Decision making on the water

Decision making is a subject that has been looked at before in articles, videos and publications. We all make decisions day to day, and some of the methodologies here could be applied to many different environments from business settings to coaching, leading and instructing in sporting settings, maybe even parenting.

If it’s inherent, why write about it? Hopefully, this isn’t ‘teaching you to suck eggs; the aim of this is to help give some tools to make decisions in a paddlesport setting. All too often, the information behind decision making or the factors included in making a decision isn’t discussed or treated as some special handshake/pat on the back/handing on of a certain level or not at all.

A Good example here is that reading moving water is a dark art and takes years of experience to master. The next thing that happens is you’re told what line to take, where to stop, where to stand with a throw bag and how to paddle that stretch of water. Any form of environmental understanding is potentially removed with this approach if it’s used all the time. Where this might get used is when someone is completely ‘head full’. If you’ve got no headspace due to being over or understimulated, you’re going to struggle to take information in, let alone process it and make a judgement.

Firstly what are the likely experienced or used decision making categories within paddlesports. Lots are going on, and many areas that this could get pigeon holed into. To try and keep things simple, I’m going to talk about the non-time pressured and time-pressured decision making patterns and how to train them as these are used widely. I’m also going to mention biases and their effects and raise the awareness of the expert halo.

Thinking Slowly

Also called classic decision making, this is the judgement pattern used when time pressures aren’t an issue. If time isn’t an issue, you can gather and consider all the relevant information and come back with a quantifiable decision based on and backed up by facts. This could be as simple as where to go paddling; if the environment isn’t likely to be changing by the second, leaving unreliable information, then a venue or destination could be decided in advance. To give an idea of where to go, you could gather information on the variables, like people, environment, logistics and weather.

Weather

What are the weather patterns doing? Is this going to make for a nice day on the water or a tough day?

Environment

Is it complex or simple? Is it affected by tides, winds and rainfall? If the answer is yes, it becomes complex and will need more consideration; if the elements don’t affect the environment easily, it becomes more straightforward. It can be easy to assume that all sea or white water journeys are affected by these elements, and it’s probably a good place to start; however, some trips have a large amount of shelter, the more open a river is, the more water it can take before it changes its lines or nature. Equally, some bays/coastal journeys could remain sheltered right up to the biggest of swells/storms. The information for all this is often in guide books, add in some local information from shops, centres or providers, and you’ve got a much wider information base to make your decisions from.

People

In the past, this has been the element that has been missed or an after-thought. If this happens and there’s a mismatch between the environment and the skill, fitness level, or wants and needs, it could deter people from going on these trips because of either being over or under-stimulated.

There seem to be two ways of combatting this. The first is to offer a trip covering where, distance, technicality and trip status (is it an ‘adventure’ or a classic) the other is to see who’s keen to get out in boats, what they want/need and where their current skill level is and build the day around this. If I put the coaching hat on, the latter approach of starting with the person and build the trip around them allows for a developmental pathway to their goals; I’m aware that not all paddling social environments involve coaching, and the first approach is often used and used well. If the day/trip has been built around a particular river or coastal trip, make sure that the backups are known, too, just in case the weather puts a stop to the original plan.

Logistics

Sorting out getting people, changing equipment and vehicles into the relevant places in enough time for the day and without irritating local community members can be a headache in itself, especially if this is considered on the day rather than a day or two in advance. Once again, guide books are an excellent place to start with this as you’ll get put ins, take outs and bailouts; however, access agreements can change since the time of print. Local knowledge here is golden; ask the local centres, providers, shops, and governing bodies for up-to-date information.

I’m aware that this sounds like trip planning/planning a day’s paddling currently; however, these are all factors involved in the non-time pressured decisions around getting afloat. At the moment, this reads as planning/decision making for someone else or a group. If you’re part of the group, the decisions are very similar; you need to change them for me. For example, is my equipment suitable, am I at the correct standard for this trip, does it sit with my wants and needs and so on. This self-reflection, non-time pressured thinking process allows you to feel fully ready for the day ahead and allows you to be clear within yourself with where you are at. By ‘at’, that’s with all the elements involved, physically, psychologically, and technically ready for the day. Logistics

Sorting out getting people, changing equipment and vehicles into the relevant places in enough time for the day and without irritating local community members can be a headache in itself, especially if this is considered on the day rather than a day or two in advance. Once again, guide books are an excellent place to start with this as you’ll get put ins, take outs and bailouts; however, access agreements can change since the time of print. Local knowledge here is golden; ask the local centres, providers, shops, and governing bodies for up-to-date information.

