East coast East Yorkshire Ebb
Flamborough Head: chalk cliffs, two high waters and the biggest gannetry in England
Flamborough is 100 m of vertical chalk dropping straight into the North Sea, with caves, arches and the largest mainland gannet colony in England. It is also the only place on this coast where the tide behaves oddly enough to catch out experienced paddlers, because Flamborough Head has a double high water.
- Distance
- 7.0 nm
- Tide window
- 4.0-5.6 m springs, 2.0-3.0 m neaps
- Wind limit
- 10 kt
- Grade
- Exposed
- Published
- 4 Oct 2026
The double high water
Between the Humber and Flamborough the tide stands at high water for two to three hours, and often rises to a first peak, dips, then rises to a slightly higher second peak. The gap between the two peaks can be 90 minutes and the second is typically 0.2 to 0.5 m higher.
For a kayaker this matters at exactly one point: the South Landing slipway. The slip ends in boulders and needs about 3.5 m of water over chart datum to be usable with a loaded boat. If you launch on the first peak you may find yourself at the slip on the way back during the dip, with less water than you left on.
The cliffs and the caves
North of South Landing the chalk runs out for 1.5 nm to the lighthouse, with a series of caves at water level. Several are paddleable at half tide in flat conditions: the largest, known locally as the Cathedral, has an entrance about 8 m wide and runs 40 m inland. All of them are dangerous in any swell over 1 m, because the reflected wave inside the cave meets the incoming one and creates a confused zone right at the entrance.
The chalk is soft and continuously falling. Do not raft up under an overhang or stop for photographs directly below a nesting ledge; the rock at the base of the cliff is a fresh fall every few weeks.
Birds, and the season that closes the cliffs
Between April and August around 200,000 seabirds nest here: gannets on the outer stacks, kittiwakes and guillemots on the ledges, puffins in burrows on the slope above. The RSPB closes the cliff-top path above the gannetry during the season and asks paddlers to keep 50 m from the cliff base and 100 m from any raft of birds on the water.
Gannets dive from 30 m and hit the water at around 90 km/h. A diving gannet 5 m from your boat is one of the genuinely spectacular things on this coast, but they do not look before they dive, so keep a line that does not cross the colony's flight path.
Making the return
The crux of this paddle is not the cliffs, it is the last mile back. The ebb sets south past the headland, and the wind almost always has some south in it in the afternoon. A group that has spent two hours drifting along the caves will find the return into a southerly force 4 with a spring ebb genuinely hard work.
The fix is timing rather than strength: turn round at North Landing, not at the lighthouse. That leaves 1.5 nm of the return inside the bay where the cliffs give some lee, and it means you make the decision while you still have the energy to act on it.
Plan table
Before departure
- 01
Identify which high water you are using
Flamborough has a double high water; launch on the higher peak, not the first one.
- 02
Check swell height, not just wind speed
The caves are only paddleable under about 1 m of swell; the forecast swell is decisive here.
- 03
Confirm the RSPB cliff restrictions
Boat distance guidance is 50 m from the cliff base during the nesting season.
- 04
Plan the turn point as North Landing, not the lighthouse
This is the decision that keeps the return inside the sheltered bay.
En route
- 01
Hold 50 m off the cliff base along the whole run
There is fresh rockfall at the base of the cliff most weeks.
- 02
Enter caves only one boat at a time and only at slack
Setting up a queue at a cave entrance in even 1 m of swell is how groups get into trouble here.
- 03
Keep out of the gannet flight lines
Diving gannets do not avoid kayaks and strike the water at around 90 km/h.
- 04
Turn at North Landing and start back with the tide
The ebb sets south past the headland; a late turn means a long carry down the coast.
Key numbers
- 7.0 nm return from South Landing to North Landing and back, 2.5 to 4 hours.
- Flamborough has a double high water; use the higher peak for the slipway.
- Wind limit 10 kt, and swell is the real gate: over 1 m the caves close.
- 50 m from the cliff base during the nesting season, 100 m from rafts of birds.
- Turn at North Landing, not the lighthouse, to keep the return in shelter.
Bail-outs
- B1 North Landing, 1.5 nm east, a steep shingle beach inside a cove
- B2 Bridlington harbour, 4 nm south, usable at any state of the tide behind the lock
Return leg：Return west into the ebb with the cliffs on your port side. The stream sets south past the headland, so a boat that is slow on the return leg will be carried down towards Bridlington rather than back to South Landing.