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Sea Kayaks Techniques Bulletin Board
Thank you Shawn, very helpful comments...
Posted By: David In Response To: Re: Thanks for your comments (Shawn Baker)
Date: Friday, 23 May 2003, at 10:31 a.m.
Thank you very much for taking the time to give feedback Shawn. The leader and sweep are just functional terms here, we travel in a pod with a designated lead who is lookout for vessels and regulates group pace. The sweep is the strong paddler, again, just a stront student here. These were students. We maintain a 1:4 --- 1:6 ratio with alot of cross checking between instructors with different groups on decisions.
So both leader and sweep were inexperienced paddlers, but for the return trip I designated a student who had demonstrated good skills (who owned his own kayak and frequented some high windage local launch sites). We often have to make an assessment during exposed crossings as to which student should take lead and which should take sweep. In this case, I was a little over impressed with the lead, he informed me he was an adventure racer and began the weekend by quizzing my about eco challenge gear. He paddled with confidence most of the weekend. It turned out in the end though, that he had never actually participated in an adventure race, but intended to shortly.
I agree with Lee's comments about generalship also. I tend to be an egalitarian leader, preferring Lao Tse's leading by not leading...but in cases like this, I am extremely assertive. This is why were able to recover so quickly from what might have been worse.
One of the students had commented on the whitecaps he saw earlier, and I dismissed them as reflections from the sun. I had a VHF MAFOR without a small craft warning, fair skies, maybe a 10-15 knot blow on the lake, but in our harbor we have our own weather system from differential heating of city and water.
But really, it was the random tour boat behavior that was the only signficant problem for me. They kind of follow a route, but by that, it can very as much as 100 yards. Just when you think you have one vector licked, another pleasure craft owner decides to head across the front of your group, forcing a stoppage, which leaves you a sitting duck for the first boat. The gentle balance required to move paddlers through busy waters is a trip in itself, much harder then just throwing them in doubles and seeing Desolation sound. In high wind, with only rudimentary knowledge of bracing, stoppoing the kayak and holding position is not a viable option.
: As Lee said, what are your goals?
: Were the leader/sweep training as junior leaders, or simply students who
: needed a little more challenge than the rest?: Immersion pro?
: If tour boats are a regular feature, do they generally stay on a set course?
: I assume the ferry does. Should lead have known not to paddle into their
: course, or did they aim for him?: Have the students debrief themselves; you may find that they are more honest
: (and possibly brutally honest) to tell themselves things than you might be
: comfortable saying. Then, you can comment on all the good things they did.: It didn't come through that way in your post, but I believe being a dictator
: in the "heat of battle" might help. Not that people would like
: it--not that they should have to. If you were able to contact lead by
: radio, "get your butt back here to help" might have both clicked
: him out of his own panic and turned him around to help you out. If he was
: truly panicked, leaving by himself put him in a position where you
: couldn't help him either.: Use a "team towing" concept. Rather than suggesting or viewing
: towing as a method of last resort (which can sometimes be demoralizing,
: causing the towee to refuse a tow), use towing for "practice".
: Much earlier on, you could have hooked Hermes to Steve, telling them both
: you wanted to conserve her shoulder. (which you would...you'd also slow
: Steve down). Use towing all the time, so when you actually need it,
: it's not a big "to-do".: See also: http://www.useakayak.com/team_towing.html
: You made the correct decision in choosing the ferry.
: I think communication suffered early on, which caused you to have to deal
: with all the lemons.: If "3 students had later stated that they felt anxiety during the
: crossing," there was vital information you weren't aware of. You
: needed to check with them more constantly, or if they felt afraid to tell
: you, chances are, at least one other student may have known of the
: feelings of the anxious 3. Asking questions like, "do you think the
: group is doing well on this crossing? Should we bag it and turn back at
: the halfway point" can get the question you need answered, without
: putting an individual on the spot.: It doesn't appear as if you put anyone on the spot, but if someone feels on
: the spot, they'll sooner lie to you than admit a perceived weakness.: Good for you for the peer review, and great for you for reviewing this with
: the students. They have tons to learn from this; admitting you've learned
: a thing or two yourself will make their learning more meaningful and
: permanent.: shawn
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