prefer to follow the e-learning with support from other sources like:
- My notes on sea kayak navigation and tidal planning
- A good book on the subject
- The excellent navigation course from Online Sea Kayaking
Others will 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 many people benefit from the input of a coach when learning navigation and planning.
Prerequisites and links to leadership awards
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, or their chosen environment.
We can only offer these modules to over 18s.
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 needed all but the Open Crossings module.
Logistics
We’ll provide you with directions to the venue once you have booked the course. We will provide all required equipment, but we ask that you bring a pen/pencil and a note pad for taking notes. Bring your mobile phone too - it’ll be useful to access online information like weather forecasts.
There’s nothing worse than trying to learn when you’re too cold - bring warm jumpers, as some venues can be a little chilly at times.
For whole day courses, we suggest you bring a packed lunch with you. Where possible, we’ll provide means for making tea and coffee (details in joining instructions), but please bring snacks and anything specific you’d like to drink. Cakes or other baked good are always appreciated and can dramatically enhance the learning experience for everyone!
Costs
The course fee includes instruction, use of resources required for the exercises on the course, any handouts (the course notes are free for all online) and the fee that we have to pay to Paddle UK. Where practical we’ll also provide tea, coffee and biscuits. The fee does not include parking or lunch.
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.
The booking form for the course is here (but please use the Cambridge Canoe Club booking link if this course is being run through the club!)