Weather

As we have become accustomed to heated (or cooled) houses, cars and work spaces or 'sailed' on powered vessels our understanding of the environment has declined significantly. We are no longer interested in what a red sky at night foretells but typically just admire it for its aesthetic beauty, not that there is anything wrong with that. Perhaps because we choose to sea kayak, we are in a small minority that still does take an interest and so we should. Weather and tides can have a big impact on sea kayakers (whether it is too much or too little) so some sound theorectical knowledge and a keen weather eye is needed if you are to make best use of your paddling opportunities!

A good starting place is an understanding of the theory and I can, for the most part, highly recommend this RYA Weather handbook. Alternatively, there are lots of very good articles available on the internet itself. If it's all still too confusing then why not sign up for one of the Club's in-house courses which runs as part of the Winter Training Programme.

Stuart