Capsize in cold water
Check-in intervals for paddling are short by default, and the escalation chain assumes minutes rather than hours.
Activities · Water · Skill 1–3 · Low to high risk
Cold water is the whole risk model.
Sea kayaking, whitewater, canoeing and packrafting share one dominant failure mode and it is not the rapid. It is time in cold water after an unplanned swim. Every layer and every check-in the app configures for paddling is downstream of that.
01 / By the numbers
1–14dSea kayak expeditionHours for whitewater
4Layers auto-enabledCharts or river maps, tides or flow, weather, hazards
5Class scaleWhitewater difficulty, on the route line
2Travel modes fusedPackrafting is hiking and paddling in one plan
02 / What the app enables
Pick the activity. The map configures itself.
These layers switch on together, because they are the set this activity actually needs. You can change any of them; the point is that the default is not a blank topo map.
- Nautical charts
- For coastal and open-water paddling, with seamarks and hazards.
- Tides and currents
- The set that decides whether the crossing works at all.
- River maps and flow data
- Gauge readings, and the rapids graded on the line.
- Hazards
- Strainers, weirs, portages and known entrapment features.
- Access and portage
- Put-ins, take-outs and the carries between waterways.
- Weather
- Wind especially — a packraft is a sail you did not ask for.
03 / Failure modes
The ways this actually goes wrong.
Every activity in NavTrax carries a documented failure-mode list, and each entry names the feature that addresses it. Not a disclaimer — a design input.
Tide against you
Tidal current is a routing input, not a footnote. The engine will tell you the crossing is a two-hour window.
Wind blowing you off course
Wind forecast on the layer and a route that respects it. For packrafts, the app treats wind as a hard constraint.
Packraft puncture
Portage and access layers give you the walk-out, and the multi-modal router will actually plan it.
Lost at sea
Satellite messenger integration, and a live track shared with shore over whatever channel exists.
04 / Practice
What the app assumes you already do.
- PFD always
- Not an app feature. Stated anyway.
- Check tides
- Computed from live station data for your crossing window.
- Paddle with a partner
- Group relay means one boat with a signal syncs the pod.
- Scout rapids
- Flow data plus the graded line, read before you commit.
05 / Curated kit
The gear list, scoped to this activity.
Pulled from the activity's own equipment profile and matched against the in-app store catalog. Nothing here is a generic recommendation.
BoatKayak, canoe or packraftPackraft: 2.5 kg class
SafetyPFD and helmetWhitewater-rated
SafetyThrow bag and knifeWithin reach, not in the dry bag
WarmthDrysuit or wetsuitWater temperature, not air
Dry storageDry bagsRoll-top, redundant
RepairPatch kitField-repairable
CommsWaterproof VHF or satelliteTethered
NavigationDeck-mounted phone caseOffline charts pinned
06 / Under the hood
Escalation on a short clock
Short intervals. Fast escalation.
Charts, flow data and multi-modal routing are on Pro. SOS and check-ins are free.