I'd be interested to know how much difference it makes to handheld range in practice - I'm suspecting the difference might not be massive. I think a PLB would be my first choice for raising the alarm in an emergency (and the cost of this isn't far off a PLB) but this could be useful in a range of sc...

DSC uses MMSIs "T" number callsigns are a pre-DSC thing.

If the weather is good enough for the circumnavigation it should be fine for the crossing too. Keyhaven has the shortest crossing, avoids the major shipping lanes further east and has a few places you could leave a car. There are a few places you can wild camp but they can be well spread out - start...

As others have said the range is likely to be the issue here but I have seen a few handheld VHFs stop (effectively) transmitting whilst still receiving so it would be a good idea to check it when you do get the chance.

If they're handheld (rather than parachute) flares I would be inclined to set them off in the garden (wearing gloves / safety glasses, not near the sea and with a bucket on hand to put them in if they don't go off). It's possibly illegal anyway but I think with handheld ones you are unlikely to caus...

Re the repair kit, the expectation at 3* is that you are a competent member of a led group so you wouldn't be expected to cope with major boat repairs for example, and in any case it's unlikely you'd fail because something is missing from your repair kit. I would think about what you would need to c...

One issue that did come to mind, if you start the tracker with alert and you lose your phone, or your phone dies, or you unexpectedly have no signal at your destination, you are not going to be able to end your plan, or alert your emergency contact, who after being automatically texted that you're ...

I've got a 3 piece Romany which I think uses the same clip system as the Rockpool boats. Once the boat is assembled it's as solid as a one piece boat - the only disadvantages are it's a bit heavier and a bit more expensive. I do worry a bit about the strain on the bulkheads when transporting it whol...

I would certainly advocate carrying some handheld / orange smoke flares in addition to vhf + plb as they are good for indicating your location to people actually looking for you - and if there are other people around will be useful for raising the alarm as well. I also carry a couple of parachute fl...

I'm only familiar with sea assessments but guess the principle is the same. I would do the assessment with someone I've at least met before if possible (but would avoid doing it with someone I knew well), my thinking being: a) It reduces the stress considerably b) There are a handful of providers I ...

For what its worth, earlier this year there were organised gangs stealing kayaks particularly sea kayaks from a number of the motorway services on the M6... There's a thread on here from 2007 about that but I've not heard of it happening since. I like to think the faff of handling sea kayaks and th...

Your best bet is probably to look for people advertising assessments and contact them directly.

You get third party insurance as a BC member - although your household policy may provide cover.

We looked at insuring our kayaks a few years ago and decided the policies had so many exclusions it wasn't worth it.

I think this is a good move - I lead club stuff and would be interested in going down the coaching route but have little/no interest (well, if time were no object...) in running flat water sessions for beginners. I would like to see BC standardise all the coach qualifications and insist coaches only...

Hi Mark, Under the new system, assuming you are a 5* leader, you may be endorsed as an Advanced Sea Kayak Leader after just 5 days on courses. I'm confused now. I thought Advance Seakayak Leader is just a new name for 5 star. Michal It is - I think he meant to say Advanced Sea Kayak *Coach*.

It would only be an issue if it's a DSC radio AND you're selling (/giving away) the old one (with the MMSI set). If it's a non-DSC radio there's nothing to register anyway. If it's a DSC one and the old one is getting binned you can just put your MMSI in the new one. If you're selling a DSC one thou...

Solent coastguard keep a listening watch on 67 (at least in the "old" Solent area - I don't think the old Portland area is included) for routine traffic but elsewhere you need to call on 16 first. (Or make a DSC call, but I get the impression very few people do).

It is definitely worth making a transmission from time to time - I've seen a couple of people suddenly discover their radios don't actually transmit (despite receiving ok). I've never had any objections from the coastguard but that may not be universal. If calling on 16 it's a good idea to listen fo...

Eastbourne to Seaford has regular buses if paddling past Beachy Head and the Seven Sisters.

It's a legal requirement if you plan to do anything other than listening and transmitting in a distress situation, although the chances of anyone checking are extremely low. It's also a requirement for the 4/5* (sea leader/advanced sea leader) awards if that's relevant. Most of the stuff is pretty s...

The north coast between Cemaes and Bull Bay is really nice. Just beware that if the winds are very strong it tends to funnel out of the bays and around spring tides things get a bit bouncy.

I see they've taken the opportunity to increase the registration fee to £39 and require all registrants to be BC members (previously I think it was about £12.50 for members and £25 for non-members).

I had a quick look at the BCU website after reading this thread and it does look as though the 4* and 5* awards have been done away with - they no longer appear on the BCU website. Everything stops at 3*. The Paddlesport Leader Award is the first of 3 leadership awards - it's followed by Moderate W...

On the plus side, the BC leadership awards are much more accessible than the mountaineering equivalents. The ML for instance requires a 5 day assessment just to take people hill walking which few non-professionals are going to bother with, whereas it's pretty common for club paddlers to take 4*/5* (...

The Eastern Road bridge is formally closed to navigation due to works under the bridge, a barge is moored on the eastern side and scaffolding goes down to LW. Langstone Harbour master asks everyone to keep clear. This precludes circumnavigation of Portsea Island as the portage across the 4 lanes of...

I think there's something to be said for the way mountaineering awards work where, for instance, The BMC (representative body) send board members to MLTE (awarding body) but they're separate legal entities with different priorities. I suspect the problem though is that most recreational paddlers (my...

James Stevenson has a course on 27-31 March which I believe has a couple of places left if that's of interest.

In other news, it's not the BCU any more: https://f58619eed67ecf47f9c5-69635130c4 ... -draft.pdf

Any climbers in the room will note that it passed rather more easily than the BMC's recent attempt at rebranding.

So a four star leader with no coaching qualifications could take a group of beginners onto moderate water and be in remit? The remit used to state that the 4* wasn't suitable for introducing beginners to the sport but they seem to have removed that for some reason. The 4* training/assessment doesn'...

I'm working towards my 4* assessment and thought like SimonMW that the group needed to be reasonably capable at that grade. Looking at the syllabus and training notes though there is no mention of this at all. So where is the line between leading and coaching? I would say that as a leader you need ...