Sea kayaking trip planner help

A blank trip planner is available to photocopy from the back pages of your copy of Scottish Sea Kayaking or Welsh Sea Kayaking. There is also an A4 printout available to download here or, if you have one of the CKUK Route Cards, one can be found on the reverse of the sea touring route card

The trip planner will help you to plan a day’s paddling from tidal or weather predictions. Take it with you on the water, either in your map case or laminated and tucked under your deck lines, and you’ll be able to quickly check your progress. Laminating the sheet will mean you can use it time and time again for repeated trips.

You’re going to need a set of tide timetables for the relevant port and a map (OS Landranger or Explorer maps are good) or chart (Admiralty Leisure charts) of the area too.

To begin with, fill in the trip name and the page number from the guidebook (for quick future reference if you have the book).

• Check the tide & weather description against your tide timetable to set an appropriate date for your trip.
• Get a weather forecast for that period (but remember, your plans may have to change on the day). Note expected visibility, wind speed and direction, temperature and sea state or swell height.
• Note down the contact details for the local coastguard for quick reference.
• Copy down the tidal information from your tide timetable.
• From this and the tidal stream information on the route card, you can estimate the tidal stream times and rates for that day.
• Given a steady average pace of three knots paddling speed, and taking into account lunch stops and so on, you can fill out the route plan section, noting down expected arrival times for your planned course.

Take the trip planner on the water with you and you’ll be able to check your progress. It will help you to decide whether to shorten your trip, speed up or wait half an hour for the tide to work to your advantage.

Always be prepared to change your plans on the day, given local conditions.