A short but fun sea kayaking taster. We cover what we need to get on the water safely and then get straight out there. The main emphasis is on getting a short trip in and learning a few skills on the way. It is a fairly informal gathering with plenty of scope for individualisation so whether it's your first time or you have been a few times before you will get plenty out of it.

If you have never been in any sort of kayak before but fancy having a go at sea kayaking this is the course for you. We will introduce you to the fundamentals of boat handling skills, safety, weather and tides; and we'll get out on a journey fairly quickly too. We will work on skills to help you get to the BCU 1 Star. By the end of the course you should have a fairly good idea if sea kayaking is something you want to take forward and how you might do that.

This course is for those that have tried some form of kayaking at least once before and would now like to try sea kayaking. We will look at sea kayak specific boat handling skills, safety, weather and tides; while getting out and exploring the coast too. We will work on skills to help you get to the BCU 2 Star. By the end of the course you should have a fairly good idea if sea kayaking is something you want to take forward and how you might do that.

On the intermediate course we will look to take your paddling into a variety of conditions and give you the skills and knowledge to handle them. We will have a look at your current skills and see if they can be improved before testing them in some slightly more challenging conditions. We will look at boat handling, safety and navigation in wind, swell and tide conditions. We will work on skills to help you get to the BCU 3 Star.

As an advanced sea kayaker you will probably have a good idea of what you want to look at on this course, and we try to keep it flexible enough to accommodate that. Depending on the conditions that we have during the course we will look at dealing with strong winds, breaking waves and tide races; from the perspective of boat handling, safety, navigation and leadership. We will work on skills to help you get to the BCU 4 and 5 Star.

Whether you're an individual or a group, from the UK or abroad, you may want to put together a course of your own with a bespoke itinerary. As well as providing the sea kayaking we can also organise the transport, accommodation and catering for you.

This is the first of the BCU's sea kayak specific awards and recognises the level of skill, understanding and knowledge of an able improving sea paddler journeying in a moderate tidal environment as part of a led group with winds of no more than Force 4.

This course is designed for those paddlers carrying out coastal journeys including islands up to 2 nautical miles offshore in areas of tidal movement up to 2 knots and winds of up to force 4 and is suitable for those seeking their 4 star award sea.

This leadership award indicates that the candidate has the skill level to safely paddle and lead competent paddlers in moderate water conditions.

This course is designed for those paddlers carrying out open water journeys including islands over 2 nautical miles offshore in areas of strong tidal movement of 3+ knots and/or including winds of up to force 5 and is suitable for those seeking their 5 star award sea.

This advanced leadership award indicates that the candidate has the skill level to safely paddle and lead paddlers in advanced water conditions.