This is one of a series of webpages about the organisation of paddle trips at the River Canoe Club
Organising and Leading Trips with the River Canoe Club
Introduction
This webpage outlines the requirements for leading trips within the RCC (River Canoe Club). It discusses the importance of matching paddling skills to the trip’s conditions and the abilities needed for organising and leading trips.
The goal of organising and leading a club trip is to have a safe and fun paddling activity. The RCC strives for our paddle trips to be resilient, that is: to anticipate what may occur; to know what to look for; to know what to do, and; to learn from what we experience. The float plan with its integrated risk assessment is critical for this.
Who can organise RCC Club Trips
To lead a club trip someone needs certain skills and abilities, most of which are learned through experience. However, those skills and experience are not essential to organise a trip provided that an organiser is adequately supported by someone that does have them.
The club has many people with the required leadership skills to help someone that does not. It’s actually a great way to learn how to lead. If you are interested, don’t be shy to step forward and ask for assistance.
Who can Lead RCC Club Trips
Answering who can lead a club paddle on the water is not straightforward to answer.
In broad terms a trip leader must have the paddling skills and experience to match the trip being planned. They must also have the personal qualities to lead a fun activity and be able to make decisions and take charge if problems are encountered or mishaps occur, whilst remaining calm and measured.
Let’s unpack this into two aspects; technical skills, and; leadership ability.
Technical Skills
A leader’s technical skills need to match the type of activity they will lead including likely rescue scenarios. These skills can vary enormously across the wide range of paddling activities that the club is involved with. A leader should be able to coach others in these skills where they see problems, particularly where safety or endurance may be impacted.
Paddling is a journey. People start on the easier types of water such as flat water (SO1). Before long they will challenge themselves by tackling progressively more demanding environments. Whilst only a few end up paddling open ocean, or high-grade whitewater, most progress beyond purely flat water or low-grade whitewater paddling. Leaders generally start leading trips on easy water and progress to leading more challenging trips as they move forward on their own paddling journey.
To lead a sheltered flat-water paddle (SO1) on a small inland lake or slow flowing river requires a leader to know how to paddle efficiently in a straight line and to manoeuvre a boat around obstacles. The leader may have to deal with wind, small choppy waves or the wakes of boats, but generally, nothing too taxing. They should know rescue skills including deep-water rescue and how to tow a fatigued or injured paddler. They should also be able to anticipate and deal with some more challenging conditions should that occur. An ability in first aid is useful. On these trips, problems are more likely to be encountered off the water rather than whilst paddling. The key here is that the leader should be well practiced in these skills and a have a little extra available. However, these skills don’t necessarily take long to learn.
The next category is semi protected waters (SO2) such as larger lakes and tidal estuaries. As well as the skills needed for SO1 paddles, a leader will be able to to navigate tidal currents, small waves and small surf. They need to anticipate the effects of wind and tidal flows on waves and launch or land through small surf. They are more likely to need to undertake rescues that will be in more demanding water and need to be undertaken quickly. These skills are a more demanding than for an SO1 level and therefore it is likely to take longer to learn. Just paddling in the RCC will help people pick up these skills and knowledge.
You can see that to lead a paddle, the technical skill level a leader needs increases progressively from flat water (SO1) to more demanding water. Whilst advanced paddling skills are learned through practice and long experience, many people will capable to leading less demanding trips relatively quickly whilst building the technical skills for more challenging trips.
Leadership Ability
Leadership is broad range of abilities and personal characteristics to guide and inspire others towards a common goal; in this case an enjoyable and rewarding paddle trip. The key aspects of leadership include communication, decision making, empathy and the ability to motivate and inspire a group. Leadership of a paddle trip is not usually about “command and control”, albeit that is rarely needed when dealing with problems, mishaps or an accident.
A trip leader does not need to do everything themselves. They can delegate to others and there are usually plenty of very capable paddlers on RCC trips to share tasks.
Bringing Technical Skills and Leadership Ability Together.
Organising or leading a club paddle is generally enjoyable and rewarding. Organisers and leaders find that paddlers are very grateful for the effort put into a trip and are very understanding when things change, even at the last minute.
When we combine technical paddling skills and knowledge with leadership ability we can plan and execute a safe and enjoyable paddle trip. The RCC paddles in a natural and variable environment, with paddlers of different abilities, backgrounds and natures. , Usually minor adaptations often need to be made before and during a trip. Having the right mix of technical skills and leadership ability allows us to be resilient, i.e. it allows us to adapt to changing circumstances and proceed safely.