How do you properly plan a SUP tour? Reading tides, calculating realistic time, and the key German waterway rules you need to know.
The honest answer: most "bad tours" don't happen on the water, they happen at the desk beforehand — during planning. Realistically judging tides, wind and your own condition wins you 80% of the tour before your paddle even gets wet.
On tidal waters, current direction decides your pace almost more than your own strength does. Use a tide table: it shows low and high water times, from which you can work out when the current flows which way. Paddling with the current feels like a sudden tailwind motor kicked in; paddling against it can bring you to a near standstill at the same effort.
Even without tides, simple math applies: at a base pace of 4–8 km/h (see the first guide), a 12 km route takes between one and a half and three hours of pure paddling — plus breaks, a headwind buffer and the way back. Skip that math beforehand, and you'll underestimate your tour by about a third on average.
On coastal and estuary waters, the tide determines current direction. Plan your tour so the current supports you on the harder leg — usually the way back, once your energy has already faded.
Calculate with your base pace from the first guide (4–8 km/h) and add breaks plus a headwind buffer of at least 20%. For a 12-kilometer tour that means planning for three hours rather than one and a half, until you truly know your own pace.
Wind is only part of the equation. Also check precipitation, storm risk, air and water temperature — a thunderstorm on open water is life-threatening, because you're the highest point around for miles.
In Germany, canals and narrow passages have a right-hand traffic rule. Always avoid shipping channels and locks — they create suction and currents no paddle can counter. SUPs are exempt from registration requirements, but police still recommend marking your name and contact on the board.
Before the tour, fix at least two possible exit points, not just start and finish. If weather or condition change, you have an option without having to push through the full distance.
Good trip planning is the most effective protection there is in SUP touring — more effective than any single piece of gear. Take five minutes before every tour, even a familiar one, for a weather and tide check.
If a thunderstorm builds, get off the water immediately, even if you haven't reached your destination. A lightning strike on open water forgives no misjudgment.
Plan your first coastal tours deliberately around the tide change — start shortly after low water, so the rising tide works for you in the first hours, before it works against you as it ebbs.
A practical trick: mark your planned route including exit points in a weather or map app and share the link with your contact on shore — faster and more precise than a verbal description after the fact.
Use the tide table to determine low and high water times and, from that, current direction. Plan so the current supports you on the harder leg of the route, usually the way back.
At a base pace of 4–8 km/h, pure paddling time is one and a half to three hours. Add breaks and at least a 20% buffer for headwind, until you know your actual pace across several tours.
No, SUPs are exempt from registration under § 2.02 BinSchStrO. Police still recommend marking name and contact details on the board so it can be identified if lost.
Get to shore immediately, even if the tour isn't finished. On open water you're the highest point for miles — a thunderstorm there is life-threatening, and continuing to paddle isn't an option.
SUP Touring: Cadence and Pacing for Long Distances