PADDLER 34
PADDLER 34
I’ d been having a great week on the water so far! Photo: Matt Brook
The‘ lemons’ for my Dartmoor epic
After sharing this story with the group, Chris explained his‘ lemons’ theory. He asked me to think about the day and identify any things that had happened earlier in the day and contributed to the day going wrong. Chris called these things’ lemons’ and explained that lemons are factors that are small on their own, but lots of them together can lead to bigger problems. He said that on days we experience epics, there were often many preliminary lemons that inevitably contributed to the epic that later followed. So, I listed as many lemons as possible for that day.
The Dart was higher than expected. We were in a large group of 10, and there were only a couple of hours left of daylight when we got on. We ran it like a mega train, which made me very scared. The swim itself was horrible. These were my lemons. My epic really started after my swim, and it happened because I made a decision without first properly communicating with the rest of the group.
Whilst this day taught me a valuable lesson on communication, Chris’ s question about lemons got me
Practising some safety skills on the Glaslyn. Photo: Jamie Greenhalgh thinking about it in more depth. I had assumed that this epic was caused by one poor decision made in a moment. However, the number of‘ lemons’ that had already happened before that decision was made was high. I questioned whether I would have made the same decision if the Dart had been lower, the group smaller, the day earlier. These lemons had already happened, which contributed to my making one very hasty and, unfortunately, poor decision.
MAKING A HABIT OF COUNTING LEMONS
I learned many things with Chris this weekend, but this idea of counting lemons has stuck with me. I now go with this rule. if there have been three or more lemons, it is worth spending more time making the decision and potentially going for the safer option. What I mean by this is when I am now faced with a decision whilst out kayaking, I will often run through and count any lemons that have happened that day. I choose the safer option if the lemon count is too high( three or more).
I was on a week-long advanced kayaking course in Snowdonia just before Christmas. It was a great week, but on the final day, I chose to get off the river at midday. When talking with one of the other paddlers about why, I explained,“ Because there are too many lemons,” and then explained what I meant by that.
I was physically exhausted after a week of pushing myself, and due to some accommodation issues, I was also quite tired from not sleeping well the last couple of nights. I had been very wobbly on the warm-up paddle and then put what I would describe as‘ the last of my energy’ into helping with large tree removal. Finally, I had a long drive home after the day. I was unsure about getting on to paddle in the afternoon, and after five minutes spent thinking things through and counting my lemons, I chose not to get on.
The coach was surprised when I told him, asking,“ Are you sure?” I knew that I had the capabilities to make the moves I needed to in this section, but I was not sure I