I’m aware that this sounds like trip planning/planning a day’s paddling currently; however, these are all factors involved in the non-time pressured decisions around getting afloat. At the moment, this reads as planning/decision making for someone else or a group. If you’re part of the group, the decisions are very similar; you need to change them for me. For example, is my equipment suitable, am I at the correct standard for this trip, does it sit with my wants and needs and so on. This self-reflection, non-time pressured thinking process allows you to feel fully ready for the day ahead and all

Once a decision has been made, so long as it’s safe, go with it. Undertake the planned journey. Learning happens from making mistakes as well as getting things right.

I’ve broken this down into a series of simple questions to help draw out the facts needed before going afloat; this isn’t all the questions as some questions will be particular to your club, setting, group or individual needs.

People

What level are they/you at?
Have they/you got personal kit?
Are they/you fit and healthy?
Are they/you able to get to the venue, or is lift-sharing required?
Who’s carrying what with them (group kit)?

Environment

What are the water levels doing?
What are the tides doing?
Where are the entry, exit and emergency points?
Are there any alternative entry and exit points?

Logistics

Is there enough parking for the group?
How does everyone get there?
Is there enough equipment to go around?

These elements could be collated, discussed and considered before the journey or day on the water and could include everyone in the process. You get many spins on the same issues by including everyone and potentially pick up new methods for trip planning, logistics, and problem-solving. If as many factors as possible have been considered in advance with classic decision making or slow thinking patterns, then there should be less naturalistic or quick thinking to be done. For example, if you’ve planned your sea kayaking journey to be appropriate to the group, then there’s less chance of having to make the seemingly snap decision to change your route, bailout or turn back.

Coaching tip…

Coaching tip… We often set the task of trip planning as an evening activity for people. If you can, try to be as un obstructive as possible. By this, I mean to allow people time to find the resources for the relevant information, for it to be discussed as a group and allow for the awkward pauses where people are waiting to be given the information from you as a coach. It’s hard but try not to jump in with the answers. This is non-time-pressured, remember.

Thinking Fast

Otherwise known as Naturalistic decision making, it occurs when a quick snap judgement is made due to safety reasons, comforts of the group, unexpected change in the weather, equipment failure or the planned progressions of the day aren’t working. Some suggestions here that this could be a gut decision, as in made due to the circumstances or environment just not feeling right. There’s also the notion that a gut decision can’t be articulated in-depth because it is no more than an off feeling. The only example of this that I can think of is a video of a motocross rider that stopped before a ramp and said, not today. It just doesn’t feel right.

When pressed, this was all he kept saying, “It just didn’t feel right.” Naturalistic decision making implies that the same snap decision can be made, and the decision can be articulated because of situational and self-awareness. The paddler that can make the snap decision to mark a particular hazard on a river, get out and scout around the corner of a rapid they’ve paddled multiple times or to not get on the water and then articulates it can do so potentially through previous experience.

My personal experience was on a paddling holiday in Norway where another paddler joined our team of four; I decided not to get on the water that day with them because my instincts were telling me not to. The short story is that they had a right mare and lost a boat; it seemed like a gut decision until I reflected on what was telling me not to paddle. It was late in the day; we’d driven what felt like all the way across the country, it was high water levels, but most of all, the light-hearted atmosphere of the team had been replaced with what felt like a cold and nerve-wracking silence. We paddled the same section the next day, and it was a different atmosphere even though it was the same river.

The question now is, could someone who’s been deemed as being inexperienced make the same judgements? Yes, the answer is because we’ve all made snap decisions in the past; it just may not have been in the paddlesport setting. This could be day-to-day things like driving, crossing the road, stepping in to help someone in an uncomfortable social setting or simply knowing how to interact with people in different situations. Life experience means you’d need the experience of what you’re making decisions on, not the experience of making quick decisions.

If the environment is new, or decision making there is new, it sounds bonkers, but one of the best ways to make an ‘in the moment’ decision is to buy, cheat or steal yourself some time. Things like moving a little quicker on the flatter sections of the river will allow more ‘faff’ time at the interesting bits. Don’t be pressured by other people; stress leads to doing ‘something’ rather than something thought through.

The most commonly made snap decision on the river is whether or not to paddle a rapid and what line to take; it’s really easy to be confused by lots of technical jargon, which can become overwhelming. If it’s a decision on where to go, as a start point, look for where the majority of the waters going. Follow this up with; does it all feed into a nice big pool of safety, or does it lead into the next significant feature? How hard is the majority of water or your chosen line to stay in/on? Will it sit you in the middle, and you then have very little to do or is it a struggle to stay in the nice bit? All of these allow for a decision to be made in action, as it’s all happening.

