Put the slowpoke as leader, nobody is allowed to pass the leader. They may even paddle faster. Put a GPS on their deck...makes for a great speed check!
Growing up with a horse background, we'd always have horses who would plod along on mountain trips when they were stuck behind another horse. When you'd put the same horse in the lead, they'd really step out and walk fast!
Shawn
: I get leery about paddling with self-proclaimed "racers". I'm not
: an instructor, and when I'm initiating a trip I tend not to call myself
: "leader" (more of an "instigator" 
) So I rarely try
: to manage a group.
: But I've noticed racers tend to be focused on their own trip and only pay
: attention to other paddlers to make sure they're still "ahead of the
: pack". The farther ahead they are, the better. Yes, I'm
: over-generalizing here. But a race mindset is a different thing from an
: "assist the group" mindset.
: Also, it seems common for a student to feel "I'm not a fast paddler yet.
: I don't want to hold the group up, so I'll press as hard as I can".
: Seems to me that a better position to assign to a racer would be sweep - they
: won't get ahead of the group and yet may be more likely to have the speed
: to catch up with someone having problems.
: You obviously did enough of the "right things" on this trip -
: everyone got back unscathed. Thanks for sharing so we can all learn.
: Val
