Small Boat and Kayak Safety

Lifejacket, float plan, limits, cold water and capsize

5 minBeginnerUpdated 2026-10-23 Small Boat and Kayak Safety

You will learn

Wear and check a lifejacket that fits the water you are on
Leave a float plan someone will act on
Survive the first minute of cold water immersion

⚠️ Wear a lifejacket or buoyancy aid at all times on the water, with the crotch strap fastened, and keep phone or radio and whistle on your body, not in the boat.

⚠️ In cold water, float on your back for the first minute before attempting anything. Cold shock drowns people in seconds.

⚠️ Never launch in offshore wind or a deteriorating forecast. For serious incidents call local emergency services immediately, 112 in Portugal and across the EU.

The lifejacket you actually wear

A lifejacket only works when it is on your body, zipped and crotch strap fastened. For inshore work use at least a 150 newton automatic inflating lifejacket, or a 50 newton buoyancy aid for kayaking where you expect to swim and need movement. Check the gas cylinder is tight and unfired and the automatic cartridge is in date before every trip. A person in the water without buoyancy has a minute of useful function; with it, they float while they recover their breathing. Add a whistle on the harness and a waterproofed phone or a small VHF radio in a pocket, not in a bag in the boat.

💡 Cylinder tight, cartridge in date, crotch strap done up. Every trip.

The float plan

Tell one named person on land where you are launching, where you intend to fish, who is with you, a description of the boat, and the exact time at which they should call the coastguard if they have not heard from you. That last part is the whole point. A vague message that you are going fishing helps nobody. On the coast, emergency services want the launch point and a return deadline, because that is what defines a search area. Text a photo of the boat too. Then call in when you land, every time, so nobody launches a search for a man who is already having lunch.

💡 A float plan without a call in deadline is not a plan.

Weather and swell limits

Set your limits before you go, on paper, and do not renegotiate them on the slipway. For a small open boat or a kayak, sensible beginner limits are wind under about 10 knots, swell under about half a metre, no offshore wind at all and no forecast deterioration within your window. Offshore wind is the specific killer: it flattens the water at the beach and then pushes you steadily away from land. Check a marine forecast, not a general weather app, and look at wind against tide, which stacks up short steep waves. If the forecast changes while you are out, go in early. There is another day.

💡 Offshore wind plus flat water at the beach is a trap, not an invitation.

Cold water shock and one ten one

Cold water does not kill slowly. The first minute is cold shock: an involuntary gasp, then uncontrolled hyperventilation. If your head is under when you gasp, you drown immediately. So the first rule is to float on your back, head clear, and do nothing until your breathing settles, which takes about a minute. Then you have roughly ten minutes of meaningful arm and leg function to get to the boat or something buoyant, because muscles cool fast. Then roughly one hour before cold incapacitation becomes lethal. That is the one ten one rule: one minute to breathe, ten minutes to act, one hour to be found.

💡 Float first, swim second. Fighting the first minute is what drowns people.

If you capsize

Stay with the boat. A hull, even upside down, floats, is visible from the air and gives you something to hold and climb on, and it is far easier to spot than a head in a swell. Account for everyone by shouting names. Get as much of your body out of the water as you can, because air steals heat far more slowly than water. Signal with the whistle and the phone or radio you kept on your body. Then work on righting or re entering only if it is safe and you are still strong. None of this is encouragement to go out in marginal conditions. It is what you do when a good day turns.

💡 Stay with the boat, count heads, get out of the water.

Check yourself

The one ten one rule describes

Cold shock lasts about a minute, meaningful swimming ability about ten minutes, and cold incapacitation becomes lethal after roughly an hour.

After a capsize you should

The hull floats, is visible and supports you. A swimmer alone in a swell is very hard to find and loses heat fast.

A float plan must include

Without a call in deadline nobody knows when to raise the alarm, and the search never starts on time.

Offshore wind is dangerous for small boats because

Flat water inshore hides the fact that the wind is steadily carrying you seaward and will have to be fought on the way back.

Try it for real: Make yourself findable

Check your lifejacket cylinder, cartridge date and crotch strap, and fit it properly
Write a float plan template with launch point, boat description, people aboard and a call in deadline
Send it to one named person and agree what they do if you miss the deadline
Write your personal wind and swell limits on a card and put it in the boat
Practise putting the lifejacket on and finding your whistle with your eyes closed