Skip to content

Pre-departure checklist

For 16 October 2026

01
Tide table for the day

Read it as a shape, not a list of times: know when the stream turns and how hard it runs at its peak.
02
Wind against tide check

If wind and stream oppose, the water state is set by the wind and the limit drops by about a third.
03
Forecast for the window, not the day

Take the hour-by-hour view and pick the four hours you will actually be on the water.
04
Two bail-outs identified

Name them out loud on shore. If you cannot name two, the plan is not finished.
05
Launch and landing access rechecked

Slipways that dry, harbour gates and seasonal ferry piers change the plan more often than the weather does.
06
VHF, flares and a way to call for help

Channel 16 monitored, DSC registered, and a phone in a waterproof case as a second means.
07
Someone ashore knows the plan

Route, launch, expected return and what to do if you are two hours late.
08
Thermal protection matched to the water

Cold water removes the option to swim for it. Dress for immersion, not for the air temperature.

Not an equipment list — a sequence of decisions that has to be finished on shore.

East coast

Sandbars, estuary mouths and a coastline that runs north-south, so almost every wind is either onshore or offshore with nothing in between.

segments: 5
Mean wind limit: 11.2 kt
Lowest limit: 10 kt
Exposed: 1

Wind limit in knots for every published segment on the east coast — Per segment upper wind limit in knots for every published guide on this coast. Beacon bars are 14 kt and above, which usually means exposed water.

Hazards Clapotis × 5Shipping × 5Weir / overfall × 1

Northumberland Flood

Alnmouth to Dunstanburgh Castle

This is the classic Northumberland starter paddle: a shallow estuary launch, two miles of dune-backed sand, then a whin sill headland with a castle sitting on top of it.

Distance: 8.5 nm
Wind limit: 12 kt
Grade: Sheltered

ClapotisShipping

Read the guide →

Northumberland Flood

Seahouses to the Farne Islands

Six nautical miles each way, one of the largest grey seal colonies in England, and a tide gate that decides whether the crossing takes forty minutes or two hours.

Distance: 6.2 nm
Wind limit: 10 kt
Grade: Intermediate

ClapotisShipping

Read the guide →

North Norfolk Slack

Blakeney to Scolt Head Island

North Norfolk has the largest tidal range on the English east coast and a harbour that is dry sand for eight hours in every twelve.

Distance: 7.4 nm
Wind limit: 12 kt
Grade: Sheltered

ClapotisShipping

Read the guide →

Suffolk Ebb

Orford Ness and the Butley River from Aldeburgh

The Suffolk coast has barely three metres of tide and a current that behaves like a much bigger estuary.

Distance: 9.8 nm
Wind limit: 12 kt
Grade: Intermediate

ClapotisShippingWeir / overfall

Read the guide →

East Yorkshire Ebb

Flamborough Head from South Landing

Flamborough is 100 m of vertical chalk dropping straight into the North Sea, with caves, arches and the largest mainland gannet colony in England.

Distance: 7.0 nm
Wind limit: 10 kt
Grade: Exposed

ClapotisShipping

Read the guide →

← Back to the atlas