Obviously, it’s harder to see things from the boat, so here’s a couple of (stolen) principles:
Can you see somewhere to stop?
Can you see a safe way of getting there?
Can you get out of the water once there?
If the answer is yes to all of these, you can move on; if the answers no, you need to change your approach.

This could be by getting out and looking, or it could be by moving to a different eddy. Once on the bank, ask another set of simple questions.
What are the hazards? By this, I mean likely hazards…
How do you set up safety for the stretch? (if you can)
What’s your line? By this, I mean YOUR line (too easy to be swayed)

Try to keep it in that order for a couple of reasons; firstly, if the hazards are deemed terrifying, you don’t need to bother with the following two steps. Secondly, paddling is a momentum sport; once you’ve identified the hazard and are happy with the control measures, you block them out to focus solely on the route through.

Of course, these approaches can be applied in a canoe and sea kayak as well, but the ‘can I get out’ question has a lot more weight behind it as sea cliffs can be imposing and carrying a canoe, or sea kayak is nowhere near as easy as dragging around a white water kayak.

That’s the ‘usual’ quick decision; the ones that are less thought about but still reasonably normal are things like unusual put-ins, take-outs, and social pecking order. These can just become the norm; it’s really easy to fall into this pattern because it usually works, and we’re creatures of habit. These decisions and social behaviours typically fall to and revolve around the more experienced.

FOR NOW, all I’ll say is don’t be afraid to question this, whether that’s as the ‘less experienced’ or as the trip leader. Curiosity encourages a variety of healthy learning patterns from discussions, remembering, articulation of decisions (to understand thought processes), and ultimately reflecting on things and changing them if needed.

This pattern of openness and questioning from the first steps up to the experienced allows for a productive shortcut to a decision based on depth and breadth of previous experience. If you get on many different stretches of water, in different conditions, with different people and with different wants and needs, by its very nature, snap decisions of all sorts occur. The more this occurs, the more you build a shortcut to a helpful decision. To put that into a useable term, we’re going to do this because of these reasons. I know from previous that this will work here in these conditions (conditions, not stretch of water or part of an activity that’s always undertaken).

What I’m getting at here is the ability to react to the situation, environment, and people at any given moment. The reaction is based upon experience and knowledge; if this happens to give the mentioned shortcut, you’ve got a heuristic decision.

On the other hand, if things happen because of an ‘always’ or no other ‘tools’ in application, you have a heuristic trap. For example, suppose you’ve got on the same stretch of water at the same water levels. In that case, you could build a pattern of ‘always’ (I always get on here, you always do this as a warm-up, you always mark this section as that’s always the hazard) or if an approach has regimented steps that you must follow anything that deviates from it can see you with no approach to move forward.

So, things like experience, knowledge, and biases have been discussed or hinted at to make useful snap decisions without falling into traps. To help build on this, below are a few questions to ask yourself or if this is something your coaching.
What did you do?
Why did you do it?
What would you do if…..?
What else could you have done?
What would you do differently next time?

Biases

Asking these questions allows for a series of tools to be built that can be applied rather than patterns that we fall into. The thing to be aware of is the biases we naturally build because of this process. We will all naturally lean towards a specific method, technique or strategy to overcome or work within a particular situation or environment. There’s nothing wrong with having your biases so long as they don’t get in your way or in the way of others. Just because that application works for you doesn’t mean it’ll work for everyone else.

Coaches top tip here, if you’re going to encourage this quick decision-making pattern, if it’s safe enough to, let things unfold! Go with it; we learn from mistakes as well as successes. This builds on your coaching approaches, too, as you often see things you’ve not considered before.

The expert halo

The expert halo is the notion that the expert knows best. Don’t get me wrong here; the professional or expert gets called this due to their experience and knowledge. However, we can all miss things or have a bad day in the office. The idea that ‘keep quiet, they know best’ has stopped things from being questioned in the past. If ‘they know best’ occurs and goes unquestioned if a hazard has been missed, it’s dangerous, and harm could happen. We all have the responsibility to speak up if safety is in question; however, be careful how you go about this because you may put noses out of joint. Go with the approach of I’m asking because I want to learn.
If you’re the coach and have had your decisions questioned, try hard not to see this as a personal attack because it’s not.

To summarise, all of this decision making is all about turning thought patterns into actions. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes; these mishaps are part of the experience tapestry. Do remember then reflect (there’s a difference) to avoid making the same mistakes twice (or more).