SK IV/V Trip Recommendations

This document provides recommendations for organizing trips into difficult conditions.

How do we take paddlers into challenging conditions?  We want to do this.  We want to both provide opportunities for capable paddlers to go on trips that exercise their ability and provide trips for developing paddlers to expand their ability.  But safety margins are smaller.  We must adopt practices that continue to provide a sufficient safety buffer.  

These recommendations are primarily for trips in SK IV/V conditions such as coastal trips or strong wind and waves.  In these conditions, even experienced paddlers are challenged with personal boat control and assistance of others is more difficult.  Thus the need for recommendations that increase safety in other ways.

These are recommendations, not rules.  Leaders may deviate from them when there is good reason.  How do you know if you have a “good reason”?  Imagine explaining your reason for deviating from the recommendation to a jury.  If you are comfortable with that, you likely have a good reason. 

Clearly State Max Expected Conditions

For any trip, and especially with SK V trips, leaders should include a clear statement of the max expected conditions:  wind, waves, swell, currents, weather, etc.   This serves two purposes.  It provides information for participants to self select.   It provides clear criteria for leaders to make a go, no-go decision.  This reduces the possibility of mission creep where in more difficult conditions are accepted due to vague specification and momentum.

This does not mean that max expected conditions shall never be exceeded on a trip.  One may choose to launch with a forecast at max conditions and then encounter conditions that exceed the max.  

On a multi-day trip the ability to control for max expected conditions is reduced.  Leaders should consider extra buffer, such as:  stronger group, more time, or no-go at forecast conditions at 80% of max conditions.

Party Size

Larger parties are more difficult to manage and conditions make party management more difficult.  Therefore, limit party size.  There are two factors to consider when choosing party size:  extra capacity within the group and total size.  A strong paddler may have extra capacity to care for 4 other novice paddlers in calm conditions, 2 others in 10kt winds, 1 other in 20kt winds, and no others in 30kt winds, their personal maximum.  So consider the extra capacity within the group for the expected conditions.  We can roughly categorize paddler’s ability and excess capacity as:

  • Condition Novice - someone with training but little experience in the conditions. Can probably, but not certainly, manage their own boat.  Their ability to assist others is limited.  They are learning personal judgment and have no basis for judging group ability.
  • Condition Competent - someone with experience paddling in the conditions Can manage their own boat, make personal judgment decisions, and assist others when directed.  May not be able to slow their own paddling to stay together or notice paddlers who need help.  Limited capacity to judge the group's ability
  • Condition Leader - Someone with significant experience paddling in the conditions.  Can manage their own boat, assist others in need, make group level plans, and make group level judgment decisions.  Is able to adjust their paddling to stay with less experienced paddlers.

To manage and plan, it is necessary for a group to come together to communicate.  As conditions grow rougher, it is more difficult to come together and more difficult to communicate.  What is the maximum group size that can come together such that everyone can hear everyone else?

Guidance: 

  •  1 condition competent or leader paddler for every novice.  1 to 1.
  •  4 person max when only one condition leader
  •  6 person max when there are two condition leaders.
  •  6 person max for all groups.  If you want to take more people, it must be organized as two independent groups coordinating.
  • 3 person minimum for all groups. 

Reasoning:

  • When conditions are difficult, each novice may need personal assistance.
  • When there is only 1 person with capacity to hold the large picture and assess group performance and risk, 3 people may be all they should be watching over.
  • With groups over 6 it becomes difficult to get everyone together for a discussion.  It is more difficult for groups over 6 to paddle together.
  • Rescue options increase with more members in the party.  2 people have very limited options.  3 people have significantly more options.  4 people even more.  

There are many other factors that may apply, such as ability to get to protected waters vs commitment of the route.  Committed trips may require higher skills.  Lower max conditions will allow larger groups.  Training, done in a selected venue with exits to safer water, allows larger groups and lower skill.  

Paddle Together

Paddling together makes it easier to assist each other, to join up for planning, and to communicate when joined up.  Inability to paddle together indicates the group is in conditions that are too difficult for them as a group.  If the group cannot paddle together, the mission should be scaled back.  

An effective formation is everyone in a lateral line, such that all party members are easily seen.  Gaps between paddlers should be somewhere between half a boat length up to a distance you can shout across and paddle across in under 30 seconds.  If anyone falls behind, the whole group slows.  Pace is that of the slowest paddler.  

Many of our groups are newly formed, how do we know they can paddle together? By intentionally doing so in the conditions, for 10 minutes or longer.  Early in every paddle, ideally in expected conditions, have the group paddle together for a significant distance. After starting, identify a point ahead on the route by 10 or 20 minutes.  Far enough that people will have time to experience the conditions.  Not so far that turning back is difficult.  Far enough that the leader is able to observe the group’s ability to consistently paddle together. Then give the instruction to paddle together, to that point.  On arrival at the point, take time to assess conditions and the group’s ability to paddle together.  Confirm or change the mission.

Intentional Separation

A corollary to paddling together is to only separate intentionally with:

  • Each party has the resources needed for their mission
  • A plan to meet up
  • Communication system identified and tested

Enlist Everyone In Risk Management

We are all subject to the meta risk that we will make errors in our risk management and judgment.  The protection against this is to engage all participants in risk management.  This is great in theory.  In practice, the halo effect is real, causing deference to the leader and less experienced paddlers do have less developed judgment.  Still, leaders want to hear from everyone.  The leader may have more experience, but each individual knows how they are feeling better than anyone else.  To engage participants, leaders must lean into this. Suggestions for this include:

  • Ask for engagement
  • Follow up by listening to and accepting feedback.
  • Ensure the party has members who are capable of risk management. 
  • Eliminate obstacles to communication:
    • A party size small enough that everyone can hear and be heard
    • Discussion held at places that a) stop a feeling of forward momentum toward the obvious action and b) are conducive for discussion.
  • Ask and leave silence for people to speak up.
  • Consider ‘secret’ voting to avoid peer pressure

Debrief

All paddlers are developing judgment and will make errors.  We learn through review.  Therefore, take time to debrief within the group:

  • Debrief trips back on shore or daily on multiday trips 
  • Debrief significant incidents, such as near misses, at the next opportunity for unhurried discussion.  

Beyond the scope of a trip, the community learns from reports and analysis of near-misses and incidents.  

  • Encourage participants to report near-misses and incidents using the Mountaineers system.  Multiple reports on the same incident are useful.
  • It may take weeks or months to distill essential lessons from events.  Well reasoned conclusions are valuable.
  • Leader’s should consider writing a trip report or an update to the route description with information that will be useful to future leaders, keep the report as factual as possible to avoid mis-interpretations.

(February 2024:  These recommendations were written by Tom Unger and Duncan Cox, with input from others)