This is the highest Leadership award that British Canoeing offers and is intended for paddlers who journey on the sea in areas where tidal races, headlands, open crossings, swell and challenging coastlines will be encountered.

The Open Water Navigation and Tidal Planning (O.W.N.T.P.) course is a theory day traditionally taught before heading out onto the water. This allows students put into practice their planning skills and on-water navigation throughout the remainder of the course. Poor visibility/ Night navigation will also be covered as part of the training, feedback and a detailed action plan will be discussed with the coaches once training is complete.

Prerequisites for attending a training course include; the BC Sea Kayak Leader Award, Coastal Sea Kayak Award  or relevant experience, appropriate safety training i.e. coastal navigation and tidal planning (or an appropriate substitute) and a current first aid certificate including CPR. Equally if you feel you are paddling at this standard feel free to contact us to discuss where you fit into the BC qualification scheme.

This course can run for 3 to 4, or 4 to 5 day training days, we recommend and have observed the 4 and 5 day courses as the most beneficial for our trainees. This allows more time to cover the large and diverse syllabus, trainees have more opportunity to practice under the guidance of their coaches and areas in question may be revisited and discussed at greater lengths.

Course Price:

£300-3 days

£380-4 days

£450-5 days       

Course Dates:

2nd - 6th of May (fully booked)

20th-24th of May (fully booked)

28th of August -1st of September (spaces available)

26th- 29th of September (spaces available)

9th-13th of November (spaces available)

12th-15th of December (spaces available)

Each course requires a minimum of 3 people to run.

For the course syllabus and further information click here

For course dates please check our Calendar here.