Just back at work, after a week's holiday in Scotland, and glad of the rest!
A whistle-stop tour which saw us climbing in Southampton and Liverpool before arriving in Scotland. Once there, our non-stop week continued - snowboarding at the new Xscape indoor snowslope in Glasgow, exploring the Kintyre pensinsula, an overnight stop and day-time expore of Mull, onwards to Fort William and Spean Bridge, a great walk around Glen Roy and Glen Turret, then onwards to Aviemore on a shopping spree (well, the new snowboarding season is upon us), across to Aberdeen to see the seals at Newburgh and to catch up with the infamous Hicksy), then sout to Edinburgh to catch up with Ollie Bray and his good lady, Caroline, before arriving at Dryburgh Abbey for the wedding of two of our friends from Southampton.
Phew, I'm tired just thinking about it. A big hello to all the great friends we met up with, Ian, Keith, Hicksy, Megan, Ollie, Caroline, the boy Lard, and too many others.
In the end, we didn't manage any sea kayaking, despite the great help of several people who suggested routes, loacted hire boats, and even just offered us their boats to use. The Scottish weather, though good to us when out walking, just didn't stop the wind blowing. I must be a southern softie, far to used to the south coast weather, but I've never before heard the words 'violent storm force winds' used in a weather report - well not one when I've been considering going for a paddle anyway.
Bruce Schneier has published some thoughts on perceived risk versus actual risk in his cryptogram newsletter. It's an interesting essay on why we over react to some risks, and under react to others. Apparently, we:
over-react to intentional actions, and under-react to accidents
over-react to things that offend our morals
over-react to immediate threats and under-react to long-term threats
under-react to changes that occur slowly and over time (implying the opposite is true)
exaggerate spectacular but rare risks and downplay common risks
have trouble estimating risks for anything not exactly like their normal situation
perceive personified risks to be greater than anonymous risks
underestimate risks they willingly take and overestimate risks in situations they can't control
overestimate risks that are being talked about and remain an object of public scrutiny
Whilst not rocket science in terms of risk thinking, the above list is certainly something to think about in our day to day activities.
What does this mean in kayaking terms? That depends on what you do I guess, but there are some obvious lessons to draw out:
don't underestimate the risk of things going wrong - be prepared for them, know what you would do
Pay more attention to those aches and twinges - it's your body telling you something
When sea kayaking, watch out for how far you're drifting in wind/tides when dealing with incidents.
Watch out for slow-build up events, use early warnings as just that, not a series of isolated incidents - they rarely are
Think 'outside the box' when thinking about what could go wrong, don't just think of familiar risks
Feeling somewhat lazy lately, and inspired by blogs of more active paddlers like Wenley, Derrick, and Douglas I headed out on Saturday morning for my first sea kayak paddle of the winter season.
Launching from Castle Cove Sailing Club, I was struggling to think of this as the 'winter' season - off water I had got changed in the warmth of the sunshine and shletered for the wind, and on water I shared the water with people snorkelling over the various reefs that lie in that part of the Portland Harbour.
I headed off towards Sandsfoot Castle, or rather the remains of, enjoying the still conditions, and practicing the silent inuit hunting stroke I'd learnt at the last Skye Sea Kayak Symposium by sneaking up on the sometimes startled snorkellers.
After a short while hugging the coast, I decided a blast out through the first harbour entrance and into Weymouth Bay was needed, so headed off downwind - arriving in next to no time. Though arriving implied a destination, not simply a point in the middle of the bay.
Hmmm, at this point, I'd realised the errors of my way, and spent the next 60-70 minutes battling against the wind to get back to the shelter provided inside of Portland Harbour - still, a good work out.
Read more:
The BBC has been reporting on an sea kayaking incident that occurred over the weekend just off North & South Stacks on Anglesey. Thankfully, the incident ended with all safe and well, and the Coastguards have praised the group concerned for being well-prepared and dressed appropriately.
Clearly, this was a major incident, an air-and-sea search involving an RAF Valley rescue helicopter and three RNLI lifeboats is no small affair.
In my day time role as an operational risk manager, we often search the Internet for operational incidents that occur to other organisations. These prove to be excellent opportunities to ask key questions such as:
could this happen to us?
what would we do?
what can we learn from the way in which the other organisation handled it?
Clearly, it's still early days, no doubt the press have got the details wrong (as so often happens), and I'm sure those involved don't want to be hounded. However, this is a good time to ask ourselves as sea kayakers,
am I equipped, physically, mentally and with the right equipment, to deal with such an incident?
would what I do, have the same successful outcome as in this case?
what do I need to change about the way I would react to better improve my reaction to this?
There are always lessons to be learnt for all of us from any incident such as this. As Holyhead Coastguard watchmanager, Andy Carroll, commented "Accidents do happen and I think that what was happened today.".
For me this incident supports what I've always said about risk - you have to be prepared for the unexpected, not just the expected. In this case, clearly the group were ready for it, were properly equipped and reacted correctly.
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