Words: Del Clare Photos: Jack Grace, Trevor Wilson, Matt Brook, Jamie Greenhalgh, Tom Clare & Del
PADDLER 33
KAYAKING
SAFETY
The power of counting lemons
Words: Del Clare Photos: Jack Grace, Trevor Wilson, Matt Brook, Jamie Greenhalgh, Tom Clare & Del
Years ago, I signed up for an advanced white water safety course by the legend Chris Eastabrook. During this course, Chris introduced me to‘ counting lemons’. In a nutshell, there was this idea that often, when things go dramatically wrong on the river, there were usually lots of smaller things that had gone wrong in the lead-up to that moment. He referred to these smaller things as‘ lemons’, which has led to a safety measure now an integral part of my kayaking called‘ counting lemons’. This idea has genuinely changed how I approach kayaking and my decisions around safety. Keep reading if you want to know how!
THE ADVANCED WHITE WATER SAFETY COURSE
If you’ ve been kayaking for a while and completed a white water safety course, I recommend signing up for the advanced version. It is well worth the money, and it is a course I’ d be keen to go and repeat! I did mine through Getafix. People often think safety is just about knowing fancy ropework, unpinning kayaks from difficult spots or chasing kayaks down the river. The rescue side of safety is essential, and the fantastic people who work outdoors would agree that those skills require regular practice. However, the other side to implementing safety is the strategic side. Our ability to make safe decisions is the most useful tool in our safety kit. This is something that advanced safety courses really focus on.
At the start of this course, Chris asked us to think of a day when we experienced an‘ epic’. If you are unfamiliar with this word, an epic is a term kayakers use to describe when the day has gone very wrong, and things seem to spiral. For example, if a group of four paddlers swam simultaneously and lost all of their boats and paddles, they’ ve had an‘ epic’. Every experienced kayaker has experienced an epic, and most kayakers will have experienced more than one.
I had a day in mind that would be considered an epic. It was a day I had experienced relatively recently at the time, which had an unpleasant swim on a high Upper Dart. This was followed by a huge amount of miscommunication, which led to my then-boyfriend and I walking out of Dartmoor with one kayak on my shoulder( which, if you’ ve ever done, you will know, is arduous work). You can read more about it in a blog on‘ Bad swims and what I learned from them‘.
PADDLER 33