Watch

A watch is a simple, but often forgotten piece of equipment. It can be used in combination with a compass for dead reckoning navigation and it will help predict tides and currents. If you create a float plan it will help keep you on schedule.

A good watch need not be expensive. Quartz watches are quite accurate. Any drift in their timekeeping can be measured - check the watch against a known, accurate time source for several days and see if the watch tends to gain or lose time. Many basic sport watches are perfectly suitable, though the more waterproof the better. A 50m rating is suitable for rain, but 100m or higher is better for the submersion that will happen with kayaking. A diver's rubber watch band is best. Bands made with nylon webbing and closing with velcro are not bad, but tend to get stinky with repeated soakings. Leather watch bands will not last long in wet environments.

You can get watches with many features, but an alarm is probably the only thing you should consider essential (so you can wake up in time to catch the tide). An analog display is often easier for older eyes to read than a digital. If you want better scratch resistance, look for a crystal made of synthetic sapphire.

As an alternative to wearing the watch on your wrist, you can:

• Search the web for a fob watch or carabiner watch. These can attach to your PFD or other place directly. Just make sure it's waterproof.
• Glue a short length of light webbing on your skirt with short sections free of the deck. This can be used to hold a watch semi-permanently with the pins on the watch engaging the webbing instead of a wrist strap.
• Make up a short section of webbing or use the wrist strap to attach the watch to the knife tab on your PFD (if you don't use a knife).
• Lie the watch flat with strap undone inside the chart case to one side of the chart.
• Attach the wrist strap to the bungies on the foredeck.